by Scott Shaffer

Created on: June 19, 2008

Being a gamer, and a thinker, in today's world is something that is becoming almost detrimental in society's view. All too often I see articles on the effects of gaming on society and I hear the cries of the morally superior as to why we should abolish the gaming industry. The violence, the sex, the attitudes it allows our youth to experience is too extreme, we need to stop the insanity! All these we have heard before, and will hear again.

I have been asked the question of why it took one woman to get prayer out of school. I have been asked why we live based on the attitudes and actions of the moral minority. I have been asked why we kowtow to the loud and obnoxious masses who seem to be upset and offended if the wind blows east instead of west. My answer is simple; it is that they are the loudest voices. If you stand in a crowded mall, filled with thousands of people and start to shout, the whole mall will stop and listen to your shouting. If you have nothing of sense to say, someone will still agree with you and the next thing you know it starts a movement among the masses. You see no one wants to be thought of as wrong, so the sheep will follow a shepherd.

This cycle of blame has occurred in the past many times, none so prevalent as the event of Rock and Roll. Remember back to a time when the world was stunned by the gyrations of Elvis onstage, or the lyrics of John Lennon when he discussed sex and drugs openly. How many records were played backwards in an effort to show that the music was of the Devil? Move forward to the desire to block Heavy Metal or Death Rap and you can see that rather than take responsibility for the parenting of their children these individuals who cry foul would rather blame something else.

With the gaming industry at its peak, or close to it, we are seeing the idea of the console becoming babysitter. This took the place of the television set in most homes and it was all good as long as Johnny wasn't going out and causing any trouble. With more violence and sexual innuendos in the games today we now have a group that actually sat down and watched what Johnny was playing and rather than taking the game from him and spending time with him they thought it was better if the items weren't on the shelves to begin with.

We as a nation have become so ready to blame our problems on someone else, for surely the problem can't be in how I act, it must be someone else. Let's start laying the blame where it should be, in the parenting skills of many people who are just not willing to take time with their children. Games of and by themselves are not evil, and there is a market for the violence and sex among the mature audience. If a parent doesn't want their child playing those games, they shouldn't decide for the masses what can be played or watched, they should decide for their child what the parent will allow in their own homes and follow up with it.

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