Archive for February, 2007

So I was in a Gamestop yesterday buying an extra nunchuck for the Wii (I plan on getting Wii Play which comes with a remote), and I overheard this conversation:

[GSEmployee] Ma’am, you do realize that Call of Duty 3 is Rated T?
[Lady] I don’t know, is that appropriate for a 13 year old boy? Is it violent?

as a side note here, this lady was completely clueless that call of duty was a WAR gam, about WAR, where you SHOOT people. Now, I don’t play the Xbox 360, and haven’t really ever seen Call of Duty, but I could figure out from the pictures PICTURE OF A GUY SHOOTING A GUN ON THE FRONT OF THE BOX STANDING IN FRONT OF A WARZONE that yeah, maybe it was a little violent.

[GSEmployee] Well, you have a chainsaw on the end of your gun that you can use to slice open the enemy and you’ll see their entrail rendered in 3d.
[Lady] Is that bad?

…I shit you not, she said that. That’s where I broke in. I wanted her not to get it at this point simply because she’s stupid enough to be shocked when she sees the kid playing it 3 months later that it has blood and then sue the store or something retarded.

[me] Excuse me ma’am, to help you put it in context, think of it as an R rated movie.
(side note, a PG-13 movie would be a better comparison, but she probably wouldn’t comprehend.)

[lady] I don’t know- is that bad? some [r-rated] movies are different…

At this point I’m flustered because she’s just NOT getting it. either she doesn’t want her son exposed to this kind of violence, or she does, but she doesn’t appear to have the mental capacity to infer what a violent R rated movie would be, so I come up with the best example as I can on the spot.

[me] Think of it like this- would you let your son watch The Predator?

[lady] well I wouldn’t even watch that….

(Then get a fucking clue!)

[lady] So it’s violent?

(I give up)

[me] Yes [turning to the kid to apologize] Sorry bud, [turning to the clerk] I hate to bust you guys on a sale, but yeah, the game is probably too violent.

[GSEmployee] hey, that’s cool- I’d rather not have it sold than deal with mad parents

[lady] ok Georgie, lets not get Call of Duty, ok?… [acting excited] how about Open Season instead instead!

The son, the GSEmployee and myself all hang our heads in defeat of this clueless mom who pretty much proved she had no idea what her 13 year old son liked or wanted.

My parents were pretty good about video games, and as I raise Ian, I’m gonna try to put in that extra effort to pay attention to what my son likes. Growing up as a gamer and dealing with the stigma has had an effect on me, and I don’t want to end up like this clueless idiot lady.