the internet *sighs*

trends used to take about 20 years to go full cycle.. look around you, bell bottoms and polyester is coming back in style , but on the net, its 6 to 12 months. we had a major debate about this very subject?? a year ago maybe. i figure we will start discussing guns and school kids next.

i was just at wal-mart, i passed a 4 foot tall stack of shot gun shells stacked in the isle for sale, told the wife, "if my british buddies could see that pile they would freak"

yup shotgun shells are available with no problems purchasing them.

i wasn't trying to derail it to guns, i was commenting on how we talk/post in cycles.. i figure we will have a school shooting thread pretty soon.

I think that with society violence is just an everyday thing (especially in "blow 'em up" America). I find it very irresponsable that parents let their kids play voilent games. I was extrelely pissed off seeing a 12-14 year old waiting in line with his dad at 12:00 midnight for Halo 2. For one why is the kid out so late, and why is he playing a game like that?

Kids play and watch violent things......there is no stopping that, but do they really understand whats going on in these violent games/movies? No they dont, they only get half the things.

Like in Halo 2, do you think a 10-14 year old understands the politics behind the covanent? No thats why these games/movies are not cut out or them, because they are designed for a more adult audience. The drive for these children is to be one of the adults, and be part of that adult world makes them feel good.

Games like GTA push the line to its breaking point. Whats the difference between violence and action? Blowing up cars is action, but taking a base ball bat and hitting a random person to the ground and beating them from there is flat out violence. And that is where I have always drawn the line in video games when I was young (Although there were not that many out when I was 10-14 years old). Im not trying to make anyone mad here, I just think it IS irresponsable to sell/advertise violent games to kids.

Reno you are my Hero for writing to them and bringing that fact to their attention. Perhapse you should write again, telling play.com that kids know how to order stuff with credit cards online these days. Does play.com know whether George W. Bush is buying HL2 or whether it Jr. George W. Bush buying the game? NO THEY DONT.

You don't think a high school freshman can handle playing Halo 2 and being out at midnight?

my children are not permitted to play any games i do not approve of, so far we have not found one.

the point is though, my children understand real vs. gaming. i dunno if there truly is any other point to be made, but i feel this one should be most important if there is another reason.

my wife and i decided before we began a family that if the child were old enough to ask, they deserved an honest answer, one dependent on the age of the child of course. we are not going to describe how many strokes it takes to achieve orgasm for instance, but we will describe wombs and its roll in child birth.

anywho's, i have noticed a distinct lack in parenting in regards to what children learn from the parent. the very person who should govern the childs knowledge is slipping on the job. the child has no recourse but to seek alternate input, usually from peers.

anywho's i feel a child can play any game out there with the proper preparations mentally in place... if a child knows a head shot kills in real life and be made to understand exactly how damned long dead lasts, thats all they need to know to be able to function as a person.

/ 2 cents