By Jessica Acklen
Recently, I was watching television and a commercial came on the screen.
Pictured were mothers watching a television screen of the video game being played. They expressed their disgust at the horrific nature of the game.
“Why would they even make something like this?” one of the mothers asked with a puzzled look on her face.
Each of the mothers shown expressed their disgust at the gruesome and violent images shown to them from a game called “Dead Space 2.”
The footage of their reactions to the game was used in the commercial to mimick the fact that moms were appalled.
“But if you’re telling me that this is to be some kind of joke, it’s not funny. It’s not a game. It’s a dangerous, mind-numbing, mind-altering weapon,” another mother exclaimed after being told that this was not a focus group, but footage to be used in a commercial.
Typically, I have no issue with video games that are gruesome or have M (Mature) as a rating, as long as the player is over the age of 17.
To be honest, I don’t particularly have an issue with the game itself. I wouldn’t be interested in playing it, but to each his own.
The issue that I have with this is the way in which the game was marketed. I think that, at any age, things should not be done, simply to rebel against authority, especially that of one’s parents.
Moreover, the question must be asked, who is the target audience for this video game?
If one is over 17, the legal age to purchase the game for them, they have already entered into a state of independence.
They do not need their parents to purchase the game, so the opinion of their parents probably won’t affect their decision to play the game.
This game is being marketed to children despite the fact that the game is in no way appropriate for that age group.
“I don’t understand the person that would make something like this. … What even brought this into your mind that you should make this? What brought this into your mind that you thought this was OK?” asked one of the mothers.
I think that the entire marketing scheme of the game is wrong, including the website for the game: yourmomhatesthis.com.
Even in the name of the website, the makers of the game are emphasizing the aspect of defying one’s parents.
If the game is marketed toward young players, which it seems to be, this can be a dangerous issue.
Those wanting to rebel against their parents, typically in junior high or high school, are impressionable.
God placed parents as authority over their children and it is unbiblical to encourage blatant rebellion.
I may be old-fashioned, but I believe it is wrong to glamorize something that your mother wouldn’t approve of.
Jessica Acklen is a junior double major in journalism and political science from Arlington and the A&E editor for the Lariat.
