In today’s Hindustan Times’ City section, while Amitabh Bachchan bashes Slumdog Millionaire, another story, craftily titled “Ghajini Shocker” grabs your attention. You’d think it was about the Ghajini video game and how the Army was called in to nuke every last copy of this game, but no – sadly, no dice here. The article talks about how violence in the film has traumatically affected people – kids and their parents included. The article goes on to say that several parents were shocked and upset that Aamir Khan “disappointed” them, after his nice, kids-friendly role in Taare Zameen Par, set such high standards!

Well, we’re not a gossip rag or Bollywood blog, but the parallels to gaming are drawn yet again. Parents need to respect and understand the concept of ratings on film, music and games and restrict what comes to their kids. The same stands true for retailers and stronger enforcement is needed to make this happen. Blaming video games for violence isn’t the issue here – publishers appropriately rate a product for the age group it is intended for and this needs to be understood and implemented by parents, lawyers and retailers.

It absolutely annoys me to read how everyone takes the moral high-ground as soon as something like this happens or a whiney kid gets upset when they see a movie or play a video game, their parents knew wasn’t meant for them. How to deal with this menace of violent video games you ask? Here’s a TAP-TIP: RTFR. Yes, that’s “Read The Fucking Rating”. Can’t possibly get easier than that now, can it? So the next time your child knows that kids at school are not intended to be meat-shields.

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• mr. who Says:
  Friday, January 16th, 2009 11:14 pm GMT +5.5 at 11:14 pm

  Stupid Parent proof packaging!! best price for you!! oonly 2 dollah!!