Parents and Games: Blaming the Other Guy

by Gabriel Ang

Before I begin, I need to clarify that I'm not American, I'm Asian. I'm writing this editorial from the perspective of an outside observer.

There have been many, many issues and controversies regarding the proper content in video games and how they should be sold to minors. In recent years there has been much violence involving minors whom were said to have been influenced by the violent video games they play, despite the fact that they aren't supposed to even possess such games. Politicians and parents have been lobbying in the American congress for laws to control and limit the sale of mature-themed games to the impressionable youth. Many parents nowadays place their blame on companies creating these games, saying it's their fault that the youth of today's getting corrupted. And yet, somehow, they seem to forget that it's their fault too.

Over the years I have seen the groups against gaming grow bigger and bigger, and in the process finding more and more ways to accuse the industry of negligence. In the same way, they seem to see their fault in this grow less and less. This leads me to believe how convenient it is for us humans to simply blame someone else for things that happen, making us forget that we have a fault in it as well. Many parents these days are becoming forgetful of their duties to their children, seeking to place blame entirely on someone else when their children go astray. Of course it wouldn't be right to say that it's only the gaming industries fault that the youth are being influenced into violence, nor would it be right to blame the parents entirely. What I'm trying to say that parents should stop placing all the blame on the companies. They need to check the ways their raising their kids as well.

The best example I can use where this isn't a big problem would be where I live, the Philippines. Here, laws that control sales of mature games to minors are almost non-existent, or at least not even enforced. Everywhere you can even see game stores selling games like Resident Evil and Grand Theft Auto to kids half my age (I'm 18), with or without their parents consent. I of course don't approve selling these to minors, besides the fact that I finished Resident Evil 1 and 2 when I was 13, but my point here are the effects of the games when these minors play them. Here in this country, despite of how impoverished and primitive we may seem to some people, we don't have kids killing people left and right because the game told him so. Domestic violence involving minors is pretty low. Why is that? It's because when game companies and stores fail, parents take over and try to fill the extra gap. Most of the parents here understand that they have to teach their children that such games are only meant to be played and enjoyed, not to be emulated. They understand their role to educate their children from being influenced by what they play. This role is something many parents are already starting to forget.

I'm not trying to single out the USA on this, because admittedly these anti-video game sentiments are also growing in other parts of the world, even here. I'm only trying to point out to parents that while game companies share the burden of responsibility, most of that responsibility lies on the shoulders of the parents. They really should stop putting all the blame on the companies because doing so will achieve little. If they do their job educating their kids about these games, then we will see a sharper drop in violence involving minors than simply imposing sanctions in companies. They can't simply shirk their responsibility by telling someone else it's their fault.

Good virtues start at home. It has almost become human nature to find a scapegoat to put our failures on. We must remember that it's not THEIR fault...it's OUR fault. All of us.