Cracking Down on Rated "M" Games

I have a twelve year old friend who owns one of those Grand Theft Auto games. I don't feel that I have to explain why I have a friend who is half my age.

I was talking to my barber about Grand Theft Auto. One of his friends has a son who rented the game. She told her son that he had better enjoy that game, because he wasn't renting it again. If my mother walked in and saw me playing a game like that, I would be lucky if she left my console intact. She would have destroyed that trash and demanded money back for it.

Most parents who say that videogames are brainwashing their kids are just bad parents who blame everyone but themselves if they don't want their kids to play these games they should check and be in control of what their kid plays.Even if the video game industry does what these parents want and put a ban on M rated games the parents will just blame something else like TV or music.

I have noticed a trend in parenting. And it's not just me, either. Many journalists and writers have also noticed it, as well as parenting professionals.
Many parents don't want to do work raising their kid. They don't want to spendd time enforcing rules.
Instead, they look to the government and other organizations to, essentially, do their job for them.
Those parents don't want to take the responsibility of setting and enfocing rules.
And if something goes wrong with their kid?
It's not their fault, oh no.
It's the school's fault.
It's the media's fault.
It's the industry's fault.
But never their's.
Quite frankly, this trend is pissing me off. I can't stand people who won't take responsibility for something.
The parents really need to shut up, and take responsibility. If your kids plays an M game at a friend's house? Talk to the kid's parents.
If your kid buys a game you don't want him to have? Return it, and tell the kid why you don't want him/her playing the game, and give him/her good reasons.
Kids are getting a lot smarter. They see things on the news, and on the internet. You can't do something, and say, "Just because."
It might have worked a while ago, but now, in the age of information, it won't.
And some parents don't like it. Many people in their upper 30's, 40's, 50's, they grew up with "Just because." And it probably upsets them, that their kids won't take "Just because" for an answer.
Maybe I'm reading into it too much. But really, everywhere you go, there are parents who won't take responsibility if something goes wrong.
While the M rating is good as a guideline, extending it to a law is ridiculous. And it infuriates me how people think, "Several kids were this stupid, this suicidal, this psychotic to do this. Therefore, all of them will be, given the chance." They don't stop to think that maybe those kids are the exceptions, rather than the rule, and that there are millions of kids who are smart enough not to confuse videogames with reality.
I couldn't care less about the rating. If it looks like a good game, I'm buying it. My mom knows that I'm not going to go psycho and kill people, so she only tells me not to play violent games when one of my nephews is over (they're three and five). She won't buy them for me though. If I want that M-rated game enough, I have to buy it myself.
Zelda, however, looks to be an E-rated game, and it's supposed to come out sometime close to my birthday.... W00t!

Who cares? thats my opinion.

Originally Posted by Links Gaurdian

Who cares? thats my opinion.

exelent point

From experience of selling these things it is the law that minors can't buy 18 rated software and if we were to sell it to them then we could be prosecuted. However, when parents come to the counter with their 10 year old who wants to buy, say, ManHunt or GTA then we have to sell it to them because, even though we know that the game is for the kid, it is the parent who is the customer. In that respect I feel that parents should stop whining about games being violent/too adult and should take more responsibility for their children. Also, games and movies can't be blamed for the violent cultures in certain communities. We have a Labour peer in the UK who wants all 18 rated games and movies BANNED to stop kids getting hold of them. Yeah, punish the rest of us why don't you! Personally I'm not bothered if they're there or not (I like Pokemon) but it's a rediculous suggestion.

In summary - parents should talk to their children more. TV is killing the art of conversation and is frying the minds of future generations. They should also play the games with their kids if they have nothing to say to them.