Everything You Wanted to Know About Violence In Gaming, but Were Too Afraid to Ask

So, the holiday season is upon us. Sugar plums are... roasting? Not sure, the point is that around this time millions of people will be desperately combing through every catalogue and store shelf to find the perfect gift for every person on their list. Many of those people will be parents buying for their children. And here's the thing, many, many kids want Video Games in some form or another, in fact I'd say most of them do. Parents, wanting to please, will of course want to get the exact game their little bundle of joy asked for, and without knowing much more than what title will buy that game for them.

It's understandable, often I've got no idea what to buy for a particular family member, and have to refer to their wish list to make sure I get it right. There's a lot of gifts to buy, you know. But here's the thing, moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas, very often these kids will be asking for things that are wildly inappropriate for them to be playing, just today, I had to explain to a woman at the store what GTA V was, and then when she told me it was for her 11 year old son, I had to really tell her what it was.

Pictured above, torture, a key story element.

See, I assumed that everyone understood that games have a rating system attached to them, just like movies, and that people would understand what each one meant. 

But you know what they say about assuming.

Without my telling this nice lady about how most of GTA V revolves around robbing banks, holding people hostage, urban terrorism, car jacking, and prostitution engagements, she would have no idea. That's not a slight against her, I feel like there's a lot of parents who are in the same boat. Unfortunately I think that many of these misunderstandings take very ugly turns afterwards. 

Pretty much every time a new Call of Duty, or Grand Theft Auto, or Halo  is released it's followed almost instantly by a mainstream media storm of  "ARE  GAMES TOO VIOLENT FOR OUR KIDS?" to which the simple answer is actually no.

But also yes.

Allow me to explain.

There are violent video games, incredibly violent video games, that half the time come coupled with Game of Thrones style soft "Personal Encounters" thrown in all over the place. Games witch give you the ability to just walk up to a pair of police officers and beat them to death with a giant veiny purple... um... Instrument?

Games can be freaking crazy.

But, those games are not made for "kids." They're made for the adult gamer demographic of 18-35 year olds that's responsible for over half of total video game sales. In fact Kids aren't allowed to buy them themselves. Almost every reputable game retailer will refuse to sell them to anyone under 17, because of this image:

There can be many more things written there as well. "Cartoon violence"

is always a funny one for me.

That's a rating from the ESRB or, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. "M" for Mature. It means the game can not be purchased by peoples under the age of 17. It's exactly like a movie rating. Pretty much an R. Ratings like this one can be found on every single game's box, in the bottom left corner plain as day:

Games with a "M" rating like this include:

Battlefield

Call of Duty

Grand Theft Auto

Tomb Raider

Borderlands

Last of Us

Uncharted

Halo

Assassins Creed

Saints Row

Bioshock

Notice something? Those are some of the highest grossing games this year. That means it's more than just the adult market who end up playing them. As anyone who plays any of these games online can tell you, there are so many young kids playing these games. A disproportionate amount. Especially since they're restricted titles. 

This is why it's important that parents and other people, considering buying games for their kids this holiday season understand what they're buying. You wouldn't but your 9 year old I Spit on Your Grave or Hobo With a Shotgun, Rambo, Dawn of the dead. or any other R rated movie, so why would you buy him this:

Instead of something like this, intended for kids:

Side note: I'd rather play this one myself, but that's just me.

Visit the ESRB's website: http://www.esrb.org/index-js.jsp and read up on all the different ratings symbols to find out what they mean if you don't know. And if you do know, then why don't you actually help dispel all of this "VIDEOGAMESAREEVIL" media hyperspin that we all hate by telling parents you see in the store, what they're buying 9/10 times they have no idea and are greatfull you told them, and even if they still buy it, at least they know they've only got themselves to blame when the kid comes downstairs spouting 18 new racially sensitive curse words and holding mom's.... instrument...

'Tis the season for understanding people. Let's make games fun for everyone, except the media.

Excelsior!

Matt