California Tries to Ban Violent Video Games to Minors-Thank God they Failed

I head about this proposed law yesterday while listening to KGO 810 and I commented promptly as to how I believe parents are responsible for what games their children buy, not the gaming industries, the stores or even the government.

The two laws were passed in 2005, but have not been enforced yet.  Luckily, the U.S. Court of Appeals are debating if the laws were unconstitutional, despite how it might protect children from the horrors of video games.

One of my greatest fears is how laws pass “for the sake of the children”.  This is not only a dangerous tactic but a useful one as well.  I’m glad I have freedom of speech here in America and I understand it only reaches to protecting me from my government, not my work or any other private industry.  This proposed law obviously stretches to a violation of freedom of speech, even if it only proposes banning “M” rated game sales to minors.

My question is always, “What’s next?”  It seems well and good at first, protecting the children, but what is the governments definition of violence?  The video game industry already has a very harsh rating system in place to inform buyers what the ratings mean.  But, I fear if a parent if offended to how Mario smashes goombas Nintendo may have a problem with even their “E” rated games.

 

Another issue is how people presume violent video games induce violent acts.  However, there is no actual study, other then through correlation, as to how video games affect violent tendencies.  It is also very difficult to perform a random study, because people will not play a video game unless they want to, so it defeats the purpose of random selection.

With all of the acceptance and tolerance thrown around about religion, sexual preferences and other social issues, I wonder if privacy, free speech and safety are balanced now.  I think people are so concerned about being safe we forget how quickly we are loosing our Bill of Rights. 

It may just be video games for now, but I really try to think as to how it could change the larger picture of freedom of speech.  The government would love to chip away at it because it is the people’s greatest weapon against politicians. 

So, all I can say is write to the California legislature, including the governor, and tell them how you feel about these laws.  Also, don’t forget to write to your own State legislature about this and tell them you are thoroughly against any such laws prohibiting freedom of speech, even if it is for the sake of the children.

Children do not stay children forever, so don’t reduce their rights for limited safety.

E-Mail Schwarzenegger NOW! 

Earth Eternal: Power to the Credit

What first caught my eye about Earth Eternal was the point it made to having no human characters. No offense to MMORPGs and many other games, but humans are boring to play because they are average to play.

You do not have to download the game to your computer, you can, making the download time faster, but it really doesn’t matter. There are over 20 races to choose from and three body types. It’s very simple and sometimes it’s hard to see the difference between the male and female, but it has a certain charm.

There are only 4 classes to choose from: knight, rogue, druid, mage, and it doesn’t matter what race you choose, there is no benefit to having a fox as a rogue versus a bear, so it’s limited. It would be nice for them to add some advantages to the classes depending on which animal you choose, but I think they were attempting to make it simple and fun for kids.

The graphics took me back to the 90s because it reminded me of “Beast Wars”, innovative for its time, but very primitive when you compare it to WoW or Team Fortress 2. It wasn’t horrible, just a little rough and cartoony.

Controlling your character was pretty much the same as for any MMORPG, but I did not like having to click for my auto attack. It’s supposed to be auto right, so why do I have to click on it? This annoyed me and it’s really my only complaint as for character movement.

However, the major disappointment was when I spoke to a player, Slypaw Rogue, and he told me the new download made the game more focused towards buying credits. . He was a level 47 knight and felt cheated as a long-term player to how they handled credit buying, “It would take years” he wrote, “to get the good armor and weapons” for any free player.

(Another Overhyped Video)^^

It was sad to see how companies forget about the players who were there from the beginning and decided to shaft them of they fun by making money the main point within the game. There is nothing wrong with making money, but doing it tactfully and ensuring even free players can still reasonably achieve the best items is key to keeping players happy and playing.

Sadly, the small uniqueness of no human characters did not keep my interest for long especially when a company is willing to sacrifice player enjoyment for sheer cash intake. Many players are already leaving for better MMORPG pastures and I wish them luck.

MMORPGs: Stagnet Storytelling Waters

MMORPGs are very fun to play with your friends and a healthy way of escapism into a fantastic world where you can be a bloodthirsty warrior or cunning mage, without ever leaving the comfort of your home. However, I feel MMORPGs in general have slammed into a rut of repetition and I’m wondering about the ultimate future of massive online gaming.

Of course when someone hears MMORPG World of Warcraft automatically comes to mind. I personally love the storytelling and the beautiful world Blizzard created to involve gamers with world events similar to real life.

With the “Cataclysm” expansion coming out soon for WoW, everyone is excited and chatting away about the dramatic changes happening to the world. I am also excited, but I still feel like it’s just a thin cover to keep older players on while immense repetition remains.

Honestly, I forget there is even a story while I’m clicking away through quests without much concern for the outcome. My choices do not matter, I do not need to take quests, the world will do just fine without me completing the dungeon. This is where MMORPGs fail in storytelling, the world ultimately doesn’t change due to player participation.



MMORPGs are becoming stagnated in this lack of flexibility within the world. I think it’s time to change the repetitive quest and create a world where every choice can you change the environment.

Tabletop RPGs consider the player’s choices and by directly engaging players; it makes the story more personal and fun to play. Imagine if your choices on a MMORPG changed the game, it would make the story matter again and engage the player to think wisely.

It would pose new challenges to storytellers, game developers and players, but there is a surplus of creative people up to the challenge of allowing players to shape the game.

I do not believe technology is up to standard to keep up with this immense idea in MMORPGs, but when they can, whomever does it first will blow all other MMORPGs out of the water and bring life back online.



Not everyone will be happy with this new engaging idea, but there could be special servers who just support repetitive quests and flat plots. But, I believe it will re-invent MMORPGs for the better by keeping the player on their toes and playing to see how their choices change the world.