GamerDad Article Critiques NIMF Video Game Report Card

GamerDad Article Critiques NIMF Video Game Report Card

January 4, 2008
Last month the National Institute on Media & the Family issued its annual Video Game Report Card, chiding the video game industry for what it termed “an ominous backslide on multiple fronts.”

Not surprisingly, both the ESRB and the Entertainment Merchants Association (representing retailers) took issue with the report and its conclusions.  On the other hand, Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum threw her support behind NIMF’s conclusions.

So we’ve heard from game industry types and politicians, but what about parents?

Mother of four and GamerDad columnist Colleen Hannon took a critical look at the NIMF report from a real-world parental perspective.  On NIMF’s insistence that parents need to become better educated about and enforce the ESRB ratings:
Yes, parents should be more educated and involved. But I'm sorry, you can't dictate what media content parents allow into their homes. Parents don't agree on most of the details of raising children... Even among the Gamerdad staff you'll find each person has their own unique approach.

Nor was Hannon thrilled with NIMF’s list of games recommended for children and teens:
One of [NIMF's] main concerns with games in general is exposing kids to a "culture of disrespect". Online situations definately fit that definition in my book, and with Madden's increasing emphasis on the XboxLive aspects I don't understand why [NIMF] suggested it. And speaking of that culture, Need for Speed Pro Street is all about gangs and street racing...

Every year we read through this report and shake our heads. There is so much misinformation here it's hard to get any real good out of it. But if it makes even one parent start looking at the covers of the games coming into their home and thinking, then I guess it's worth something. But there needs to be more. Parents need to be involved.

Via: GamerDad

-Reporting from San Diego, GP Correspondent Andrew Eisen

Comments

I am glad to see a gamer parent speak on that stupid excuse of a report.

Yes, parents should be more educated and involved. But I’m sorry, you can’t dictate what media content parents allow into their homes.


My favorite part.
Hey, GP, it's "father of four", not "mother of four", unless GamerDad is a reverse trap.
Oops, read too fast. Sorry guys. (I bet there is a typo somewhere for added irony to retardness.)
GamerDad only has two kids.

Or is it three? I can't remember.
@ BlackIce

The article quoted was written by Colleen Hannon a mother of four. GamerDad is not the only one who writes for that site.
I agree with most of that article.

Just thought I'd correct something.

"And speaking of that culture, Need for Speed Pro Street is all about gangs and street racing…"

I don't really like any of the NFS games after 6 (9 being the exception). But I don't like it when someone puts forth a mis-informed comment. Pro Street has no street racing whatsoever (unless you count speeding on race tracks and legal road courses as illegal street racing)
@Meteor

she didn't say illegal street racing, she said street racing.
@Conejo

That's kinda along the same lines as saying cocaine use is different from illegal cocaine use. The concept of street racing is a race on an unofficial course with traffic, which is illegal in any reference.
@E.ZK

I know that.. Anonymous thought it was GamerDad, so he said "father of four". I corrected him by saying GamerDad only has 2 or 3 kids. I think it's three..
@ BlackIce,

Yeah but I was mistaken, he is talking about Colleen Hannon, and I griped on the "mother" bit, not on the number of children. I think GamerDad indeed only has two kids, then again, it's me doing the thinking so please tell the third I'm sorry I forgot him.
Only thing I was goona say was about NFS: Prostreet, It doesn't involve Street racing in the Fast and the Furious sense but it actually shows the trend towards organised race meets at tracks or on especially closed roads.
Other than that Gamerdad's team is just talking sense as usual.
Wasn't another one of the criticisms leveled at NIMF's suggested game list that a lot of the games they suggest are absolute dogshit?
GamerDad is such a loveable screenname. It makes me giggle each time.
I will back up Anime_Otaku's statement on Pro Street. The developers have said that they wanted to move out of the midnight, neon-washed image of illegal street racing and move on the actual pro stuff. Like, stuff you'd see on racing channels and sponsored by actual companies. :)
Also, for those that have Xbox Live, I would recommend many of the Live Arcade games because you'll find a lot of family friendly stuff. It just gets tricky with online play because you'd find a lot of lame cursing from other people. You can mute the microphones, though.
i still love how NIMF gave parents a "C" in their report card when the report says only 30% know enough and 70% are too uniformed. in high school those numbers would have to be reversed to get a "C" and thats barely a "C" at that.

and they completely misreported on the Manhunt 2 events which is either an attack or a great deal of laziness on their part to not get the facts right.

That NIMF report didn't get nearly the criticism it deserved.
Agreed with Colleen. NIMF are a bunch of idiots who have no idea what they're doing and no right to be issuing "report cards"... that'd be like me issuing report cards on the saftey of nuclear reactors in Russia... I'm not a nuclear engineer, I know little about radiation except to stay away as much as possible, and I've never been to Russia.

GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:05am
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:03am
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:56am
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:45am
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:37am
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:36am
Austin_Lewis: Or, maybe he or someone else at the base ordered the SS190 from FN Herstal.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:32am
Austin_Lewis: the hands of private owners. They run about 300 dollars minimum for a box of 50, and boxes of AP 5.7 are extremely scarce, mainly residing in the hands of Class III stores or individuals who for one reason or another got a demo box of it.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:30am
Austin_Lewis: There are other firearms that fire the 5.7. However, I too would like to know where he got the ammo and what kind was used. Maybe Hasan, planning not to live through this, went out and bought one the boxes of SS190 that are floating around in
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:44am
JDKJ: And it isn't yet clear what type of ammunition Hasan used. It's strange that he purchased a gun but didn't purchase ammunition for it at the same place and time. Especially because the calibre required is peculiar to the actual gun.
Login or register to post shouts