Topic: Parents need to do their jobs.

I mean, with the sudden interest in 1980's themed stuff again with things like Stranger Things and Ready Player One, I wouldn't be surprised if people decided to parent like if it were the 80's too

In all seriousness though, I agree with the OP, I'm tired of the media, parents, and politicians acting like it's the company's responsibility to what is effectively parenting the children during screen time and such.

when i was a toddler my parents left loaded firearms in my crib and playpen.
look where it got me now. not all parents are bad. in life we all take chances.

Unfortunately, basic human nature likes shifting blame off of ourselves and onto an outside source. Videogames are just the latest thing to blame for bad behavior. While I believe that many different forms of media (not just games) may (key word) influence impressionable or distressed individuals, there are often other more serious factors involved. I feel that one's upbringing/environment, mental state, cultural values, etc. may be more at play.

I believe that in some cases parents are truly misinformed about games, namely those who grew up with harmless games like Pac-Man and Super Mario Bros. They don't truly realize how gaming has evolved and changed because they've been detached from them for so long.

Then there's the other side of the coin, the parents who don't care either way. The ones who let media do the babysitting for them and don't care what's shown as long as the kids are kept out of their hair.

My parents kept track of age ratings, though if they thought we were mature enough (usually within a year of being old enough for said rating), we were sometimes allowed to watch or play something. I distinctly remember being excited about the first Fable game on PC. I bought it with my own money and couldn't wait to crack open the box and play the game when I got home....Then I saw the age rating (M). I don't quite recall how old I was at the time, but I know I was below the age limit. Mom did give me the choice, and I returned it on my own.

On a final note, it does slightly irritate me that other aspects of society are expected to pick up the slack of the lazy parents out there. My mom, as a teacher, sees this A LOT at the elementary level. The thing is, places like schools, rec centers, etc. can only legally do so much in today's world where you can be vilified or sued for every little thing at the tap of a screen of push of a button.

@Heavyarms55 Ummm parents have been putting the blame on things that they don't understand or that changes the normal of society, it's not just video games.

For example when my parents were kids it was that hooligan Elvis Presley and that evil rock and roll music that made kids blood thristy killers and sexual predators, heck even shows like the Ed Sullivan show only should Elvis from the waist up cause his hip swaying was considered too sexual. When my older cousins were growing up it was Dungeon and Dragons that was making kids into devil worshipers and cause society's problems.

Thing is while I do agree with your posts yeah parents need to be parents it's just going to be something wether it's music, video games or TV shows people are going to blame something.

I honestly fail to see the point of this thread. It's not Zoidberging-level or anything, but still.

Every single person thinks and believes most of the things being said in this thread. Even those who blame outside influences for children's behavior still believe that parenting is important in a child's development, etc. They just have different views on things (regardless of whether they are right or wrong).

So again, i mean no disrespect or insult, but there's no real point to this discussion. But y'all feel free to pontificate on forgone pseudo-profundities.

@the_shpydar
but...but what about lucky stab

@ogo79
Lucky Stab is clearly an important development tool, as it teaches us that if a pirate tries to jump out of a barrel at us, we should stab it with as many multicolored swords as are available.

This is a lesson that needs to be ingrained in all children, or else we end up with tired, played-out movie franchises featuring excessive amounts of Johnny Depp.

@Anti-Matter I agree that parents should raise their kids responsibly (what that includes and what not, I think slightly varies from person to person though the social ground rules of their culture should be taught nevertheless). I simply find it interesting you believe a couple couldn‘t become parents without marriage, though there may be cultural aspects over where you live that make you think that, I don‘t know. On a mere physical basis, a couple can become parents without the need for marriage, of course.

Some parents are just crazy. A while ago I bought a Megadrive toy similar to mini console Nintendo is relesing now, I realized it was just crap expecially since I already had even more of those games that played better in the PS2 Megadrive collection and gave it to the young son of a cousin of my mother. The cousin of my mother did not allow him to play Altered beast and Golden axe except once a week (what does that even mean? Why one shouldn't be allowed to play a gme but have exceptions when he can play it???) because in those games there were fights but she have never had any problem in continuously make hate speech in front of him against various group of people!!! It's crazy.

@the_shpydar considering that today it is perfectly normal for parents to bring their children to places where they are almost continuously exposed to violent, sick and disturbing rated m games footage and the shop assistants shamelessly try to circumvent both children and parents (and usually succeed too!!!) like Gamestop I think thread like this one are extremely needed.

You were given the choice, and you returned it? Are you Anti-Matter in disguise?

@gcunit
Hoosha... !
I wasn't Tyranexx in disguise !

Btw, that was nice for him after he realized that game was not for him due to restricted age.

@Heavyarms55 I'm sorry but what is not acceptable is companies selling a game as for kids and then whilst they are playing that game, they can find inappropriate content via 'user added content' and within online chat. In my opinion the companies are breaking the law by allowing inappropriate content in a game rated for kids, even if they just allow someone else to do it.

You can also see people's opinion regarding the parents actually doing there job, I'm afraid they would rather blame somebody else than do it themselves.

But overall like I said the world is not like it and all too often the companies get reflected on badly because 'they should have done more'! and the dumb consumer gets away with there ignorance.

@gcunit he probably just had some premonition about how disappointing that game would have been lol.
That probably was the reason why the game is rated m. It is not healthy for a kid to face such disappointments lol

@dew12333 So going by your logic, if I buy a new Mustang, and run over my neighbor with it, Ford Motor company did something wrong. By your logic, my intentional misuse of a product they produced is their fault because they didn't prevent me from using it. Or let me be even more direct, if a child steals the keys for said mustang and drives it off a bridge and kills themself, it is Ford's fault for not somehow preventing that child from doing that. Not the parent's fault for not keeping the keys away from the kid, or properly supervising the kid.

Your point about people violating rules and discussing inappropriate content via online chat is the same thing. The parent has not only the power but the responsibility to parent their children. I don't care in the slightest that "people don't want to deal with it" or "people are just looking to blame someone else these days". That doesn't absolve them of their responsibility as a parent, it further proves my point that they are the ones at fault. Sometimes I don't want to go to work, but my job is still MY responsibility. There are consequences for failing in that obligation. But for my job, those consequences are negatives to me. Failing as a parent is often more harmful to the children, thus that responsibility is even more important!

I think the better analogy for what I'm saying is that macdonalds didn't get blamed for making people fat because they actively shoved it down there necks. And you seem to ignore the fact that it would be illegal to advertise a video as kids and then include a scene from the excorist movie.

But I agree with you, I am a parent, and appreciate the main person responsible is me. But I feel the bad press does have something to attack the industry which it could do more to protect itself from.

My theory is that if a child can't tell right from wrong by the age of 6 it means they are stupid and there's not much you can do with them but to return them. I also checked the child abandonment law in the US and it's not that bad honestly, granted you have to pay upfront if you get caught but in the long run it would cost a lot less than raising a stupid child.

@Heavyarms55

The problem with parenting, from a US perspective is this: In the 1980s and before, the standard structure was, mostly, one parent working families, while one parent, most of the time the mother, was always home raising the kids.

Flash forward to "progress" and the economy now demands 2 parent working families, with few having either member making enough to support the family alone (what they sold to the public as "getting more money with 2 working parents" has now become "earn the same income one used to earn before, adjusted for inflation and cost of living, now requiring two incomes." Thus nobody can raise their kids, nobody has time to raise their kids. Kids are a side responsibility. Life is the corporation. The purpose of life is the corporation. All else is secondary. So parents have no intention of parenting their kids. "Society" is supposed to take care of most of that effort for them as they're busy devoting their energies to serve their masters above all.

Worse, many of those same parents inevitably feel guilty for effectively ignoring parenting their kids and not really being a part of their lives....our new corporate order pretty much flies in the face of natural order....so to make up for it they try to buy off their kids happiness with the pieces of excess from their corporate serfdom. "I want GTA 5!" Sure, little Jimmy can have GTA 5 if it makes him happy, or makes him popular.....then he won't notice that his parents aren't really part of his life in any meaningful way. At least he's happy!

So we now have two generations where kids are expected to raise themselves, with help from the "schools", the "police", and "the companies." And what we end up with (as everyone loves bashing 'millennials' as a group), is now 2 generations that effectively behave like (and one parents like) a generation of children that raised themselves....with help from "the companies."

The negative effects, I think, are going to hit majorly at some point. The problem is way deeper, and I think a much more major societal sleeping powder keg than simply video game parental controls.

Don't worry, after the inevitable resulting apocalypse it will all go back to normal.

@spizzamarozzi I highly suggest you read the book "Unwind" by Neal Shusterman. Excellent story and it sounds like it would be right up your ally.

@NEStalgia I also think that often people just have children just because they have always been told that it is the norm and not so many people really want to become parents. We live in a world that often advertise pleasant, fun and easy ways to live your life and there is nothing wrong in that imho as long as you are aware of what you must avoid. You want an easy, fun and lighthearted life? You should understand that being a parent would be a problem that way. Families and society try to brainwash individuals. But it is easy today to see examples of more lighthearted lifestyles and many people just don't understand that they cannot have both this kind of life and be good parents. They usually understand it too late.