Florida finally does something right

Jack Thompson is facing permanent disbarment and a $43,675 fine!

While I wish the fine was higher, it seems the video gaming community is finally getting some justice.

Nobody's forcing M-rated games into the consoles of children. It's the parents who begged for the ratings system that are now ignoring it. No, your child is not mature enough to handle that. No, your child is not an exception, special case, unique, "mature for his/her age", etc. I'm a single 25 year old virgin and I understand that, why can't today's parents?

Personally, I'm all for legal enforcement of the age guidelines on the ratings. Why do I care if 12 year olds can't play Grand Theft Auto? They shouldn't be playing it anyway. Parents who buy these games for their kids ought to receive some sort of penalty.

As previously stated, I'm 25, any legal enforcement of the ratings that does get enacted won't affect me one bit. If I want to shoot gang members, hookers, taxi drivers, cops, and random people within a video game, I should be able to. First person shooters actually help me (and others) safely vent anger without causing harm to those around us. If I get pissed, I just fire up UT2k4 and pretend the enemy bots are people I hate. By the end of the session, I'm having more fun than anything else.

Rockstar and other companies that make M-rated games are not targeting these games at children. There is no effort whatsoever to make these games appeal to children. If you think that because it's a video game, it means that it should be appropriate for a child to play, well, you're living in the past. This is the present. There is entertainment of all types available for people of all ages. Some material is of course going to be inappropriate for certain age groups. That's just the way it is. If your 12 year old kid wants to play Grand Theft Auto, tell them no. Simple as that. If you discover your child has been playing it at a friend's house, bitch at their parents. Video games aren't at fault, bad parents are.

In the past, parents actually punished their kids. Often severely. Without worrying about possible "psychological effects" or other bullshit that the punishment might "cause". This feel-good, the-kid-is-always-right, don't-hurt-their-feelings approach to parenting is the cancer killing society.

In other news, I finally passed One on Hard in Guitar Hero 3. Twice. Four stars both times.