Ok, this Frumpy Middleage Mom blog about video games being invented by the devil is making the rounds on the blogs currently, with the expected outrage from gamers. I’m trying to figure out if this woman is actually serious, but for the sake of argument, let’s say she is. Obviously, as a writer on a gaming-friendly website for parents, I’m going to have differing opinions from those of Ms. Fisher. And for the most part, I find her comments rather innocuous, and dismiss them as the writings of a somewhat out-of-touch parent who simply doesn’t understand gaming and finds it easier to simply not allow her kids to play them. Her overall intentions are commendable, if perhaps a little misguided, but relatively harmless in the grand scheme of things. Unfortunately, a couple of inflammatory comments attracted the attention of gamers, and generated way more hits for her than she probably expected, or deserved for that matter. (Check the dates of the comments. There’s one comment on the 27th, and then a tidal wave starting on January 5th, which is when the first blog entries from gaming sites started appearing. In this case, the first I saw was from Stephen Totilo of Kotaku.)

This is where I get concerned, though. The inflammatory comments made were uninformed, and along the lines of the same tired anti-gaming arguments we’ve come to know and love. Some of the “highlights”. . .

I truly believe that video games were created by Satan to turn otherwise normal children into his drooling, glassy-eyed stooges.

Lovely. Second paragraph, and she brings religion into things. As you can imagine, some commenters were all over this one. The only thing that would have been worse was replacing “Satan” with “Obama”. I’m reminded of a quote from one of my favourite animated characters of all time, Principal Cinnamon J. Scudworth from Clone High. He was having a dinner at his house for all of his shadowy figure bosses (who were considering killing him). After a few moments of awkward silence he broke the ice with this classic line, “So, religion is for fools, eh? Fools and LIBERALS!”

Leave me alone. I loved Clone High.

Problem here is that we could have done without the religion aspect, even if it is Satan we’re talking about. It immediately framed Ms. Fisher as a crazy religious crackpot, which, fair or not, will discredit her in the eyes of many folks out there. Not a great start.

Anyways, after some more typical harmless “I don’t like video games” stuff, she of course decides to mention the easiest target in the world, Grand Theft Auto. Specifically, the Boston Herald story about the mom who called 911 when her kid wouldn’t stop playing GTA. She rails on GTA for a little bit before moving on to handhelds, but can’t leave well enough alone and comes back to GTA near the end of the piece with. . .

What are the kids who play “Grand Theft Auto” learning? How to be carjackers? How to be pursued by police? Those are skills I really want my children to acquire.

Sigh. First, GTA? Really? Can’t these anti-gaming folks come up with something original for once? Seriously, how hard is it to bring up Grand Theft Auto constantly when campaigning against video games? Never mind that that one game makes up maybe 0.1% of the games that are out there (albeit a very popular and money-making 0.1%), but instead of finding some other, perhaps more original examples, just drag out the easy target that everybody’s ragged on already. How original. Second, she asks what the kids who play GTA are learning (saying Newton would have never discovered gravity if he’d been playing a DS). Well, they’re learning that they have negligent parents, because, well, KIDS SHOULD NOT BE PLAYING GTA. Your children shouldn’t acquire those “skills” because the game is rated M for Mature, so they shouldn’t be playing the darn thing. But, railing on GTA is so much easier than monitoring what your kids are playing, isn’t it?

Finally, she discusses kids playing handhelds. . .

I see kids walking around, oblivious to the world, with those hand-held video games everywhere I go. On one horrible afternoon that scarred me for life, I even saw a kid walking out of the public library playing a Nintendo DS.

Okay, I’m GIVING her this one. Kids do become oblivious playing DS and what not. Oldest Son is like this. Of course, when he does get like that, that’s about the time where I yank the thing out of his hand, give him a flick on the ear to get his attention, or raise my voice a bit to show I mean business. And if he’s been playing too long, that’s my fault as a parent, something I will readily admit and address. By the way, playing the DS walking out of the library is funny, in a sad kind of way.

It’s easy to come out and brag about how you don’t allow video games in your house. I just wish she’d have chosen some better speaking points than bringing out Satan and ragging on Grand Theft Auto (comments that will inflame the gaming community fairly quickly). In fact, partly because of that, I still am not 100% convinced this was all serious. But assuming she’s not just being clever here, it’s too bad that she’s denying her kids something they obviously would like to do, simply because of some ingrained beliefs that she probably heard from other talking heads who’ve railed on gaming in the past. Which, again, is taking the easy way out. Perhaps Ms. Fisher, like these talking heads, believes that she doesn’t have the parenting chops to actually monitor and control what her kids play. You know, which requires some work and effort, instead taking the easy way out and just banning games altogether.

Which, as we know, ALWAYS works.