Comments on: What Parents Should Know: PTC Alert about GTAIV

By: Jamie ! WiredParentPad

Jamie ! WiredParentPad — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:16:17 +0000

You’re right on the money there, GamerDad.

Just yesterday I posted an article on my website (wiredparentpad.com) detailing the ESRB ratings (you probably know how many parents don’t know anything about ESRB). A small piece of my article went into the Video Game Ratings Enforcement Act that our US Congress is currently reviewing. As I’m sure you’re fully aware, this would place enforcement in the hands of our government for monitoring adult-oriented games and would mandate ESRB ratings for all games. “It’s for protecting the children”, they say. As parents, isn’t that our job?

Great website, by the way. This is my first time stopping by. I caught you on the ESRB webcast and stopped by to check it out.

By: LegendaryGamer

LegendaryGamer — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:18:36 +0000

And now everyone knows why I despise the Parents Telivision Council.

1.It’s rated M.Almost every single person who plays videogames knows what the M is there for.

2.You have to be 18 or above to purchase the game.If you are NOT 18 then you must have an adult with you with a valid ID to purchase it.

3.If you see your kid playing Grand Theft Auto IV in their room and the both of you were at Gamestop the day before,you were probably not paying attention to what your kid was wanting to buy.

4.The PTC is trying to…well to simply put it,keep the game from ever being realeased(which they obviously failed at miserably).

5.It’s aimed torwards ADULTS,not CHILDREN.If you don’t want your son/daughter playing the game,don’t buy it.It’s that simple.

Sorry for the very long comment.

By: DaRkRai

DaRkRai — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:38:14 +0000

DormOnkey
April 28th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
This is awesome – c’mon everybody Digg this, Spam this, send links to every game site imaginable!!!! Slashdot it! Do it! Parents need to know which “watchdogs” are liars!!!!

DormOnkey what’s the piont? Won’t really do any good. The best think you can do is just tell people about it. I meen come on. Spam?!? Why spam. just send the link to your friends. Then let the rest do it’s job.

Right gamerdad?

By: James

James — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:26:08 +0000

I think the core of the problem is that a large chunk of the populace over, say, 50? still views “video games” as the purview of “kids”. Granted, once you reach that age, “kids” can actually mean 25-year-olds, but I think it’s hard for a lot of older people to wrap their minds around the idea of a product that’s called a “video game” but is designed *only* to be played by “grown-ups”. Your write-up might help with that a little, but I think the only way to really solve the problem is to wait until the elderly demographic has some gamers in it, and that’s not going to happen until after 2020 or later.

By: Steve S

Steve S — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 01:36:47 +0000

Grossman is unreliable in my book. Some of his data from “On Killing” was very faulty. IIRC, some of the studies he referenced had been ‘disproven’ decades ago and he never mentioned anything about this. He makes a very good living doing the lecture circuit and as a safety consultant. While this doesn’t make him automatically unreliable, it makes me suspect his motives.

By: DJ

DJ — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 01:30:18 +0000

I do think that this game should not be sold to children but I feel like this site is giving off way too much of a negative vibe, you know? Here, it’s mainly being aware, but PTC seems like it’s using scare tactics like the news.

By: DormOnkey

DormOnkey — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:00:21 +0000

This is awesome – c’mon everybody Digg this, Spam this, send links to every game site imaginable!!!! Slashdot it! Do it! Parents need to know which “watchdogs” are liars!!!!

By: Some Guy

Some Guy — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:23:27 +0000

They also called the game “GTA IV: Liberty City” quite a few times in that warning which suggests that their knowledge of the game is limited and that they’re not very reliable people when it comes to advice.
And, of course, there are all the other problems which you mentioned.

By: Mike Anderson

Mike Anderson — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:27:33 +0000

I think it always hurts an argument when you pad it out with lies and misinformation.

I also agree that this game is likely not for kids, yet it is interesting reading in “Grand Theft Childhood” how many 12 – 14 year olds are playing the games in the series! Yet that shouldn’t shift the responsibility to ‘big brother’ to clamp down on things, I still think it belongs with parents!