For the Parents

Why Aegis Reviews?

     I'm an employee of a game retail outlet and everyday I hear parents tell their kids they're not allowed to play whatever game is in question just because they don't really understand what the ESRB states is in the game or even try to see what might be in the game their child wants. A lot of parents I talk to tend to think that "Partial Nudity" means sexual encounters in a game. Some parents just look at the cover of a game and come to the conclusion that there's no benefit to playing a game that looks extremely violent when it's not.

     Sometimes the news makes a goal to scare the public when there's nothing to be frightened of. The last incident I can recall was when a kid was bought an xbox for Christmas along with a copy of Halo 3. He got really into it and started playing it night and day. He wouldn't sleep, he wouldn't go to school, he'd just play and play. The parents didn't know how to handle the situation so they took the Xbox away. The kid rebelled and ran away from home. They didn't hear from him for days and ended up finding their child dead. And it's at that point in the story that the news shows how harmful videogames are to society.

     Another example is when Grand Theft Auto 4 was released. Gaming isn't just for kids and this is a good example of it. It's an "M" rated game which means it's for a mature audience which the ESRB feels are kids that are the age of 17 and up. KIDS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO PLAY THIS GAME. It holds a lot of mature themes; strippers, dating, assassinations, crime. For an older audience, this is a rather deep game story-wise where it shows a man who's done many bad deeds in his life and he's trying to get away from trouble and be a better person. Unfortunately, he's forced into many situations he doesn't want to be in, and so on and so forth. The news said that you're rewarded points for smashing hookers into rocks and that the more you kill, the more you're rewarded with. They also stated that this game shows kids how to drive drunk. All in all, The news has stated from every angle that this game will turn your child into a cold killer.

     Now, I am not a parent. I do not have a degree in Psychology, I am not a doctor, but I can't sit back anymore and let these horror stories ruin the image of my hobby. There have been countless studies on the effects of videogames on children. None of them have conclusive evidence that videogames have either a good or bad result in the long run. The reason being because not everyone is a copy of someone else. Believe it or not, it depends on how we're raised and what ideas we're introduced to which leads us to be different than one another. And because we're all different, it's impossible for videogames to affect us in only one way.

     Was it really the Xbox's fault a kid ran away from home leading to a terrible fate? I personally don't think so. It was a terrible case and there are some cases much worse. There are, however, more factors to these situations. Was the child mentally stable, how much were the parents involved in that child's life, how was that child brought up, did he or she grow up in a positive environment? Most of the time, there's more than just one thing to blame. From my experience, people I've conversed with, and the way I was brought up, sometimes all you need to do is just check in with your kid, making sure that what they're doing is something you approve of. If it is, let them know. And if you don't approve, put down some rules. If those rules aren't followed, it's punishment time. Your Xbox, Playstation, DS, PSP, no videogame system is a babysitter and should never be used as one. Videogames exist for entertainment purposes and are occasionally used for education. Now, even some consoles have parental settings. You can set what games they can play based on ESRB rating, you can set how long they're allowed to play per day, there are a good number of ways to help you, as a parent, to supervise what your kids do on their system.

     Now, about GTA4 (Grand Theft Auto 4). A VERY large group of people actually believe what the news states about this game. People don't even realize that the people reporting about it have never even played the game, let alone even ever TOUCHING a controller. In GTA4, choices are given to you. As the player, you can do whatever your imagination allows within the guidelines of that game. There is no "score" or "points" in the overall game of Grand Theft Auto. GTA4 never encourages ramming a hooker against a rock for points. You can do it if you want, but you'd only do it because you thought to do so. And if you do, have fun while you can because a TON of police are going to be trying to take you down and put you in jail. You can try to lose the cops but then you're "Wanted Rating" will climb higher, especially if you kill people in your getaway attempt, which leads to it being harder to get away and stay alive.

     GTA allows you to drive drunk. If you do, the cops will pull you over because it's more than likely you're going to hit another car or swerve into some other object. When you are drunk, you'll most likely have a friend of your character with you encouraging you to NOT drive drunk and to call a cab to get home. The game does not reward you for driving drunk, it does not simulate real drunk driving, you can only do it because the developers of the game did not want to restrict your imagination. They wanted to create a world that encourages you to try things you would never do in real life since in the real world, there are so many heavy consequences for some of these acts. Most of what the news has reported on concerning that game, and many other games as well, has been based on complete farces coming from people that have never played a single game in their life.

     Videogames have been devices for great stories, stimulating entertainment and a fun way to learn new things. I finally got around to building this site because I want to help parents become more informed in this section of life because videogames are a constantly growing trend and it's more than likely here to stay. I want to help you understand that videogames are not evil, they're not focused on making your kids into hoodlums. They're primary goal is to entertain, give you an experience you could never have in real life, challenge your mind, and offer a brief moment of escapism. Try thinking of games having more in common with movies. Would you let them see the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre, an R rated movie? If not, you probably shouldn't let them play Dead Space, a M rated game. Base what your kid plays on how mature you think they are. Sometimes it's the more mature games that hold a greater sense of morals and really teaches the difference between right and wrong and that could be an invaluable lesson that your child keeps with them for life.

     I don't have too much more to say than just a couple things I couldn't get to in my little soapbox speech. Some games that are rated M are now coming out with features that disable gore and expletives. Fat Princess is a game on the PSN that has a very kiddy look to it but is pretty gratuitous with blood and gore. There is however a feature to turn that mature stuff off. Then, when you defeat another player, candy confetti comes out of them instead of blood and body parts. Not only is it less violent, it's actually a lot more funny.

     On this site I want to inform you on everything an experienced gamer knows, which is a whole LOT more than the news, the esrb, or the box of a game can tell you. I want to help you learn about the console you have in your home. Kids are tricky and they can easily lie to you about something you know nothing about. I'm sure some of you have wanted to restrict game time only for their kid to taunt that there isn't any way to do that, or some other similar issue. Just come here for information and if you have any questions about something that isn't on the site, just contact us and we'll answer you directly. If we get a lot of the same questions, we'll just post the answers on the site so EVERYONE knows. I hope you guys get a lot out of this site and I hope you enjoy being knowledgeable about something that may be very foreign to you. Good luck everybody!

Ashton
Site Moderator, Reviewer