While members of the video game industry are blamed for many of society’s woes, they are also given a laundry list of excuses. Now, it seem that game developers are not only being told that they need to give women more prominent placement in their titles, but they should also come up with a way to make teen boys want to grow up. Now that video games are accessible via the web, most teens are able to get away with playing video games for hours without being noticed. It is still the responsibility of parents to know what their children are up to at all times, however, online gaming is making it easier for young men to goof off.
The same could be said for social networking and even video streaming website. If a teen wants to spend more time relaxing than being responsible, well then that’s an entirely personal choice. Even if video game consoles were banned from the home, and gaming websites were blocked, teenage boys would just resort to doing things the old fashioned way – going outside. If parents don’t know what their kids are doing while they are in the next room, then the gaming industry should not even be part of the equation. Things will continue to go this way for as long as people look at a group of statistics and then promptly identify a scapegoat. Long before gaming existed, teen boys were driving hot rods, wearing leather jackets and goofing of while in class.
