Episode 79: The Rating's There For A Reason

    When I was a kid, my parents didn't let me have M-rated games. I had plenty of E-T, but my parents didn't let me get any M. As such, my only way of playing M-rated games was when I hung out at a friend's house and I got to play Halo or Ninja Gaiden or something. I remember begging my parents to let me get Mortal Kombat: Armageddon and them refusing after seeing how profusely gory it was. I believe my first M-rated game was Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, and I only got that after literally writing my parents an essay on why they should let me get it, saying that it's educational because it's set during the American Revolution and there's a setting to turn the blood off. 

    Likewise, they didn't let me watch R-rated movies as a kid. For the most part. I would have to get permission first. I distinctly remember calling my dad while in the bathroom for permission to watch Blade. 

    Do I fault my parents for not letting me play M-rated games or watch R-rated movies? Absolutely not. Kids are not supposed to do those things. "M" means "mature" and "R" means "restricted" for a reason - the content is not suitable for children. Children should not be exposed to gore, sex, drugs, language, and other adult stuff. 

    The problem nowadays is parents want internet and the media to raise their kids for them. They don't monitor what their child consumes and then get mad when they see something they don't like. It's like, then why did you let little Timmy get the new Black Ops? It's rated M for a reason!

   The problem isn't all the media out there. The problem is that parents think that the world should conform to them and their child so they can be lazy. Don't want your kid to see bad stuff? Then don't get them the bad stuff!

    The ratings are there for a reason. If you wanna let your kids play M games and watch R movies, then that's fine. But make sure you know why they have that rating and make an informed decision on if you want your kid to be exposed to that. Know what you're letting them get themselves into. Then you won't get mad. Or, at least, you'll have no reason to be. Same thing goes with those "patental advisory" warnings on albums. Also, parental controls exist so your kid doesn't accidentally find porn or torture footage or something online.

    I think you get the gist of it. Games and movies are given a rating on them for a reason. Don't disregard that rating. 

Anyway, see you next week!