Sorry in advance for the repost, I just wanted to give Mr. Thompson more of a chance to respond...
Here it is Mr. Thompson,
I'm a gamer. 24 years old. Active Duty United States Marine. I'm college educated (double major in Politcal Science and English),reasonably intelligent and consider myself a pretty serious game enthusiast. I say this because I want you to have a sense of where I'm coming from when I post. I will not call you names, threaten you, or say anything I feel is overly hostile. I say this because I want you to understand I'm a rationale human being, and not interested in drama.
If you read these posts, Mr. Thompson, I think you'll actually see a fair bit of intelligent discussion, as well as the usual dose of internet foolishness. So why antagonize everyone by calling us "kiddies"? I realize that you don't generally don't like games or the people that play them. Of course, I think you ascribe the characteristics of the worst examples of our kind into a stereotype for all of us. Please remember that gamers can be patriots, parents, intellectuals, or any other subgroup. So when you label us as "kiddies", it is you who appears childish.
Why am I saying that? Because, to a degree you're absolutely right about games. They can be dangerous in the wrong hands. They can be full of disturbing images, heinous acts, and perverse joys. Which is exactly why the ESRB and stringent controls are neccessary and good for the protection of children. I don't think it neccessitates the removal of the content, I think it necessitates the placing of the content as far away from children as possible.
I disagree that this is a "HUGE benefit" to the game industry. It does give weight to the ESRB, which is outstanding in my book. To see them unafraid to hand this rating down is a nice thing. I'd say there are other games which neccessitate AO...but the nature of AO has to change before that can be reasonable, Mr. Thompson. If AO games will never be published, then the rating won't get used-- and not having the AO rating means some extremely hard M's will be issued-- perhaps to the detriment of us all.
Consider your local video rental store. Most of the content is out there to be seen by all. From Rambo to Bambi, almost every rating is out there for children and parents to see alike. Some of the movies feature scenes as graphic as any game, including Manhunt, but aren't pushed to not be released. However, there is stuff that is so perverse it must be placed in an Adults Only section. Consider if the same were true of your local Gamestop, Mr. Thompson.
Right now, you have parents who ignore ratings for content their child sees/plays because they don't have the time or inclination to review everything their child does. They'll rent violent movies, buy violent games-- but I can almost guarantee no parent walks into a roped-off Adults-Only section to rent their child a movie. It is the very stigma of going in there that gives them pause.
What is better for our children, Mr. Thompson: a slightly-toned down version that recieves a hard "M" that is promptly ignored by parents, or a full version of this game in an area that forces a parent to feel guilty buying it? This could go for many games with a hard "M". In the end, I feel that if developers relaxed their stance on AO, and the ESRB forced retailers to sell AO games in seperate sections where children couldn't even look at them, you'd see these games that toe the line end up in less childrens' hands.
I'm a big proponant of the games-as-art argument. I think games can be artistic and deal with complicated subject matters. They can also be the equivalent of Hostel, reveling in disturbing images and violence for the sake of violence. But as with any media, effectively censoring it only increases it's desireablity. I never planned on buying Manhunt- but I will support to the end those people who want to.
The long and short is this, Mr. Thompson: many gamers support stronger laws and more stringent ratings. But often your own rhetoric places you so far from a middleground that agreeing with you becomes impossible. I think you'd find gamers and the industry as a whole more responsive to your opinions if you approched us with a litlte more decorum and stopped speaking down to us. I'm not attorney, and you may be, but I fail to see how arguing in a courtroom gives you more insight than my choice of defending the nation, which is precisely why I did not go to law school after college.
To finish my comments off, I'd love to discuss this with you, if you're up for it. My website can be found by clicking on my name here. Feel free to hop on the forums and comment there, or comment on my editorials page (which, incidentaly, features a piece written on yourself). Good day, Mr. Thompson and I hope to hear from you.
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