It's become a very common occurance in this forum for threads to pop up telling the gamerparents one of the following:
- Tell your kids to stop swearing/singing/being obnoxious on LIVE!
- It's rated "M" and anyone under 17 is not allowed to play it!
and several other variants of that. Let me reply to both of that in hopes of stemming the tide of these threads.
As parents and gamers, this community is actively involved in our children's gaming habits. We face the same obnoxious, foul mouthed kids that you do (and, no, not all kids are that way) and we are doing what we can to help change that.
We do not let our children behave that way. That would be hypocritical. We hate it as much as anyone.
If you want to make a difference, here are a few ways to do so.
- Engage local parents and their communities for a talk on games and the truth of the behavior of online play. Start with schools, PTA groups, or churches.
- Write a letter to parenting magazines that warns them of the dangers.
- Write an article online about it.
- Contact the ESRB asking them to do more rating awareness campaigns. Link. I've contacted them several times about this and they are always kind in their replies about their current efforts.
Which moves me to the second point.
The ESRB rating system is not a law. It is, in their words:
ESRB wrote:
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) ratings are designed to provide consumers, especially parents, with concise, impartial guidance about the age-appropriateness and content of computer and video games so that they can make informed purchase decisions about the games they deem suitable for their children and families.
And this from their "Game Ratings and Descriptor Guide"
ESRB wrote:
ESRB ratings have two equal parts: rating symbols suggest age appropriateness for the game and content descriptors indicate elements in a game that may have triggered a particular rating and/or may be of interest or concern.
It is a choice for parents to make as to what their children play, however there is an extreme disconnect between most parents and this ESRB system. They make mention "so they can make informed purchase decisions about the games they deem suitable". The choice belongs to the parent. Only law is that it cannot be sold to someone under the age appropriate limit.
I do want to add that we agree with you.
Poor behavior online by "children" (and for that matter, anyone) is horrible.
Parents need to be educated better about game ratings and online interaction, but not this group of parents.
If you need to vent, that's fine. I get that. Many times after an abusive night of Live play I vent on these forums, just don't accuse this group. I think we are working more towards the solution than most groups out there. Thanks for reading, and happy posting.
Post provided "as is" and confers no rights.
You're special...just like everyone else.
