Help Out 202play: Art Auction

Need Christmas gifts for the person who has it all? Check out the 2o2play Art Auction Forum. Note that bidding has NOT started yet, but you can see all the pieces. One of the pieces is a custom work by BatmanKM. I know what I want done if I can convince the man I deserve it.  I would want a Ms Marvel (she IS my comic alter ego...) playing xbox. How funny is THAT? so who is your comic book alter ego, and why? And if you could commission a pic from Bat, what would you have done?

I'm Ms Marvel, cause I look like her.  I just do.  I also kick ass and throw energy beams from my hands.

Erica's Musical tastes...

Not bad... not great. She likes stuff with lots of harmony, boppy music. Think surf music: I forsee a Beach Boys CD in her immediate future. So beach boys or anything that mentions a duck.  Any suggestions on stuff that is kiddo friendly, lots of harmony other than Beach Boys? I am sadly clueless when it comes to music.  Her favorite song right now is called "speed Turtle" it's a kids song recorded by Brian Wilson (yep that Brian Wilson). Google it... it's kinda cute.

Oh: when I say she prefers music, I mean it. She will tell you. "Eh-i-tah want better music"

Sick and tired of.. well... you know

being sick and tired.  Yes I am sick again. Head all stuffy and sore. Throat swollen. Nose gummed up. The only bright side?  I slept in until noon, then played a bit of fallout. all in my jammie jams.

soon though I will have to get up and get dressed... and as much as I love Erica to bits, it's hard being"up" for her when I am so down.  Not that things are bad, it's just being sick is the suxxors. Do you guys know if anything like echinecia actually works? Anything to prevent sick from happening (other than hand washing and genral hygeine)

let me know...

JC

Bragging about my man!

Erica is going to go in for her flu shot REALLY soon, but I won't be able to get one with her... cause I am sick (again) yuck.

But enough about me. My man's blog was picked up by the Score. The Score is um... sorta like ESPN, but not affiliated. Maybe like FoxSports or something like that. And my man's blog (called Down Goes Brown) is about the Toronto Maple Leafs.  So, take a look, and you will all understand why I sometimes get down about my own pathetic writing ability: Sean is really talented.  And gorgeous. And is my best friend.  I sometimes take him for granted, so I want to take this time to tell everyone how much I am crazy about my sweetheart. 

Or maybe this is all the fever talking.

Gamers: Are we a sensitive lot? Do we need to grow some?

Came across a site called "what they play": a site for parents to learn about videogames. The site is fairly unbiased and factual from what I read. For instance the 7 things you should know about Fallout 3 are absolutely true. Basically, it's rated M, it's violent, there are drugs (but not "real" ones), it's open and it takes a really long time to play. It's not for all kids. GTA, they explain the concept of a sandbox game, and explain the violence and sex. Again: it's very fair: in regards to the sex, they expalin that you never actually see full nudity, or see graphic sex, but that's it's all a fade to black with funny commentary. They even mention how Nicko makes self depricating comments about his own life after sex with a prostitute. Here's a quote about Mirror's Edge:

Mirror’s Edge has been rated “T” by the ESRB, and carries descriptors of “Blood,” “Language,” and “Violence.” The blood is shown during combat, and if Faith is shot or hit by any of her pursuers the player’s view of the game is blurred, dulled, and there is a flash of blood seen. There are also some scenes as part of the narrative that include the red stuff, the most apparent being a character that is found murdered at his desk, his face in a pool of his own blood.

The violence concerns Faith’s interactions with the paramilitary forces that police the city. She is frequently chased by guards armed with a variety of different sidearms, and she is also regularly hunted by helicopter gunships that try to pin her down as she leaps from rooftop to rooftop. Faith can disarm the guards with a well-timed move, and use their weapons to kill them if need be, but the game structure primarily guides the player to avoid combat, rather than engage in it.

The language heard can be quite strong for a “T” rated game. Words like “damn” and “bastard” are heard frequently, and there are also occasional utterances of “sh*t.”

All in all, a great resource for parents who are not gamers, and may not know that much about the game their kid wants. Go there, read up on the game and see if it's okay for your kid. Hurray! this is the sort of thing we parents at 202play have been advocating. Get involved: get educated. Remember not all parents are the same: we all draw lines in certain places. If Daddy was an alcoholic, maybe Mommy doesn't want any alcohol references in the kids' games while everyone gets their life in order. Or maybe Jr. has problems with swearing, so the parents want games that contain either no or very mild swearing for their tween kid. See: these are things that, personally, I wouldn't bat an eye at, but in my examples they may be an important issue. The point is WTP really does seem like a site what goes a bit deeper into the ERSB ratings and tells me exactly what is in the game. AND as a bonus: they also give some back history into the game itself and delves into a bit of game design!

So, what made me blog? The Comments. Are we, as gamers, so insecure that if a site puts up something that can (perhaps) be taken as anti-gaming we have to make the tired old "of course gaming doesn't make our kids go nuts, it's the parenting" argument.  Or 'if you don't like it, screw off. Example from the Fable 2 review (and Fable 2 IS a rated M game....):

Ok i made this account to put this message through
what is this site for besides complaints,some people are so foolish
if you don't like something don't use or buy it.Its just like music if you don't wanna hear it change the channel and get on with your life
Ooh the game is full of sex, and violence what do you think the world is made of sunshines and unicorns? fable is a story...a very well done story at that one of my favorite titles out there and i was playing M rated games since i could hold a controller and do you know what effect that had for me?...alot less than what i see on the news in one sitting so if you dont want your kid seeing blood stick in viva pinata or table tennis

See: WTP is a great concept. Not everyone can be as up on gaming as we are at 202p, but parents want to be responsible.  We know that many of these games (the ones that I have mentioned) take hours upon hours to play, parents don't necessarily have the time (or the mad skillz) to play these games to understand if they are okay for their kid.

As older  gamers I believe that we have to make it okay for parents to question a game's content. But how? It seems like gamers don't want to hear it. Again, are we so sensitive that if anyone points out the obvious (yikes: Dead Space is creepy, and gorey) we take offense? A site like WTP is exactly what we need. No judgement calls: only facts. me likey.

But what do you think? Are gamers too sensitive? Are we too likely to make the "rock n roll was once considered the devil's music, so PFO, non gamer outsider." if someone points out a game's violence or sexuality?  How else are parents realistically supposed to figure out if the game is okay for their kid?