Posted on Tue, 04/29/2008 - 10:52 — by BazookaJoe
Can your kid buy the newly released video game Grand Theft Auto IV?
o Absolutely not! Video games are contributing to the violence in our society!
o Why not? It's feedom of speech and video games don't commit crimes. People do!
o No Way! My kid doesn't have any money! Plus, judging by all the time he wastes playing video games, he probably never will!
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 634
How do you vote? Or is this just a rhetorical excercise to get us to really ponder it?
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'Sounds like more of vent to me. A voice crying out in anguish. After all, that's yet another purpose for these forums: They're one big cyber-psychiatrist's couch.
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You got to admit the price is right.
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You get what you pay for.
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Posts: 1993
Hey, I was faced with the choice of having my poll work but placing it in the Time's Poll Section where nobody will ever see it because no posters venture there, or placing it here in the East County section where it will not function preoperly but be seen in mass by at least half a dozen or so regular posters.
I thought it would be thought provoking even if it didn't work and would stimulate some food for thought; some intelectual rhetoric about the subject matter. It's a narrative poll, and you are supposed to write a response about the controversial topic, not start a discussion on how the poll doesn't work!
I guess I underestimated my sample audience. I should have polled the local junior high schools. Sheesh!
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I don't know about food for thought but I will say that it stimulated a nervous tic in my left eye.
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"I guess I underestimated my sample audience."
You underestimated your "simple" audience : ). How was I to know it wasn't a simple poll? I didn't check where it had orignated, whether it was from Polls or which forum, I just saw it under Recent Posts.
It may not be good for the kids to play, but there are far worse things for kids to be doing. You can prevent what they are doing at home, but they can still be exposed to it at their friend's houses.
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I thought...here with go again with getting off the subject...
"Make Cupcakes Not War"
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Posts: 339
if it's as bad as the original versions. No way I'm letting my 11 year old son get near it. I imagine my 17 year old son will try to sneak a friend's copy in to play. Then we can have a nice discussion about values and attitudes towards violence. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carl Spackler: This crowd has gone deadly silent, a Cinderella story outta nowhere. Former greenskeeper and now about to become the masters champion.
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1993
Sorry about getting mad that everyone pointed out my poll is broke. I guess you guys never learned the lesson I did about how you should never tell anybody something is broke if it's obvious. Sure, if you notice somebody's fly is open or the air in their tire looks low, they appreciate you mentioning it because they probably didn't know. But let's say you were a victim of a smash & grab and you had one of your car windows busted out, but you have a high deductible and don't have the money to fix it. The last thing you need when you pull into the parking lot at work the next morning is some co-worker pointing at it and saying, "Hey, did you know your window is broke?" That's about the time all the pent up anger you've been storing erupts and you give a snappy answer to your coworker's stupid question like, "No, you're kidding? To think I totally missed that when I placed this sheet of cardboard on the seat to keep all this broken glass from going up my [bleep]!"
See I learned this at a young age when my mom sent my brother and I to a miserable place called Fort Ross somewhere in Northern California to some friends of hers who owned a farm up there. I call it a miserable place, because the farmer was one mean S.O.B. My mom had some important business, so the farmer and his wife offered to show us what farming life was all about. Man, I was only about 7, but I wasn't too young to remember how hard those folks work. Getting up when the rooster crows to move these big long sprinkler pipes about 20 feet. It's nuts! Anyway, the farmer had a crappy old tractor with this automatic hay baling thing on it and he told my brother and I to watch from a distance as he proudly showed us how it worked. My brother and I noticed that about every 3rd bale or so wasn't nicely bound like the rest and looked like a giant cowpie with wires sticking out of it. When the proud farmer finished and came back over, he said, "that's how you plow a field and make bales of hay." My brother who was about 10 asked, while pointing at the broken bales, "What are those?" That's when the farmer when ballistic and said, "What do they look like? The bailer is broken and they're broken bales you dumb [bleep] kid!" That's when I realized the farmer was right. When you see something broke that's obvious, why insult someone's intelligence by pointing it out to them? All they are going to do is go off on you.
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 1262
Man.....I was already feeling kind of insecure today. I'm still a little unclear as to whether we should let you know about your open fly the next time or is that a judgement call depending on what kind of mood we think you're in.
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 634
Easy there big fella. I was just trying to cast a vote in what appeared to be a poll your were running. Don't blame the messenger. Next time, don't make it look like a poll, and I won't waste my time clicking on boxes that don't do anything. Do you have any idea how humiliating that was? I'm not sure what this has to do with Fort Ross, but the message I'll take from this is to stay clear of that place. Stay away from angry farmers with crappy tractors, broken hay bales and sharp pitchforks.
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 53
Play station is poison in the first place but this crap is just ridiculous. My oldest is 12 and the kids that hang around my house are right around there and younger. They will not be purchasing, or playing this game at my house! justamom1
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Posts: 495
I don't know what the game is like because I have no children and my gr-kids aren't into the violent games.
I remember way back in the 50's when Dr. Spock said kids should not be playing with toy guns. Up until that time all kids played "cops and robbers". It is my opinion there was way less violence between kids. Maybe because they got it out of their system by play acting. Kids are curious by nature and will find ways to whet that curiosity. They will go to a friends house to play the game. It is not a Walt Disney world anymore and never will be again. Just look at the violence on TV that adults watch and the kids are sitting right beside them.
We cannot not expect society to legislate what our kids will do. It has to start in the home.
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 561
I agree the decision starts at home. Most parents (at least the good ones) know the maturity level of their kids and what's best for them. Some kids could play GTA IV 24/7 and not have any bad effects. Others might have trouble removing the game from real life. My children are adults now, but if I had to make this choice when they were kids I would not let them have this game. I realize that they can see almost as much violence on TV but making a "game" out of violence is not what I wanted them to learn.
Does anyone remember the uproar when "Dungeons and Dragons" was big and people thought it was going to foster a generation of satanists?
That's just my opinion, but I could be Wrong.
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 41
Well, I'm going to remember never to mention a broken hay baler if I notice one. Not that I think it will come up a lot, but I'm sure going to remember that much, anyway. Won't be mentioning that, no way, no how. See, and some people think you can never learn anything good online.
The GTA thing -- I'd have been on the "probably not gonna get it" side back in the day. But then, my kid was in elementary school when Ghostbusters came out and was the only one in the class who didn't get to see it, far as I could tell. I wouldn't make a big, preachy fuss about it, but somehow I'd find something else more interesting and exciting to spend that particular amount of time/cash on. Maybe a nice vacation somewhere fun, or whatever else sounds good. If you vehemently oppose and denounce any game/movie, you'll make it seem a lot more attractive and important than it is.
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 495
Don't they rent the games somewhere? Maybe you could rent it and play with your son. Then you can discuss what is wrong with it. Sometimes kids just think adults don't understand.
But I will say I love the turn this discussion has made.
B.J. The Farmer. LOL
Joined: May 2008
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Since my son is only 3 he cant buy it, but my husband bought it. And we let our 16 year old nephew have it. But there is no way I would let a Kid under the age of 16 buy that game.
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My son is 8, and obviously way too young, however I can't imagine that I'd ever want him playing something like that while living here. I agree with Peas on this one. We're pretty scrict when it comes to this stuff.
"Make Cupcakes Not War"
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Posts: 634
BJ, I notice that 2 people rated your topic as 1 star. I want to go on record letting you know I was not one of these. I just cast my vote as a 5 to bring your rating up to 2.33 (Too bad Zito's ERA isn't that low). I like the topic, but was just befuddled in trying to cast my vote in what I thought was your poll. Were you introduced to the farmers' daughter when you were at Fort Ross? Maybe that is what got him so irritated?
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 49
Someone had given one of those games to my son a few years ago. I was some sort of Grand Theft Auto Vice City. I found out what was on that game and I explained to my son why he could not play that game and he said ok and gave the game to my brother who is in his 30's. He completely understood why I didn't want him playing that game. I try to explain to him why he can or can not do something so that he will informed and not listen to all of the crap that someone else tries to tell him. I do not think this game is suitable for anyone under the age of 16.
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1993
001, No, I wasn't introduced to the farmer's daughter. Remember I was only 7 so that wasn't it. In fact, I don't think he had a son or a daughter. He had some cows though. I remember his wife made really good cream puffs with the fresh cream from the cows.
He might have gotten mad because I remember having a really bad cold. I remember being in bed one night and my nose was running so bad and I was scared to get out of bed (remember I was only 7 and it was a strange house), so I just hunkered down and used the bedspread to blow my nose on when needed until morning came. That might have ticked him off, but I don't remember him actually yelling at me. Maybe that's why he blew up at my brother when he pointing out the broken hay bales?
I came home Tuesday night and my kids were already playing the new Grand Theft Auto. I didn't have the heart to take it away. I'm pretty sure they're the kind of kids that can tell the difference between real life and computer generated games so it won't have a big effect on them. In fact my daughter just wrote a paper for school about the controversy of violent video games and of course she took the stance that they do not contribute to more violence in society. At least if they are home playing Grand Theft Auto, I know they aren't out stealing cars and stuff.
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Hey, you got another 5 star vote, and your average is now up to 3.00. Did you vote on your own poll, er thread?
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Posts: 1993
Not me, I don't know how the star voting works! It must have been something I said that boosted my approval rating. Should I quit while I'm ahead?
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You got another 5 star vote. Now you are up to 3.7. I had not bothered to see how the star system works until I saw that you had been given 1's by 2 different people. I knew at that point that something had to be done. Since I brought that up, your approval rating has risen dramatically. You might even be able to run for re-election now.
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Posts: 1262
Sounds like 001 is lobbying for a cabinet position.
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1993
Allright, with a 3.7, I just surpassed my HOT or NOT rating and I posted a 20 year old picture of me on there!