They don't like our Games

I asked before if being against free speech in video game development was a liberal or conservative thing. In my opinion it is neither, it is a generational thing where both parties tend to attack the hobby of the young in misguided cultural warfare. Just as my grandparents generation hated watching as much TV as my parents generation (and my parents themselves) do. Well now it is time for the Boomer generation who are totally addicted to way too much sex and violence on television and in movies to complain and pretend the world is ending because we have half as much in the interactive environments of video games. But somehow it is worse because kids are interacting with the virtual environment rather than staring blankly and closed-mindedly at the television.

President Obama has been one of the repeat offenders urging people to be more active by putting down their Wii (The video game system in his family is a Wii) and ... prowling the streets or something. So message to Youth, get off the streets and go indoors where we expect you to put down your video games and go outside.



Maybe it would be slightly easier to take if Obama was really more concerned about setting a healthy example for his own children. Like by showing proper bicycle safety (his daughters and one other are wearing helmets in the picture) or... not smoking.

But Obama is not the current offender getting me riled up. Those awards would go to the Socialist government of Venezuela and the conservative PajamasTV. The first one is just continuing their waves of censorship of all media because they might contain a subversive message that says something almost critical of the government. The second is a bunch of old guys trying to typecast the young guys with guilt by association.

Venezuela isn't all bad, as they crack down more and more they make more and more enemies. Now they're going after the pasttime of the army and in so it wouldn't surprise if they seal the fate of their own evil government. Yes, power and wealth in Venezuela are gained by working for the corrupt Chavez government... but the other side has more fun. That administration's days are numbered as they just get more and more fanatic.

The PJTV guys are the ones I expect better of. The conservatives are not aging well and they wonder why young people go to folks like Jon Stewart rather than those who tell them they're evil because some kid of their generation (and might we say probably from an abusive family or other bad situation that had nothing to do with game playing) threw a tantrum. I'm not trying to make Gamers out to be saints, 2 minutes on the World of Warcraft forums will show you there isn't a lot of maturity there... but there usually isn't among the 11 year old crowd and online anonymity can only make that worse. But these kids grow up, they learn that even while anonymous their bad behavior has repercussions and has disadvantages. I'm glad we have these online worlds because we're making more socially advanced kids out of it. They're learning about adults and adult social behavior and they're learning about the fallout of bad behavior in a way that is less damaging than reality.

Mark my Words: This MMO generation is going to be a lot more socially aware than the Boob Tube Gen... I'm sorry the... "Boomer"Generation that is mocking them across the old media spectrum.