Video Game Violence: A Parent's Perspective
by Rob Cooper Senior Lead Analyst, Majesco Entertainment
April 2006 Game Informer Magazine.

"I like games where I can drive in ways that would get me arrested. I like games that teach me new ways to insult people with crude, inappropriate humor. I like video games. No, I love video games. I love them because video games let me escape into a completely different world where I can do think that are impossible, inexcusable, and irreversible in the real world."

"I grew up with video games. I was introduced at a very young age to the Atari, which of course led to Nintendo and so forth. I watched games evolve from blocks to pixels to polygons, and was exposed to the increasingly mature content that came with each revision. I also learned that video games can be influential, but are ultimately fantasy. As much as I wanted to be the hero with the sword, slaying demons and rescuing the distressed damsel, I knew that walking through the woods on my way home from school swinging my wooden "sword" could lead to real world consequences instead of experience points if I did decide to kill the "evil" cat monsters."

"Video games may have evolved in many good ways, but their influence has also increased as well. I know and you know that killing is wrong, that the female(and male) form should be respected, and you shouldn't eat mushrooms you find lodged in brinks, but I can tell you from experience that a two year-old boy doesn't know that. I know that "please" and "thank you" aren't words inherent to the lexicon of a toddler and must be taught by the parents. I know that when a child sees arguments degrade into violence she'll learn that violence is an acceptable solution to getting what she wants. I also know that it's my job as a parent to be responsible for what my kids are exposed to and to put anything inappropriate into context. I won't let my kids watch violent TV or movies and I certainly won't let them watch violent or heavily suggestive video games. It can be hard at times to keep them from inappropriate content, but it's my job as a parent to know and understand what my children are exposed to."

"Fining retailers won't help. Censoring games should never happen. Reorganizing the ESRB isn't the answer. In this fight to stop the criminalization of the game industry as an enabler to teen violence, the key is parents. Parents need to step up and know that what their children are doing, what they're watching, and what they're thinking. It's okay (and often necessary) at a certain point to let go of the innocence and let kids grow up, but parents need to be there to make sure kids know what's right and wrong and what's fiction and reality."