The recent GTA: SA controversy has made me think, yet again, as to why does everyone go after video games as if they are the source of all evil? I have read and heard umpteen times that games are detrimental to kids and that violence (and sex?) in games spoil young kids. And now, I am sick of tired of hearing the same, rather lame arguments over and over again. Especially since there are other bad influences that kids get from society.

As if GTA was not enough, the lawyer, Mr. Thomson is now aiming his guns at The Sims. He is arguing that a simple patch can remove the blur from private parts and hence should be banned. When EA claimed that if you remove the blur, you see nothing, that is, no genitalia, he goes on to say that even “Ken & Barbie” features should not be shown. So, I presume he opposes the sale of Barbie products too? Since Barbie is much more accessible worldwide than the Sims, shouldn’t he be opposing the sale of Barbie too? The Sims is a LIFE SIMULATOR for crying out loud! And not every kid knows how to obtain and apply the patch required to remove the blur. Besides, I don’t see how not seeing any genitalia is going to have a bad influence on kids.

I wonder why parents are never blamed for what their kids do. After all, aren’t parents the ones raising their kids? Aren’t they the ones responsible for their upbringing? If parents don’t keep a tab on what their kids do, what games they play, who they hang out with, then why blame video game manufacturers? ESRB does a good job of putting a rating on every game and it is up to the consumers to look at the rating before buying any game. If parents do not care enough to check out game ratings, what right do they have to accuse game makers? Some might argue that if their kids see their friends playing the same game, they want to get that. Ok. Why not call their friends’ parents and let them know? Express your concern? But NOOOOOO. Let’s go and blame video games!! By blaming video games, parents seem to want to divert all the blame towards video games.

Furthermore, there is oodles of sex/nudity and violence on television, in movies, and on the internet. And in these media, the characters are real unlike pieces of programming code and graphics work in video games. Why don’t these people target these media first?

The video game industry is here to make money off selling games. It is the sole responsibility of parents to understand ESRB ratings and let their kids buy only those games which are suitable at their age. STOP blaming games if you can’t look after what your kid buys!!!