One of my flaws in life is that I never use everything that I have access to. This Button Masher's Blog is one of them. After my rant that I gave to T.T., C&T was kind enough to give me access to the BM Blog, and I've yet to use it until now.
After seeing T.T. actually have a regular schedule, I feel compelled now to try pathetically hard to match a regular update schedule along with my every-other-day 8-Bits post. So, since T.T.'s updating every Monday and Friday every week, I felt that Wensday each week would be a good place for me to put in my deeper thoughts on a particular subject. So, without further ado, let's get rolling like a wheel of cheddar cheese.
For those who know me, you know what my stance on politics and video gaming is. For those who don't, let me sum it up real quick: I feel that ANY government should not interfere with how consumers buy their video games. And should a young child play a game that is too mature for them to be playing and something bad happens as a result, it is the parents' fault entirely that it happened. Not video games, not retailers, not the developers, it's the parents, period. The thing is this: I feel that parents are not taking enough time to look into what their child(ren) is/are playing and the content within said game. And yes, the ESRB can be a bit muddy and murky at times, and the rating can be argued for a particular game.
It's why, seeing from all this, that I strongly endorse this site that I saw the other day, called "What They Play - The VideoGames Guide for Parents" (which can be found at http://www.whattheyplay.com/). After spending about an hour on this site, I found it hard to believe that word of this site is not as widespread as I thought it would be by now, considering it's been in existence over a year. This site, created by Ira Becker and John Davison, offers parents a view on what each game's content is, and what the typical minimum age your child should be at before they would be considered mature enough to handle the content of said game.
This, in no way, is like the ESRB. While the ESRB just looks at content video prepared by the developers, the people manning this site (I assume there's more than two people operating the whole thing) actually PLAY though the entire game and offer, in detail, what is in the game that warrants the ESRB rating on the box. Not only that, they offer accurate and fair minimum ages that they would consider a child to be mature enough to play that videogame. Most of the reviews I saw matched or was within the range of the ESRB's rating, and some were below the rating (Guitar Hero III was recommended for ages 9 and up, according to What They Play, and 13 and up for Halo 3!). These recommendations, of all I've read, are all ratings I agreed upon. Of course, they don't factor in online play, which is something parents need to consider. Overall, it provides a quick, easy to follow, liberal guide to each videogame so that even the busiest parent can quickly take a look and see if it is suitable for their kids.
I'm pretty involved when it comes to politics, government, and gaming, so the fact I just heard about this site yesterday is a good indication to me that not many parents of game-playing youths are aware of it, either. So, if the next time you're out and about and you hear a parent ask or complain about a game's content and ESRB rating, please refer them to this site. Again, it's called What They Play at http://www.whattheyplay.com/ . It's pretty simple to memorize. Please help in promoting this site by word of mouth, because the more parents know about the games we play, the sooner they can make wiser choices, and the sooner the governments of this world can leave us alone.
Till next time!
~R.M.
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