Was the congressional hearings of 1993-1994 on violance in video games and subsequent creation of the content rating system stupid? Was it not needed?
I would call it stupid and not needed. Kids could and can get hold of any game they want, and on top of that there is no evidence to show that playing violent games leads to violence in real life. I certainly played a lot of Doom, Duke Nukem, Quake and other extremely violent games when I was a kid and I'm not a violent person. There's a clear line between pretend and real life.
I 99.9% agree
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I happily let my kids play 18 rated games because like you, they were bought up to know right and wrong, reality and fantasy.
The trouble comes for all those kids whose parents don't give a dam about them and sadly there are a large number. (but as you say, they will get hold of the games regardless)
If a kid is going to be violent, it doesn't matter whether they see violent games or not.
Where I have seen problems, is with kids with zero parental upbringing who can't differentiate between something they see on TV and reality. I used to help run a youth club. I stopped (just in time) a 14 year old smacking another kid over the head with a chair as he had seen it on wrestling the night before.
The thing is, those kids will sadly always exist. Did he really believe it wouldn't harm the other kid or did he realise it would and still want to do it, who knows.
I know hundreds of people who have played violent games, none of them are violent, usually the sort of person wanting censorship has heard something from the fat bloke down the pub, has never seen or heard the things they want banned. I think it should be up to parents what their kids can watch, ratings should be a guideline.
Me, in reality I'm a kind, very honest member of society, if I ever find a wallet etc, I would get it back to the owner or hand it on to the police without hesitation. But when I play MMOs, I can be a right evil git, love playing a thief etc.
As for loot boxes, I understand why companies like them, I understand why others want them banned. It could be argued that they are introducing kids to gambling. And of course the sort of person the gaming company wants, is the 2 - 5% (made up figures) who are so addicted, they spend £100s each month. From a personal point of view, as soon as loot boxes are introduced, the games go downhill fast. It is sort of like the people running it have given up on spending money on "good" new content, instead spending all their time developing silly things to get the addicts to think they want, hence sell tons of loot boxes.