ABC News: Quit it, it's the parents' fault!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on my blog, but this event gave me motivation to post one more before procrastination takes effect one me (again). Rob Hayes’s article was brought to my attention on Wednesday, March 28th by an entry on Kotaku, one of many gaming websites I go on throughout the given day. Their (Kotaku) story was covering Hayes’s article about children being exposed to cursed words, racism, any sort of cyber bulling while playing with other gamers online. The reason why I’m creating this entry is the fact of how delayed and how much hilarity I saw in this particular article. Also, this entry will give me a much better view of parenting and what parents should do.

Don’t worry ABC News, you’re most of the time “on top” of the news happening throughout the world. Hayes’s article I viewed didn’t seem to be on top of covering this issue. As you will see by a couple of quotes I viewed in the article, I’ll try my best to give them my most honest opinion.  

“Imagine exposing your child to racial slurs and X-rated content on a daily basis without realizing it. Experts warn that's exactly what could be happening if you let your child play an online video game through Xbox, PlayStation or on the computer.”

Now, I’m sure parents are fully aware of this situation. In fact, I’m sure they’re aware of it ever since online gaming has been created. Sony Computer Entertainment created the Playstation Network (PSN for short) for the United States in November, 2006. That’s almost six years! Microsoft created Xbox LIVE for its console back in 2002 and recently celebrated their tenth year of being in service. That’s ten years! As you can see, by now the parents should be fully aware of this issue. It has been years, since the online services have begun. I found this to be hilarious and as well as others, because you’re “on top” of covering this issue. Sometimes you can get a nice conversation online, but many times you’ll hear vulgar content. This is why it’s established online features aren’t rated, because you don’t know what might be heard. It is common sense to know there are morons that use “F*ck, sh*t, etc” in every sentence.

“Internet safety expert Parry Aftab says this inappropriate language in online gaming is rampant, and she's concerned it's leading to dangerous cyber bullying.
"They may trash talk. They may be calling you names. They may steal their passwords. Or a lot of them may gang up on one online, not because it's a good strategic win, but to hurt the other person," said Aftab.
Game companies attempt to combat these issues with on-box warnings, parental controls and special task squads.” 

Well, great job to the video game developers. Parents have warned for years! If it’s somebody to blame, I would blame the parent for exposing it to their child. What I love seeing is parents purchasing a product that has violence for rated for the mature audience and letting their child(ren) play the games. Some parents are ignorant and complain about their children playing this game, even though they bought it. Parents do have the right to complain about their child(ren) playing violent games when their not in view of them playing it. The child(ren) could be playing it at their friend’s house, because his/her parent wouldn’t buy a particular game. This is not the game developers’ fault. Again, parents are ignorant. Instead of complaining to the other parent about their view of the subject, they start blaming the game developers. Thankfully, we do have a system that enables a parent to see what a game’s content has inside and what to be cautious about for the viewing audience. That system is commonly known as the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB for short).

This should not be an issue. I believe, and like many others around the world, parents should be taking responsibility for their own action. Parents should quit blaming others for once. They have been warned various times about what the content is being delivered. From what I read, there mighteven be another warning label to allow parents to see what content is in store for them. Please parents, quit complaining about your child(ren) being exposed to this. Also, thank you ABC News, your covering of this subject has made me look differently about your news coverage.