In the part 2 of the article I posted last night, I mentioned a big
misconception/lie, that says that violent games are being marketed to
kids... How did this misconception form?
You get idiotic parents
complaining when violent games are being shown in stores where kids can
see them every now and then, and even lawsuit threats. Part of the lie
comes from this, people think that since kids are in stores that sell
violent games the industry is marketing them to the kids. But I think a
bigger reason is another misconception I see. This one says that the
ESRB is legally bound to enforce their ratings at stores, based on
various laws passed in states that would fine stores for selling violent
games to minors. The issue is that ESRB is a voluntary rating system,
they do not have anything to do with whether the stores enforce the
ratings or not. They have absolutely no say in that. But according to
the people watching the idiotic media, the laws force them to do so...
The
ESRB was formed after congress hearings declared the industry was good
enough to police themselves.. They formed to rate content and put
descriptions on boxes for parents to read. In no way shape or form are
their ratings GOVT enforced. They do not get punished when violent games
get sold to minors, rightfully so. It isn't their fault. They just
write the ratings. It's the bad store policies that let the violent
games get in the kids hands. Some people become paranoid over this and
then start to blame the industry, thinking it's some grand
conspiracy.... It's not...
Due to that misconception which is
spread like wildfire, and another one that says MPAA ratings are also
GOVT enforced, you get people who complain when they hear about violent
games being sold to kids, and they think, that the games are marketed to
kids. It isn't so. The demographic on violent games is 20+ year olds.
Not 10, not preteens, not 9 year olds, not toddlers, none of that. A
study by the ESA found that the average age of gamers is 34! So that
debunks that part...
Just thought I would like to comment on this.
