An Open Application
News companies of the United States and World: You need me.
I am a 24 year old FEMALE gamer. I have some sense when it comes to games. I play the games that your “knowledgable” panelists continue to defame over and over again. I also refuse to play a game that disgusts me, but I read reviews, try the demo, or watch someone else play it before I make that decision.
I have just watched a clip from FOX news that was a new low in a series of sad examples of journalism. In this clip, a person who said themselves that they had not played Mass Effect were appalled by what appeared within the game. This should strike the news companies as odd, giving a person with no hands-on experience with the product air time. Yet I have seen Jack Thompson (I so badly wanted to write this without that name, but I couldn’t make my point as well without it) repeatedly cited as a “school shootings expert” (type that into Google, the fourth hit is “dissecting Jack’s lies”) and given air time to make his point, which is, unfortunately, to be as stupid-looking as possible to anyone who knows anything about video games.
If any of the big news corporations have given time to the video gaming public, let me know and I will gladly edit this post. As it stands, I am arguing that we are not the 15-year old boys that are playing games in their parents’ basements that the news media so quickly wants to present us as.
We are not just the frat boys and pimply teenagers. We are your wives, husbands, girlfriends, co-workers, teachers, and grandmothers. And our numbers increase every day. Why? Because everyone likes to be entertained.
I am given strange looks in the school that I am employed at when I say that I will go home and play World of Warcraft that evening. If I had said that I was going to go home and watch Lord of the Rings, I would hear comments about how great a movie that was, or how this teacher or that teacher does not like fantasy movies as well as comedies.
My point is, movies are accepted. Television is accepted. Video Games are not accepted. Part of the reason for this is that news media will not leave video games alone.
If we take the rating systems that we currently have and match them up, what do we have?
Movies Video Games
G (general audience) = E (for everyone)
PG (parental guidance) = E 10+ (everyone over 10)
PG13 (PG over 13) = T (for teen)
R (Restricted) = M (Mature Audiences)
NC-17 (No One Under 17) = AO (Adults Only)
Ok…now we are getting somewhere. I don’t understand why so many people are pushing to get so many games listed AO. How many NC-17 movies can you think of? Showgirls is R, as is Scarface. You find me a game that’s got as much profanity as Scarface or as much nudity as Showgirls, and then we’ll talk (and that’s not even taking into consideration the time comparison between a 2-hour movie and a 30+ hour game). Stop trying to give a game like Mass Effect an AO rating for the 30 seconds of side nudity it shows. Monty Python’s Life of Brian had a longer nudity scene, and full frontal at that…and it’s an R rating.
One more point on the ratings, and I’ll get off the soapbox. Stop using the argument that “kids can buy these games”. Kids can buy those movies too. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back has 228 instances of the “f-word” and I was able to buy that movie in a store without my family present when I was the ripe old age of 15. If the “kids can buy these games” argument flies, remove all the R rated movies from store shelves too.
Anyway, to get back on point. If you, Big News Companies With The Power to Confuse Instead of Educate, would be interested in making some changes in your sad, sad, state of technology affairs, I would be interested in talking with you. I’m more than willing to present my argument on other topics in technology as well as more points in video gaming. I’m waiting.
