sauronsfinger, while I loathe video games with all my heart, I still think the real danger
from them is the likelihood of shorter attention spans, lack of literacy, demand for constant stimulation, etc.
Street racing is a terrible problem in Vancouver. The slaughter is horrifying. Just this past weekend 3 young men, including two brothers, were killed when a BMW was
cut in half upon impact with a pole. The two halves were flung 30 metres apart, that gives you some idea of the speed involved. The cops said the car must have been doing over 120 MILES PER HOUR. Not, KMH. MPH. One passenger survived with minor injuries, one remains in serious condition in hospital. These were not 18 year olds, but guys in their mid-twenties. I don't remember reading that any video games were found in the car, but it's likely, given their ages, that they'd been nightclubbing and drinking. The cops arrested the guy today that they'd been racing. He was not involved in the accident. A young son of wealthy parents who'd been given a BRAND NEW Mercedes for his 18th birthday. For the luvva pete.
Most street racers are younger, though. This weekend's accident was a bit unusual in the ages of the men involved.
Very, very often the street racers also kill or maim innocent bystanders, whether pedestrians or other drivers.
I truly don't believe that playing Grand Theft Auto or other street racing games is the reason for street racing. I'm much more inclined to blame rich parents who buy their boys these ridiculous high-performance cars. I never read about some poor young man who worked hard and saved his money to buy a Mercedes and then destroy it in street races. These kids are invariably spoiled little pukes whose indulgent parents (very often immigrants who've made it big and like to show off) buy them.
The speed and power of BMW's and Mercedes and certain Hondas, etc., is at least as much to blame as are video games for the carnage. Why not mount a campaign to have car manufacturers "do something" about their powerful cars?
Underage drinking. Combine booze and boys with speed and you get a fatal cocktail. What are you going to do with the parents of boys who drink and drive? I would be willing to bet that ALL those parents tell their boys repeatedly NOT to drink and drive. But after a couple of beers? Who remembers what the old lady had to say?
While yovargas and I disagree on how lovely these games are, I don't see any way of "controlling" them or "doing something about them". Parents have the responsibility of vetting the games their kids play. The games my boys play are plainly labelled, believe me, I check. And I also ask the geeky boy at the video store WHAT the game is. Several games marked "M" have been perfectly OK with me.
Parents have MANY responsibilities toward their kids. What are you going to do about parents who let their kids eat at McDonald's every day, or watch porn, or don't make them do their homework or any number of other things? While I sympathize with your point of view on games and parental irresponsibility, I can't quite agree that "society" needs to do anything. Like, what?
I remember very well the exact same arguments being used against comics when I was a teen, or against TV in later years. Doom and gloom is far more exciting than common sense.
But I still hate video games.
Dig deeper.
) was what it was all about. Much of the reason that we all now have very fast computers with beautiful graphics is... so the games could be ever more complex. More than once I upgraded my home computer so my son's new game would run on it.
(I'll probably have to do it again soon here...not sure.)
