Rant: Rated M Video Games and Their Detractors (NSFW)

I'm going to take a little break from our regular program today to talk about a very important subject for me. I'm a gamer. I've been a gamer for pretty much as far back as I can remember. I consider myself a normal person, not more aggressive than the next. Also, I am not writing this from my very own jail cell, so I guess I haven't committed any violent crimes recently. Before I say anything more, I want to make sure everyone's on the same page here: Rated M games are for adults. Parents who's children are playing rated M games aren't doing their job... there's a reason for the whole rating system, after all. The following post may contain some graphic text, so I'm flagging it as Not Safe For Work (NSFW) and rated M (or R, whichever you prefer). Keep reading for more...

The reason why I'm taking time off from Project moreADS and the rest of my work is because of Kevin McCullough. Go ahead, click on the link. It's a pretty short article, and I'll still be here when you come back. Here's what he has to say, in a nutshell:

• Mass Effect is evil;
• Mass Effect is a work of pornography, where the main character can engage in sexual relations with any female character, at any time he so chooses;
• Mass Effect is marketed towards fifteen year-old boys;
• Mass Effect is "pushing our next generation of young men through the gates of hell as fast as is humanly possible";
• I am stupid (not actually in the article, but worth a try).

Some of you may remember that I received Mass Effect for Christmas last month. I've only just started playing with it (3-4 hours in), but I must say this: I'm rather disappointed. Where is all the free sex that Mr. McCullough advertised? I've tried pointing every single button (even combinations!) on that XBOX controller towards that Ashley girl I saved on Eden Prime, with no success. You'd think that being her hero and all would've helped me out a bit!

Character customization is also quite developed in Mass Effect. If I wanted to, I could even play as (gasp!) a woman. That got me thinking, though. If I decide to play as a female character, does that mean that I have to engage in sexual relations with any and all male characters that approach me, whether I find them cute or not?

As I haven't played long enough to reach the "sex scene" yet, I've done a little research. Actually, I recommend you do it too, it'll be good for you. Hit up YouTube and use your imagination. You'll see there's not much to hide. Nothing graphic, just suggestions of what is actually going on. I would agree against showing this to young children, but you have to be honest... there's nothing here you don't see in three quarters of all the PG13 movies out there.

That brings me to another point. Mr. McCullough suggests this game is marketed towards fifteen year-old boys. I'm sorry, Kevin, but you're wrong. If you would've taken about two and a half seconds to research your facts beforehand, you would've noticed that this game is rated M for Mature. That means this game is marketed only towards adults (however young they may be, up here in Canada they're allowed to vote). It also means that no child, pre-teen or teenager can purchase this game without an adult. Who's to blame now if his son is playing Mass Effect? BioWare? I think not. He is to blame. If he wasn't so busy making up phony articles about games he doesn't know about, maybe he would know what his kid was doing right now. I do.

Mass Effect is nothing more than an excellent science fiction game. It has action, it has romance. It even has people (gasp!) dying. The game was designed for adults, hence it was marketed (and restricted to) adults. Period.

I've taken this particular article out of the mass (no pun intended), but there are so many other situations where some know-it-all will come and blame all the world's problems on video games.

• It's the video games' fault I got bullied at school (back in 1934);
• It's because of video games that we don't have peace on Earth;
• Video games made me vote for George W. Bush. Again;
• If it weren't for video games, I would still have my balls (or ovaries, no offense).

That means you too, Jack Thompson. If only these people, who still manage to get talked about and appear on national television, would take the time to face facts, they'd see that video games are for entertainment. There are different kinds of video games, as there are also several kind of movies. Some are suitable for children, others are meant for adults. Luckily for us, and for our children, especially, the latter are rated appropriately. If only our children's parents would read the label...

Sorry for the long rant. We'll be back on Thursday with our regular programming.

/rant