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Denver, 1:55 AM
Wed Dec 2
63 posts in the last 24 hours
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Hey kids, if you ever eat any drugs you found in a game case, just watch out for dehydration. Otherwise, it's smooth sailin'.
You can support drug culture all you want, I don't care, but you don't think a 12 year old can die from an ecstasy overdose, you've been drinking too much hallucinogenic Kool-Aid.
04/08/09
Did I play the bad parenting card correctly?
Anyway, yes, tragic to hear that drugs have been found in the case of a game that glorifies said culture.
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Regardless of whether violent video games turn children into murders (which incidentally, I think is bullcrap), the content is rated for a reason. It's inappropriate for minors.
In any case, I think madammina is right, the game was not intended for the 12 year old, but he could have easily stumbled on the box and the pills.
04/08/09
I used to watch slasher flicks when I was really young, nudity, death, foul language, the works.
It wasn't ok for me, it harmed and scared me so bad.
That's why today I'm a mass murderer who goes around killing naked campers in lakes.
04/08/09
That's why I opt for passive runs in games (which is why I love Deus Ex and Fallout 3.)
So, even though I played murder simulators back when I was 6, I think I turned out ok.
04/08/09
And that, in essence, is bad parenting.
@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: It could have, but it didn't. Not everyone is as mentally sound as you, though.
04/08/09
So, we just don't know enough, certainly not enough to brand him as a bad parent, for fucks sake.
04/08/09
Call me old fashioned but I believe children need some protecting. I'm not saying I think that kids who watch slasher movies or play games like GTA are going to automatically become killers but innocence is a very important thing in the healthy development of the mind.
04/08/09
In this case I agree with you, it's a bit much to jump and label this guy as a bad parent. Hell, he could have bought it for his 16 year old daughter, that doesn't mean the 12 year old wouldn't find the pills.
04/08/09
But you have to take the good with the bad, which is why I'm against making it illegal to sell M rated games to minors. (Or to see R rated movies. At 16, it's a real pain in the ass if I want to go see a movie.) Mind you, it's not because I'm a minor that I feel so strongly about it, I would want my child to go in and buy his own game, use his own earned money, get a feel for doing things without me having to hold his hand. I'm lucky I had such helpful independence growing up, I flew on a plane by myself when I was 13, it wasn't scary at all and I feel like I can almost do anything. Leaving home doesn't seem so hard (other than missing my family of course) now that I feel I can do anything by myself.
We know nothing of this man's 12 year old son or 16 year old daughter, so... yeah, it really is a little much to jump down his throat and call his parenting bad.
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"Bad Guys" in general. People that are killed. Anyone.
Anyone that is killed usually leaves someone behind, he taught me to value life. A good example is when I played Deus Ex.
The NSF were technically "Terrorists", but they had a noble cause, and they were each individuals, they had families, children, ect.
Also, *spoilers* even though UNATCO was technically evil, the UNACTO soldiers were just doing what they were told, they weren't given the whole picture, they were just told to kill on sight because the NSF were "doing bad things". This is where that talk my Dad gave me comes in, I could easily kill these people in the game to get past the level, or I could sneak around them. They weren't REALLY evil, they were just doing evil things.
So right now, in the real world, I am anything but violent. I know action has consequence; if someone is killed, they leave someone behind. Family, friends, children. So "violent" games haven't caused me to be violent, in fact I think they've caused me to be a pacifist.
I know the difference between a UNATCO agent in the game Deus Ex and real people.
So yeah, he made sure I knew that everyone in the games I played were just pixels, but he also told me that even a bad guy has a family. He made me think beyond "shooting bad guys in games", I think that's responsible parenting. Beyond that even, because it's responsible parenting just to make sure your child knows that a game is fake.
I'm really tired so excuse any typos in this post :P
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Actually I didn't get that from the post. I haven't bothered to click on the source but it sounds as if to me, he bought the games for himself, and if not, at least he had the decency to open the box and look through the contents of the case first. I don't think that is bad parenting at all.
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ESRB ratings are suggestions, that's it.
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Who says the guy who traded it in put it in there? If the cases are on the shelf, it could have been anyone, even an employee.
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There are lots better looking watches on ebay and for much less. Not like anyone wears watches these days anyway.
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