Sjeltur

Again, after the shooting in Germany last week, the discussion did start about the effects of games, tv, music, etc on people.
As the shooter was a big fan of playing Far Cry 2 and Counterstrike – the game industry are getting the most blame for this horrible incident.

European Parliament member Toine Manders is suggesting a button on game consoles – which will shut down the system at the moment the parents hitting it (link);

17. Calls on the Commission and Member States, in cooperation with the industry, to explore the merit of developing a ‘red button’ which can be included on (mobile) consoles or game devices and computers and which disables a certain game or which can control access to a game during certain hours or certain parts of the game;

What do you think…. should the game systems get such a button…??
WHILE; for example the Xbox already has a feature – called Parental Control; you can decide if certain PEGI rated game can not be played. And you can also set certain times on which the children will be allowed to play on the Xbox. And Nintendo even has a same kind of system……

So; while the manufacturers already are implementing these features – Mr.Manders want to make this a law….

Uh… as a parent you make the decision with which game your child is playing. And all the systems do have an “off” button.
Do you want this feature to be implemented into the game-system? Only buy the ones which has it…. and also; do not forget to turn this feature on.

To me – it seems more and more that we take responsibilities away from parents.
We tell bands to not play “evil music” – we ask directors to not make “scary movies” – we ask game developers to not make “shooting games” – we ask xbox/nintendo and sony to make a “stop button”….. = I am wondering what we are asking from the parents…..

Shouldn’t it be more a “Control Parents law”…??