Curse

MirandaKali · Jul 08, 2008, 05:15 PM // 17:15

My thoughts on this?

Well, since you ask, I think for all the whining about how badly the game has been nerfed, what we really need to worry about are alarmists and molly-coddlers trying to nerf the the world.
It's a freakin game. Get over it. Do you worry about the possible hazards of the poor innocent children reading "Andy Capp" in the Sunday funnies? Dear lord! They could grow up to be misogynistic lushes.
Underage drinking has been around since before The Prohibition, it's not about to stop.
You want children to stop drinking till they get alcohol poisoning, your best bet is to take away it's fetish appeal. Lower the drinking age and remove the taboo. Stop treating a simple glass of wine like it's liquid sin and will make your eyeballs explode. Hell, we send our children off to war and let them cast their vote for our leaders....but they can't have a beer? Where's the sense in that?
Stop treating booze like it's crack. ('cause all humor aside..it's not) I mean come on, I'm thirty-eight, and if I forget my I.D., I can't buy a bottle of fifty dollar Shiraz. In fact, if I have a minor in line with me, I.D. or no, I can't buy booze...
So, lighten up, enjoy GW in moderation, just light you would a fine brandy, and stop trying turn the world into Disneyland.

Tyla · Jul 08, 2008, 05:15 PM // 17:15

I liek drinksh. 14 forever!!!1111!!1one! *thud*

Seriously, if the adult can't trust the kid the kid shouldn't be playing.

In the end it's the parent's responsibility more than anything else to be honest.

Kusandaa · Jul 08, 2008, 05:16 PM // 17:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trub

Hate to say it..must of the kiddies buy games with their own credit card..or go 5 finger discount...

That's another story. If they use the 5-finger-discount, they're on the bad road already...

Kids with credit cards? Kinda outta topic but what's the minimum age to have them in the US? In Canada I'm not aware, but I was able to get mine at 18 or 19... and it's a student credit with a 300 bucks limit on it. I don't think I'd have had access to it before (unless it's 16, which would make sense, or 14...)

EDIT: Then yes, the parents are responsible for what the kids buy IMO... kid is also responsible but in the end, it's up to the parent to check for it.

wynoski · Jul 08, 2008, 05:22 PM // 17:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by toastgodsupreme

QQ

Kids aren't as innocent as their parents want to think they are. I'm sure if most parents heard the way their kids talked shit in GW to other players, they'd smack the crap out of their kid.

I don't think we should be minimizing exposure. That's the wrong way to handle these things. Take me for example. I'm 25 and I just about never drink (I think the only time I've actually been drunk was while on vacation in Florida when I was 22). I grew up in a family of alcoholics and learned from their example of what NOT to do. It's about common sense. On the rare occasions I do drink, it's because I'm with friends and it's a social thing.

Teach kids about stuff early. Don't hide things from them in hopes they never find it. Because when (not IF) they do, they'll be more inclined to try it.

I drink often as an adult, but responsibly. I used to be a very mean drunk in my college years. I drank early in my life and often for the wrong reasons. I spent 18 months sober convinced I was an alcoholic.

That was 14 years ago. I resumed drinking 12.5 years ago with out any incidents. Alcohol and immaturity are bad things, but there was no GW when I was a kid. Perhaps a pirated game of Leisure suit larry had some booze in it, but it was my environemtn, not a game that led to my issues with alcohol.

No 13 year old is going out in the worldd etermined to be an incorrigible ale hound becasue of GW

Quick_Prodigy · Jul 08, 2008, 05:28 PM // 17:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stockholm

What do you think about the situation about A-Net promoting Alcohol (sale of alcohol and the title "Drunkard") in a game marketed to +12, when the general consensus in our society is that we should minimize the exposure to alcohol as much as possible. Some states even banned alchole ads in places where kids are allowed.

Any thoughts on this?

who really gives a sh!t? I can't wait till I see something about sweets and the sweets title promoting obesity.

captain_carter · Jul 08, 2008, 05:30 PM // 17:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trub

Hate to say it..most of the kiddies buy games with their own credit card..or go 5 finger discount...

kids with credit cards? perhaps somone has been drinking too much?

Even if this was true, it would still be the fault of the parents who fail to prevent their children from stealing.

I haven't seen anyone mentioning the fact that every alcoholic item in GW has the warning about intoxication, which refers both to the game and to real life.
I don't see the use of alcohol in GW as encouraging under-age drinking, your characters are adults and none of the children in GW are alcoholics. The use is also from a comic point of view, and clearly does not represent reality.

In a world where people really are concerned about this, it is not the fault of games or television, but of parents and education. If there really is a problem then it is up to parents to supervise their children, if they see something innappropriate in the game their child is playing they should stop them.

Personally, I believe a lot of the problem is lack of exposure, children see the forbidden and think that they should abuse it, preventing exposure is not the answer, in alcohol use the french have things right for once.

Kusandaa · Jul 08, 2008, 05:33 PM // 17:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by wynoski

No 13 year old is going out in the worldd etermined to be an incorrigible ale hound becasue of GW

Bad joke, but we won't need to highlight that guy to see he is; shows by itself sometimes. (See, bad joke...)

I'm 22 years old, I grew up with ripping heads off bodies and making characters bleed like they've never bled before with Mortal Kombat, or I was shooting dinosaurs with my rocket launcher on Jurassic Park. IRL, I've held a pellet gun once (was my cousin's, I was 13) and I never really wanted to kill anyone by throwing bladed hats at them.

It's not because you do it in a game that you'll do the same IRL. Give the kids some credits - the ones who believe that game = reality probably have a problem already. That's where the parents come into play; judge what your kid can stand, explain at a young age that what happens in a game or movies are nowhere near reality, and if your kid understands THEN you can let him play violent games and IMO, he's not gonna be more violent because.

ajc2123 · Jul 08, 2008, 05:36 PM // 17:36

God I hate these threads.

The game does NOT promote it. Its just there as an option, and at no point are you required to take one little drink at all to play 99% of the game. The ONLY thing you NEED it for is a title and like 2 skills. Just like in Real life, its there, and its the persons choice to do whatever you please with it. Its the PARENTS job to watch what their kids are doing and explain to them what to do. I don't give a crap is the game has crack in it, doesn't mean they PROMOTE anything.

Ugh stop censoring everything. 3 choices.

Dont watch what your kids are doing and Live with it.
Watch them and tell them and Live with it.
Or my favorite, Just Live with it!

Tyla · Jul 08, 2008, 05:38 PM // 17:38

Quote:

kids with credit cards? perhaps somone has been drinking too much?

Well I have a *sort-of* credit card which allows me access to purchasing things over the internet and taking money out of the cash machine.

Quote:

Even if this was true, it would still be the fault of the parents who fail to prevent their children from stealing.

Agreed, but that's only in the case of the parent disallowing them the usage of a card themselves. Some parents, such as my own allow me to take responsibility with things like this.

Spazzer · Jul 08, 2008, 05:39 PM // 17:39

Books don't hide alcohol use from minors. Why should a video game be held differently? It's fictional use.

Sir Earl Lionheart · Jul 08, 2008, 05:43 PM // 17:43

WHAT????!!! It is a video game!! My god is there no safe haven from PC crap??!! I grew up around cigarettes and alcohol, as did many people my age. And we all turned out just fine. Can't people just play the game without trying to find something wrong with it? Oh did you know that some people actually win in here? (It's not fair..waaah) And there are those who have a lot, and some who have nothing as well. (< class envy ) They are also killing things as well!! God this crap drives me nuts. The kids that i know that play this game only think of the alcohol as a way to achieve a title, or for it's monetary value. Just play the game....please!

lyra_song · Jul 08, 2008, 05:45 PM // 17:45

Whenever I go drinking in real life, i just turn off post-processing and nothing happens to me.

ajc2123 · Jul 08, 2008, 05:45 PM // 17:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spazzer

Books don't hide alcohol use from minors. Why should a video game be held differently? It's fictional use.

Yea I remember reading some very VERY graphics things when I was like 10 in SCHOOL with drug abuse, alchoholism, so.....video games are fine.

LMAO @ Lyra Song Good one

Spazzer · Jul 08, 2008, 05:45 PM // 17:45

You forgot to all caps and underline

(edit: @ Sir Earl Lionheart)

Ctb · Jul 08, 2008, 05:47 PM // 17:47

The fact that this could even be considered a viable discussion topic speaks volumes to just how little responsibility parents in the United States are expected to have over the rearing of their own spawns...

If your kid is more influenced in the long run by a pixelated depiction of an alcoholic drink created by a species that doesn't even exist, you are a miserable failure of a parent and you shouldn't be allowed to have children.

And if you're so overprotective of your precious little snowflake that the mere thought of him or her even sampling an alcoholic beverage while your back is turned just sends you into a fit of the vapors, maybe you ought to reconsider your choice to allow him or her to play any electronic game other than pong.

Don't mind me, just being a geezer and reminiscing about the quaint old days when people actually raised their own stupid kids and took responsibility for the results instead of just plunking them in front of a glowing idiotbox for hours on end and then whining that the brats don't grow up the way they want them to....

Quote:

kids with credit cards? perhaps somone has been drinking too much?

Pfft. Are you kidding me? Credit card companies will give an account to a dead marsupial if you give it a name and fill out the form. In case you haven't noticed, banks haven't really been keen on the whole "responsible lending" thing lately, especially not since Congress basically allowed them to handwrite their very own bankruptcy legislation a few years back.

RotteN · Jul 08, 2008, 05:47 PM // 17:47

decent parenting > exposure in games.

"But he saw it all in games and on TV" is just a bad excuse for failing parenting.

KamikazeChicken · Jul 08, 2008, 05:49 PM // 17:49

I'd let my child play, if I had one, because this isn't something worth caring about.

drago34 · Jul 08, 2008, 05:49 PM // 17:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stockholm

What do you think about the situation about A-Net promoting Alcohol (sale of alcohol and the title "Drunkard") in a game marketed to +12, when the general consensus in our society is that we should minimize the exposure to alcohol as much as possible. Some states even banned alchole ads in places where kids are allowed.

Any thoughts on this?

It's a game... It's little pixels, it's fake... get over it. Wow people take stuff way too serious.

lyra_song · Jul 08, 2008, 05:52 PM // 17:52

I think every kid needs to get plastered at least once and wake completely RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOed up, then THEYLL NEVER DRINK EVER AGAIN.

Anet, please make Drunkard characters unplayable, with permanent -20% morale.

Jenn · Jul 08, 2008, 06:13 PM // 18:13

If the audience is young enough that we should be concerned about what aNet is promoting, the parents should be stepping in and judging what game their young child is playing and making a decision from there. aNet claims on the box that there is violence, alcohol, etc. in their games, so beyond that, I don't care. What people let their kids do is not my issue.