Dr. Phil, violent videogames, and Mr. Thompson

We have confirmation. Jack Thompson will be appearing on the Dr. Phil show, which instead of focusing on game violence, will now examine role-play addiction. "They have a girl who has that problem," Thompson said.

"That problem?" The nerve. Now it's going to be a showcase of this poor girl, and the story will be warped to make all gamers look like we're all hopeless addicts.

It's times like this that remind me of the South Park Movie: everyone going to war because of the negative effects of digital media/entertainment. Watch this video, but replace "Canada" with "videogames."


Movie plot: The South Park boys have sneaked into the R-rated Canadian Terrance and Philip movie, and picked up a slew of swear words. Now the South Park parents are planning to do something about the movie that "corrupted" their children.

Let me explain my reasons for posting this clip. If you're not familiar with South Park, its charm lies in it’s ability to satirize the current political/popular climate and other events, but it does so in a way that is crude, rude, typically offensive and simultaneously appealing to those who enjoy rampant potty humor. But South Park has some good points, and some episodes even have a moral.

When the South Park movie came out (1999), I didn’t pay any attention to it because having never seen a South Park episode at that point in my life it didn’t really interest me. So, years later, I watched it at college one night with some friends. I laughed at the hyperbolic scenarios it used to point out societal truths, winced at the more disturbing jokes and almost cried at one point. (For some reason, animated films hit me much harder than non-animated.)

And yet, the movie highlighted something that is very pertinent to the violence and gaming issue—how caught up adults can get in “protecting the children” while at the same time, they stop listening to what their children actually want and have to say. (i.e. Kyle’s mom is leading the army of parents against the vulgar humor presented in the Terrance and Phillip Show, where Kyle just wants his overbearing and over-protective mom to stop fighting everyone.)

Maybe our kids don’t need to be so “protected” (I wish I could say I was a parent and had some credo on this, but then again, I’m nineteen and kids aren’t in the near future for me ^_^;; ), at least by government measures. By watching my aunts raise my little cousins, seeing parents and their kids at the pool while lifeguarding and just observing life in general, I know America has plenty of capable parents. That’s why I believe, as far as children and videogames, the power to decide what their kids should and can play should lie in the parents’ hands.

Use the ESRB system (and more), look at online reviews, play games with your child. Only you can protect videogames from being banned.