I really don’t want to put forth that I am for Obama by posting that “Gamers for Obama” button, because both Obama and McCain are on the edge about video games, and thats what I care about. What does matter to me is censorship of my entertainment that I feel should continue to be graphic and adult rated, just the way I like it. As an adult, I can make my own decisions about what I view and do, and it makes me nervous whenever talk of censorship is brought up.

The facts about what Obama and McCain’s views on censorship have not completely been disclosed because honestly there are larger issues that are more important to more people. But both of them have said that they believe it ultimately is the parent’s responsibility to limit and control the video games that their children play.

Common Sense Media, an organization that is not associated to any political party and is self described as “dedicated to improving the media and entertainment lives of kids and families”, sent a questionnaire to political candidates about families and media. One of the questions was about their views on the control of violent video games at the federal level to keep them out of children’s hands. Obama’s reply:

“We need to give parents the tools and information they need to make choices about what programs their children are watching or what video games they are playing… I would call upon the video game industry to give parents better information about programs and video games by improving the voluntary rating system we currently have. Broadcasters and video game producers should take it upon themselves to improve this system to include easier to find and easier to understand descriptions of exactly what kind of content is included. But if the industry fails to act, then my administration would… I supported federal funding to study the impact of video games on children’s cognitive development.”

Finding out about John McCain’s stance on video game censorship in any kind of credible source has proven to be quite difficult. Because of my own personal biases I think that information like that should be easily acquired by both candidates but alas, as I said before it isn’t as important as some other issues that we are facing in our society right now.

Lori Ingham on her blog ConChrist has done the interwebs and many people alike a huge favor to actually ask John McCain in person about his views on video game and media violence. She paraphrases his response and stated that, “He felt that parents should be the ones to decide for their kids on a case by case basis (which I was satisfied with). He then did a weird segueway into the evils of child pornography from there, which kind of had me shaking my head.” I feel as though this response can be said to coincide with Obama’s views on video game censorship, and they both favor leaving the decision in the parents hands. But then again John McCain said in an interview that he cannot use a computer, so I doubt he has any knowledge of video games and will most likely have someone else make decisions about them for him.

When it really comes down to it, I understand that being able to control the video games that your children play is a very important issue for many parents in America because there are many video games that parents think are not suited for their children. I am in support of people being able to monitor and regulate their children’s intake of media, gore, sex or what have you. That is why every console system that is out right now has parental controls on it… and many people work for video game companies and all that they do is program and test these systems.

So what are we so worried about? Oh now I remember… Parents are often too lazy to actually do the research or the reading the instruction booklet that comes with their consoles they buy for their children. Too bad we can’t just censor stupid people. The industry is blamed for giving these children inappropriate games when parents have full control over what kind of games are played on their system. So maybe it isn’t an industry issue after all because they have responded, and I would go so far as to say that it is not in any part an issue that should be addressed in any political agenda in the state or federal level.

If you click on the picture you can seriously buy this button. And then wear it.

And then… I will high five you if I see you walking the streets of Seattle…