Should Parents Let Kids Play "Call of Duty-Modern Warfare 2?"
The highly anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 went on sale at the stroke of midnight Tuesday morning. It is already poised to become the biggest thing in entertainment, ever. Over the first 24 hours, the game pulled in an astonishing $310 million in the United States and the UK, selling 4.7 million copies.
CEO Mike Griffith of game maker Activision said in a statement:
"The Call of Duty franchise has become a cultural phenomenon showing the power of video games as an entertainment medium. The shattering of these entertainment records is a testament to the compelling, cinematic and uniquely engaging experience that the Call of Duty brand delivers. Modern Warfare 2 has taken interactive experience to unprecedented heights setting a new standard for entertainment."
The game allows players to be CIA agents working against terrorists. It is extremely violent. It is only supposed to be sold to people older than 17. But as the game gains in popularity, inevitably children younger than that will beg their parents to buy them the game. Which raises the question: Should parents allow their kids to play it?
Appearing on a Fox News debate, Jim Steyer, founder & CEO of Common Sense Media said parents should keep their kids away from the game.
"It's a really violent game. So. the real issue is how old is the person who's playing it? There's no question that certain forms of video game violence can be correlated to aggression in the kids who use them."
But John Christensen, founder of slashgamer.com countered, "It's pixelated violence. It's not real."
He said retail stores do a good job of keeping adult games away from children, but "kids can definitely pick up the game if parents buy it for them."
But studies say labeling games as "adult" or "mature" only make kids want them more. A statement from the American Association of Pediatrics says:
An important finding for parents, pediatricians and policy-makers is that age and violent-content labels do not prevent young children from playing games with objectionable content. In fact, they have the opposite effect. Study authors suggest that video games should not be forbidden in Europe or the United States because that will only make the games more attractive, and parents should help in selecting appropriate games for their children to play.
Watch the Fox News debate:
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Nobody will ever stop young children from playing adult PC games at present, however, what p1sses adults off most is that these kids then go onto Facebook, Twitter, various PC games forums and say, hey I'm 10 years old and play Call of Duty MW2 regularly, the developers then start to take notice and think well, if young kids play these games, then let's dumb them down a bit so that they play them more often and maybe become regular customers. That's when adults say, now, just hold on a minute, why have the developers now dumbed these Mature, Adult PC games down so much that they are now so rubbish to play. If developers didn't make the games easy for kids, then they wouldn't play them at an early age, they'd get bored very quickly and will leave them until they grow up a bit more, which is what should be happening. It's all about the greedy, profit driven developers, nothing more, they're the ones to blame.
I play call of duty with my 13 yo nephew and i am 27. He doesnt go out and kill ppl. neither do I. Adults say kids are inpresionable. well adults are too. more than kids. adults do stupid things to plz others. adults drink and drive and think it is ok. thats a real life dangerous situatiuon. killing ppl in a game is fake and kids are smart enoug to know better. and if parents did their job and explain to kids that it is just a game and it is not right to act that way in real life than what is the big deal. parents are stupid ppl. youy think you are protecting kids by not exposing them to violence. DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT GOED ON IN THEIR OWN CLASS.. OMG when i was going to school there were fights daily.. ppl show up tp school with a gun and because they play a violent game you want to make excusses and blame the game. that person was gonna show up to school with a gun if they played a game or not. GAMES DO NOT CAUSE VIOLENCE...PPL CAUSE VIOLENCE
i am 27 and play gta 4 and call of duty. there is nothing wrond with these games. it is wrong to keep kids "safegurded" from vilonce. This world is filled with vilonce. I say teach kids what our world is really like so they know what is going on. dont treat kids like they are stupid because most are smarter than you idiots that think video games cause bad people. bad people play video games and do bad things. video games do not create bad people. the news has more violence in it than any movie or video game out there. it seems as if adults forgot what it was like to be a kid. well im glad i didnt forget. i grew up with gangs and REAL violence and im not a gang memeber anbd i dont kill people. ADULTS ARE STUPID!!!!!!!!
what the hell is call of duty gonna do to me? am i going to go on a shooting rampage? NO!!!!!!!. OF COURSE NOT!!!!!!! i have good grades and yet i play nazi zombies every day and multiplayer frikin 60 kills 3 deaths and why do we play games??? BECAUSE THEY ARE FUN SO STOP QUESTIONING US!!!!!! it is as simple as that. lets see it takes skill-before you say anything...yes it takes skill. YOU KNOW WHAT ITS VIDEO GAMES ARE SOMTHING WE LIKE TO DO. period.
THIS IS ALL SO STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do I make my point.
It's not bad at all. I can't even watch a ugly animal die yet i can easily watch a fake person in the worst way posslble. Who cares if it's bad it's all fake.
what is the difference in Call of Duty vs. reading history books about the horrid slavery, the presidential assassinations, or the wars, and the nuclear bomb. not a thing. maybe if our kids were taught how our country is and the horrible events that have happened, they will be inclined to change our future. or everyone can just wait until they are 18 and have access to firearms and escape their shelter. don't shelter your kids, because your only delaying the truth. educate them and maybe they will change our future. playing call of duty is educational as long as it is supervised. approved for all ages if you ask me.
You don't even get to be a terrorist in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Get your fact right!!!!!!!! Debate over!!!!!!!
Popularly defined as a way to amuse oneself. Personally, I have never found amusement in watching death, dying, hurt of any kind. I understand people are different and obviously many find pleasure in watching other living being's demise. As a mother of 2 boys 21, and 17, I have battled the question for over a decade. I can not bring myself to approve of any violent movie or entertainment form. We as a society seem to understand the effects of sex and or drug themed entertainment....looking at posts, we do not seem to accept it into our living rooms with open arms...why the bloodshed? I am proud of my 2 boys use of "sensitive" entertainment forms at this point. They know I do not like it and they respect that. My oldest went through a stage where Call of Duty was his choice of entertainment. I did not buy it! He got it from friends easily by the time he was 15 or so. He did not watch it openly in front of me either. He waited till he was alone or I was busy with other things. When I noticed what he was doing, we talked about why I disapproved of the content and the fact that I was the grown up and how it is my household and I get to choose the atmosphere in my home. Constant barrage of gunfire and blood splattered across my tv screen just was not going to become a norm. I do not remember it ever being a major issue with either son.
I now have a 16 year old step son who plays all the latest violent games freely....x-box live in his bedroom. He will never choose to live with us because I will not allow my feelings to be trampled in my own house. His visits have gotten fewer and shorter because he craves the games more so than the visits with his family. He was rewarded for a "B" in French with the latest black-ops. He brought it over this weekend and I am certain he played it the whole time I was out shopping and seeing a movie with my daughter. He does not respect my feelings and has to be told to turn it off when I come home and then does so resentfully. He is obviously more aggressive in real life than my boys are...different genetic material also. He is not good with animals....not even his own "pets". He finds amusement in pestering...aggravating them. He will kill a frog or grasshopper without a second thought. He came in last night with his hunting gear on his shoulder and said "I am going to KILL something this weekend!" He is not a very good real life hunter....has only had one successful deer hunt as of yet. Both my boys hunt but don't express joy or pride in the kill or the thought of the kill. They both have pretty much lost interest in hunting in real life. My 17 year old still likes monster hunters and I am sure probably other things I would not approve of. But he has enough conscience to respect other people's feelings and monitor his own time with it. My 21 year old will play if friends are but does not get it for himself even though he is on his own now. They have always saved small "critters" lives and found pleasure in watching it live....not die. Reward the behaviors you want to see in your children and those are the behaviors the will value.
u raised 2 pussy boys. our world is the way it is because of violence. you wouldnt have the ability to make rules in your home if it was not for violence. we are at war everyday to keep our country free and not like other 3rd world countried. vilonece is key to our survival