{"id":3621,"date":"2010-04-06T15:22:15","date_gmt":"2010-04-06T21:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamingwithchildren.com\/?p=3621"},"modified":"2010-04-06T15:22:15","modified_gmt":"2010-04-06T21:22:15","slug":"call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/06\/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"modern-warfare-logo\"I’m still getting mail on this game and the message board is REALLY interesting so I’m reposting it: <\/strong>Should CoD: MW 2 be rated M? The release of this game marks a turning point in my life. An alarming amount of my mail, and a few of my questions on radio and at What They Play.com, concerned Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Now I get to give the same, or similar, answers for this one. Do you think your kids are ready to handle an M-rated game featuring not only a new instantly infamous controversy but all the old controversies from last time too? Is it harmful to a teenager? 13+? Lets talk about it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This article is for parents. Teens should use it when they want to lobby mom and dad – or Santa – to play this game. As kids know, this is more than just a game. It’s an event. It’s already outsold similar games that have been around for years. Lets face it, through the lack of effort from most parents and the joy of having uncles or older siblings, a lot of the copies sold are in the hands of teens.So, lets get the controversies out of the way.<\/p>\n

SPOILERS<\/p>\n

CoD 4: Modern Warfare was controversial for the amount of violence (this is war), the questionable taste of releasing a Modern Warfare game while our own soldiers are locked into two bloody modern warfares. The accurate use of satellite imagery – and bombing – to kill hapless enemies disturbed some because it looked exactly like the real thing. Oh, there was also a scene where the player character gets slowly radiation poisoned and fried at the base of a mushroom cloud.<\/p>\n

CoD: Modern Warfare 2 has much of what you’d find above and then goes it further with a scene where the player portrays a CIA Agent who has infiltrated a Russian Terrorist group and is expected to gun down innocent travelers in an airport. The player doesn’t have to, he can opt not to, but how many kids will do that? (Interesting test perhaps?) Oh and America gets invaded by the Russkies, Red Dawn style (where have you gone Patrick Swayze?)<\/p>\n

SPOILERS END<\/p>\n

Add to this my belief that video game violence cannot in and by itself cause violent behavior, that games might be cathartic (lots of in-danger soldiers are playing this game right now – I can imagine playing this is if I had a brother over there. I can also imagine that being difficult to bear). If you disagree with me about virtual violence – harm, that’s fine. Make your decision based on that. But remember, I’ve studied gaming for 30 years, written about them for 11 years and been a child advocacy expert regarding games for 6 years. FWIW.<\/p>\n

\"Modern-Warfare-2\"<\/p>\n

Ok, so knowing the controversy, maybe a look at some gameplay footage at YouTube – remember parents you can always check the game out at YouTube! – and now you can make an informed decision.<\/p>\n

For my part, I can see letting my own 13 year old play this (when he gets there and provided he’s mature enough). I can imagine the conversations it’d lead to and I like the game’s non-black and white tone. War and its consequences are presented with depth and the game is of high quality and sure to be remembered as an event. War is hell, Modern Warfare 2 does nothing to sugarcoat that. The trouble for some parents is that in gaming, war is fun. Some parents are uncomfortable with that, those parents should go with their instinct. Another way of looking at it: Is it preferable for kids to play a shooter that makes violence over-the-top, wild and wacky… or one that takes the stakes and the reality more seriously?<\/p>\n

For the rest?\u00a0 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a chilling thrill ride into how hellish war is today. Thankfully this is virtual.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m still getting mail on this game and the message board is REALLY interesting so I’m reposting it: Should CoD: MW 2 be rated M? The release of this game marks a turning point in my life. An alarming amount of my mail, and a few of my questions on radio and at What They […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}