Old rant: video games.

[senjuro]

You do have a point, but do note you said "ol'" as in old. I would dare to say that times are a bit different.

Does that date me? Oops, I'm not THAT old. I'm only 22.

True the anime do have them, but the few I've seen seem to have been either cut or edited to remove such violence.

Very true. Any time anyone throws a punch (or slap) in Digimon Adventure, the screen cuts ahead a few frames to show the person reeling back from the blow. Tai and Matt tussle more than enough for this to be apparent. Also notable is the slap fight between Angewomon and Lady Devimon.

My girlfriend and I talk about this subject a lot, mainly because she's a teacher and has done all these child development courses and I'm on the side of kids that are supposedly being fucked up by all the violence in media these days.

I never, and I mean NEVER spent time outside playing when I was a kid. I much preferred to stay inside and play video games, watch TV, or read. The only time I ever wanted to go outside was when it was dark out (retrospectively I realize that this was due to my eyes' extreme sensitivity to light).

Anyway, if you lay my life against the template that society sets out of an anti-social gamer, there are very few congruities. My family is pretty tight, I'm well socially adjusted, moderately physically fit (though I'm taking steps to get in MUCH better shape), and have other hobbies outside gaming. I'm not irrationally violent, nor do I have any difficulty discerning reality from fantasy. I even have a girlfriend! *gasp*

How does this make sense, especially when you take into consideration that I was playing whatever games I liked: fighting games, RPG's, platformers. I still played Mortal Kombat, even though my mother didn't approve.

Here's the ticket: SUPERVISION. I spent so little time unsupervised by either my father or a sibling that I can scarcely remember a time as a kid when I wasn't playing a game with a family member around. In fact, I remember my whole family watching when I finished Super Mario Bros. 3 (I rounded them all up to witness the moment of victory!).

Kids are a lot like pets: you shouldn't have them if you don't have the appropriate amount of time to spend with them. Except you need way more time to invest in a child's life. Maybe society's demonization of the stay-at-home parent is partly to blame, maybe the horrible immagery in the media takes a share, too. But if there's NOTHING I've learned from all the stats my g/f has told me is that there's no substitute for parental involvement where children are concerned.