Diablo 3 Lead Designer: Gore OK for Kids

I think I turned out just fine...think being the key word of course.

Why is this making news? In the end it's all about the relationship between the child and his/her parent(s). Has America fallen to the point where this needs to be publicized? Common sense doesn't exist anymore, right?

The title should read:
Diablo III lead designer: Gore OK for HIS kid.

Other parents may object, but they better not object to the developer. If you don't want your kid playing it, don't let them get the game.

I was raised on video games, and im a sane, fully functional member of society and live a happy successful life...i dont see a problem with what he lets his daughter play.

Jay Wilson lets his child play the game now. The games rating content is ok for children. Single player in other words. The problem however is interacting with others. No child should play this game online.

In response to your question, because there are a whole lot of overzealous idiots out there (you have heard of Jack Thompson???) who don't agree with the rational point you have made. And to some extent, parents don't pay enough attention to what their kids play to make a decision of any kind. Go into any game store and sit there for an hour, you will see this first hand. Common sense does exist but I think that it's in short supply.

I was raised with video games, I'm a gamer from the age of 7, used to play Pong on the "original console" and lot's of games on Amiga ZX spectrum, and played lot's of games since 286 pc's era, violent or non violent.

I've never had any violence issues (except for minor fights as kid, that are inevitable), and guess why? because of my education. My father told me to never hit a girl in my life because the day I do that I won't be a man anymore and I never did it even when I was a child playing with children, my father told me not to mess up with the wrong people and never do what they do, and I listened, because I had great respect for him all my life ...

So, its' not the games, it's the education, a good childhood and nice parents that determine how you act on violence, not the games ...

Sometime i feel like restictions should not be based on age but rather maturity of people - parents in that matter and how much attention they pay to their kids. But how can this be mesaured...

yeah... i hate misleading headlines like these. The title is obviously false since its generalizing one`s parent relationship with his child. It reminds me of why i no longer read yahoo`s new :S

i have no problem with my 8 yr old son playing games like ut 3, crysis, prototype, most first person shooters in general, and other games featuring violence... he knows he cant do these things for real, and does very well... i do not let him play games like gta4 that feature heavy drug use, use of language, and sex.... not that he wont learn about these things in time, but i do not believe he would know how to interperet these things.... some may say the same for violence, but he sees that on the news every day.

And yet if a game (or movie) contains a naked boob even in a non-sexual context all these "enlightened parents" would cast it out as the most heinous thing on earth.

But dismemberment and intentionally causing physical pain is perfectly fine for the tweens ...

Actually I have a problem with your son "playing" Crysis. Can't play tech demos!

Never understood how people could say super fake gore at almost comical people exploding full of blood in movies and video games make people more violent, let alone how changing the color from red to green or purple or something would decrease that effect on the mind.

I'll consider it to have a real effect on violent dispositions when people in games and the blood etc looks real and not more comical to me at least, parents don't want their kids to be violet consider talking to your freakin kid and playing games with him instead of leaving them in their room with a computer or something for 9 hours a day.

A premature article generalizing the whole kid population's views with just a single nod from a kid. Unless you've done a survey or research, statements like "Gore OK for kids" cannot be assumed.

If intentionally killing people is cool, then I suppose that harmless personal behavior like having sex with one's girlfriend or smoking a joint or even choosing a word like "shit" instead of saying "poop" or "feces" is even cooler. I don't have a problem with violence in video games, but the people who decide what should be censored in this country ought to be taken in for a psychiatric evaluation.

blaming violent video games is the only thing crappy parents do instead of blaming themselves for the way their kids turn out. As for me both my kids are killing each other on hl2 with my wife and their really nice kids,crazy wife though (god damn i love her.

I played the american and euro version of the Witcher, the only difference between them was once you have sex with a girl, the sex card that you get(a portrait) for the act sometimes has a nipple. Its a sad world in which the drugs, alcohol, prostitution, violence and gore in that game are trumped by something you would find in an art book at the local library.

I'm not crazy, am I?
Haven't killed anyone due to the extremely violent games I've played since I was 5 (duck hunt!).
I also haven't raped anyone due to sexual content (hot coffe anyone?) or straight up porn (saw my first playboy when I was about 5).


HOWEVER...
Some people are quite impressionable...

My favorite games during my early- and mid-teens were Soldier of Fortune 1 & 2 and Fallout 1 & 2. Probably lots of other violent games too, just can't remember them anymore. However, I also enjoyed point-and-click games like Day of the Tentacle and Flight of the Amazon Queen (those were the days =). And yes, I've also played Duck Hunt when I was around 6. Still haven't killed anyone though. There's probably something wrong with me. *sarcasm*

Over-gratuitous? Isn't that redundantly redundant?

kids these days seem weird enough, maybe some gore will help them . FACE the facts .

I know im weird but not cause of the games. Birth deffect, lets say lol... This whole thing with game violence will never be controlled properly and its REALLY up to the parentysand only if they are checking on their kids the way they should if they dont want them playing adult games just as much as its up to them if they want them watching adult movies at home. If you dont and yet they do , im sorry if you are lazy to check on ur own kid.

I recently went round to a friends house and they have a 3 year old son. They were at their wits end because everything is now a lightsaber and gets swung around knocking everything over in sight. He got this because Star Wars is a U rated film series and apparently suitable for all irrespective of age or emotional development, his parent just put him in front of it and let him watch with no thought whatsoever. Here is a list of reasons why this was stupid:-

1. Obi Wan cuts off some dudes arm in a bar
2. Han Solo blows Greedo away in cold blood
3. Jawas bodies strewn around after a massacre
4. The Lars's burnt corpses at the moisture farm
5. Vader force choking people to death

Ok, so its not exactly the Texas Chainsaw massacre but try to understand that the ESRB when they give rating to games it is the same as films. The idea is these are guidelines not rules and maybe an 18 rated product could be shown to someone youger if the parent thinks they can handle it. As far as the above case with Star Wars goes, even if a film is U rated the parents should watch it and make a judgement call if it is appropriate for their kids consumption.

If anyone thinks that boiling down a simple rating system is going to cover everything that is suitable for kids they are fooling themselves and if parents want to protect their kids from graphic content they should spend less time trying ban things and more time screening content their kids are subjected to. Dont rely on the ESRB to act as parents, thats YOUR job.

If you are going to let your kids play an M rated game. Just tell them why it's rated M and that it's just a game. It's not real and that it is in no way acceptable to act as characters do in a video game.

Basically you just need to stress that the game is not real and that and that the world we live in is not like the game. You can't shoot people or hit people with an axe etc... Sit down and talk to them they are probably smarter than you think... ALTHOUGH! Some kids are very immature and are prone to violent behavoir or living out fantasy in real life. You ultimately need to be the judge to decide if you child can understand the differences. If they may take it out of the game into real life. If the game doesn't have cartoonish violence and it is quite graphic then you may want to keep them from playing it especially if it is a game that very realistic and graphic.

I would let my kids play Diablo 3 if they were interested. It's very fantasy like and the gore/violence is very cartoonish.

^ yeah i agree

all those ratings are adult nonsense. games cant replicate real violence in anyway.

I play violet games and I used to play violent games when I was 13! even mature and 18+ and all the high rated titles

Mature-rated games is 18+, not 9.
There should be an option to turn gore and blood off.

However, it's not about games... it's the kids and how they are (genetic, mentally challenged or insane?) and how they grow up (friends, family etc).

It comes down to how well you raise your kids. If they are well rounded and taught from a very young age the difference between right and wrong then you don't find very many issues with them.
These idiots that can't tell the difference between a game and real life are the ritalin laced, mushbrained morons that their parents created by not being a parent.
Stop looking to the schools, government, prescription drugs, television and everyone else to raise your kid. Show some interest in their life and be there and steer them through life. Don't raise an egotistical asshole that walks on the backs of everyone around them. Raise someone with morals and values and show them the right path and punish them for walking the wrong path. I was raised correctly and have no desire to yank someone out of a car and blow their head off with a shotgun because I play GTA

I remember parents sueing Rockstar for their child killing someone and said because GTA taught me how. I really would like to know how the courts let this even happen, the parents need to be thrown into jail and/or shot.

We don't need dumb people raising our children netherless reproducing.

It's up to the parents to control their on kids. If they fail at parenting then they should fail at life and pay for it.

Its not up to the Game Developer to pay for gore on and off. it's up to the parent to be an adult and take control.

Whats the key word in this posting????

CONTROL!

Indeed.

However... just keep in mind that some kids may not be happy about that. Remember the news that a kid shot his parents because they locked up his game concle from him.

Think about how many times we said "I hate you" to our parents when we were a kid... the dirfference is that now some/few kids may actually put that in action... >_<

It may only be the special and extreme case... but.... things do happen

sad.... isn't it?

When I grow up I want to be able to cause my enemies to explode in a colorful red spray. I've tried this several times, but I must not be a high enough level yet? If SpongeBob has taught me anything though, it's that you can rip people in half, and if you slide the pieces back together, they're fine. Which is why I go around ripping people in half.

I've been playing M games since I was 8 and came well for me, is all about the child and parent communication, some kids are more susceptible to violent content than others, they don't know the concept of "game" and reality.