@Ian Cooper:

And you shouldn't be telling me how to raise my children.

With that said, a couple points.

The press release is aimed at those parents buying the game for their children, not themselves. Also, it says that a parent should consider the content carefully before making the decision. They didn't say "don't buy this game for your kids or they'll shoot helicopters out of the sky when they get older."

Also, just set the parental controls. There's no harm in it. That way, the kid won't be able to play the M rated games while the PARENTS ARE AWAY. I'm not saying people leave their 5 year old kids at home. I'm just saying the basic principle: when the cat's away, the mice will play. This could mean that the kid plays the game while a babysitter's around (or the babysitter plays the game without respect to the kid).

There's no way you can monitor EVERYTHING your kid does ALL the time. They're going to go to school. They're going to have friends. They're going to go to those friends' houses. They're suceptable to do things their parents don't know about or wouldn't aprove of. Then there's the kids that go home alone. Yeah. It happens.

It's not lazy parenting to read the descriptors of what's in a game. It's not lazy parenting to then say "no" to your kid. In fact, that's often good parenting when it's done the right way.

In short, your naivety on the matter astounds me. No one is really saying ratings are the magic barrier to keep kids safe from harm. A rating is one thing, the descriptors are another thing. Oh, and the descriptors are supplied by the same "faceless and undemocratic beurocracy" you so... erm... lovingly described.

I'm just wondering what would happen if your daughter accidentally pressed the wrong button in Assassin's Creed, causing Altair to stab someone from behind. I'm guessing you tell her not to press those buttons, but the finger can slip.

They also mention not JUST to check the warning but to check reviews online. Reviews are a great source of information. I'm not talking about the bottom line score of a game that game reviews often have, but I'm talking about the filler. That stuff that says "Oh, by the way, there's a point in this game where you can toss someone off the roof into the spinning blades of a chopper." The more you know before purchase, the better.

Also, having a rating system helps keep those pesky lawsuit happy people at bay, which is part of why they have one in the first place. What I mean is that someone would buy the game knowing full well what content is in it, then turn around and sue because a warning of some sort wasn't given on the outside of the box, and their kid was "traumatized" by the content.

Silly Rabbi. Kicks are for Trids.

Very good, they seem to be on the same page for this.

I'm beginning to find some newfound respect for NIMF, and specifically David Walsh. Now, if they can keep on this track and not derail themselves I MIGHT (big emphasis there) begin supporting them.

At least some quarters are finally coming round to the idea that Video Games that are rated 'M' for Mature might actually not be intended for those who are Immature. When Immature people get involved with M-Rated games, the result is always unpleasant, you only have to look at LaRouche, Thompson or a fair percentage of 'Moral Crusaders' to see the outcome...

I have a sneaking suspicion that had the ESRB not been a part of this, NIMF would have made an announcement on their own with all the customary inflammatory tripe that we've come to know and love them for.

To Pixelantes Anonymous:

You forget gay porn, assessination of fax machines, name-calling and self-promoting rants...

oh, and his book.

Hope the union lasts. EQUALLY. I don't want NIMF swaying the ESRB to give every game an M rating.

Damn this is pathetic.
@ everyone


How old were you guys or girls when you played your M-rated game?
Just curious.

@ TheEdge

M-Rated and otherwise violent games of yesteryear DO NOT, I repeat, do NOT compare with M-Rated games of today.

I believe i was around 10 or so when i played the 2D-console Mortal Kombat's, and i think... i dunno, 13 or so for Perfect Dark? I was never much a fan of FPS games, and i bought GTA3 when i was 19, and it bored me. (though that may have been because it was the PC version and my PC just plain SUCKS, but that's another story)

I was 7 when I got Ultimate Doom for the PC and Mortal Kombat 2 for the SNES.

@ The Edge

I was about 12. The only thing they desensitized me to is the clearer graphics of today's M rated games. I could no more rip someone's heart out of their chest as I could run over a helpless squirrel.

How old we were is kind of beyond the scope of this article. We could provide several million examples where fairly well adjusted people were exposed to inappropriate media before they reached the age of majority. Unfortunately it wouldn't really prove anything.

Currently our culture feels the need to protect anyone under 18 from everything. That is not my concern. You raise your kids the way you feel they should be raised. I disagree with the government telling me that I should raise my kids the way some congressman thinks my kids should be raised.

What I would like to do is give them props. THIS is the way it should be done. This contrasts with Yee's address yesterday. Notice no insults of the company, no accusations. It's clear that the game was put out for adults so trying to villify it is as rediculous as trying to forbid Playboys for showing things kids aren't allowed to see yet.

@lumi

I agree with you there but it's nice to see NIMF joining the ranks of common sense (education with the ESRB) rather then censorship (government regulation with the likes of nanny-state Yee and Clinton).

@TheEdge

Mortal Kombat 2 when i was 12.

Public warning to the ESRB: if you see a growing shadow in front of you on the walk home, get out of the way -- it's the other shoe dropping.

Just to hop on the bandwagon: I was familiar with the likes of Doom and Street Fighter when I was a kid, but I largely ignored them in favour of Final Fantasy and Mario Kart. It wasn't the violence that bothered me so much as the complexity (plus the seeming futility of being able to see a soul sphere but not get to it.) The solution is obvious: game companies need to make their games harder and more annoying, so that younger players will be give up after being discouraged by the effort required.

...Well, maybe not, but any excuse to demand more challenging games in this day and age.

Strange bedfellows would be the term to describe them. I hope this shaky relationships lasts for a long time.

@GRIZZAM

I had to kill a rat once, it ws chewing up my house. I still felt real bad for it.

I captured a squirrel in my apartment once. I knew we had someting eating something in my house, but it was so skittish that every time I almost saw it it would move like a streak and I coulnd't tell what it was.

I put down a glue trap (instead of a mouse trap) to catch it. Well it turned out it was a baby squirrel. It had gotten it's tail stuck in the glue trap, jumped down to the linoleum floor and the glue trap fell sticky side down. It was trapped and stuck to the floor, I don't know how long but I'd guess for several hours.

When I cam home and saw it, I put a trashcan upside down over the body and carefully cut the glue trap off the floor. Then I slid a piece of cardboard under the trashcan to be able to take the squirrel outside. I figured that it would have been a tramatic enough experience that it wouldn't ever return there again.

The next day I came home and there was the squirrel, sitting on my counter eating my bread. The only thing that changed was it was frightened of me anymore. Instead of seeing me as the mean giant that glued it to the floor, I guess it thought I was the nice giant that rescued it...

Y'know, I've heard a lot of people say they'd be pretty much okay with their kids playing HALO, but not GTA. I know that GTA is more "adult" than HALO, but I'd like to know if the context of the violence is a factor in the decision. Is it?

Kudos for finally going the right route NIMF.

Oh my god, I have to post this...
Penny Arcades comic finder was down and I was looking for something, I picked a date at random and it came back with this:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/12/1/

Soooooo apropos!

@WarOtter:

It won't do anything. This isn't the first high profile M game (see the 3 GTA III's), why didn't people figure it out then?

It's nice that they are trying to educate parents and what not, but holy crap. I am the only who thinks it looks like they're treating GTA IV like it's the freaking Death Star come to destroy Yavin IV and the Alliance in one fell swoop. IT'S A GAME, PEOPLE!!! This much fanfare and warning does not need to be spent/used on a freaking game!!

I say it'll last until someone posts a picture of something sick to most on GTAIV and then NIMF will blame the ESRB with another F or something. Maybe they'll try F-?

As Zach pointed out, they don't understand technology. ESRB, team up with Bub from GamerDad instead! He understands technology and isn't an old senile man that can't tell the difference between unaccessible and accessible content.
Watch someone mention a rape scene in a mission to get misconstrued as a rape mission.

Of all the acronyms in the world, they picked NIMF. NIMF!

@TheEdge, by the time they started rating video games I was already of age, by several years.

Yes. I'm old.

@Pixelantes Anonymous:

Or references to Jack Thom-- oh wait you already said 'irrelevant stuff', my bad. :P

As someone said: Common Sense, go!

@ GRIZZAM 512

Content doesn't seem to be the issue, so much as the popularity of the game as well as how badly their children want it.

"National Institute on Media & the Family (NIMF) and the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)... remind parents that Rockstar’s controversial game is not intended for younger players."

Erm, NIMF and ESRB, if and when you become my kid's guardian, THAT'S when you get to decide what my kid plays. Until then, shut the #@*& up! I'm the parent and if I decide that my daughter is mature enough to play GTA IV she will get to play it. No one else, except my wife, gets a say in the matter.

Holy cow, they're actually working together.

The way I see it, I've always felt the NIMF has had a nobel function, but attacking the ESRB was not the way to go about it.

This is how I see it:

Jill and Dave are two players on the same team, fighting for the same goal, but Dave is the little benchwarmer who started attacking the quarterback (Jill) for the opportunity to make that winning touchdown for his own personal glory. Rather than thinking about what's best for the team.

Damnit, wrong article...damn you inaccurate scroll. If someone gets a chance please kill that post of mine (and this one too I guess)

Heh. NIMF.

"ESRB, NIMF Jointly Remind Parents that GTA IV is Not For Kids"

orly?

[...] Here’s a video for your non-gaming parents. Along with the “Don’t let your kids play GTA4!” deal from National Institute on the Media and Family & ESRB. [...]