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Monday, April 23, 2001

Some of you may have seen this article that we linked to recently. I got a chance to read this, and it caused me to have to write my latest rant. This one regarding recponsibility and the lack there of.

I am a die-hard gamer. This means that I love to play computer games, and do this to relax and challenge myself. I am 32 years old, and happily married. I, at this time, have no kids, but I am a christian, and a leader in the Children's Ministry at my church. Does this sound illogical? Is this unthinkable?

NO!

Why do I say that? Because my parents raised me to take responsibility for my actions and to live up to the golden rule. I have done MANY stupid things in my life, and regret a few. But I am willing to take responsibility for any and all of them. What is so wrong with that? After reading the article that we linked, I am only that much more convinced that our society needs to growup and take responsibility for it's actions. I am not condoning the actions of the families involved in the 2 lawsuits, rather condemning them.

Don't get me wrong, I feel sorry for them, and wish they had not suffered the loses that they did, but, who was monitoring the kids who commited these crimes in the first place? It is the responsibility of the parents to insure that their children aren't misbehaving. If they are, then punish them. Don't give them a stern lecture, paddle their butts. Or ground them! And if you do choose to ground them, remove the stereo, VCR, TV, Game console, and computer from their rooms when you do it! Honestly, if I had rooms like kids do today, I would have never been upset to get sent to my room.

Let me say this to the parents who are blaming game-violence on the crimes. If you don't like what your kids are doing, saying, watching, listening to, then GET RID OF IT! This country was founded on the belief that each person has the right to live their life as they fit, if it doesn't hurt others. I choose to play games. I won't go out and buy a gun and kill all the people at work, I won't be hunting others down to kill them. I play the games for enjoyment and to challenge myself.

Kids don't always have a tight grip on the real world, and are easier to influence, true. But if you take responsibility for censoring what enters YOUR house, then maybe, just maybe, your kids stand a better chance. It is not my responsibility to train up your children, it is yours. There is a saying, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." This means that if you take the responsibility for the life YOU brought into this world, you will teach them right from wrong, spend time with them, and help them learn how to decide between right and wrong. They will learn how to live their lives somewhere. You decide where. Forcing someone else to be the the censor is giving up your right to choose in the first place. I have a very dear friend that watches what his kids say, listen to, watch, etc. He isn't being cruel, and he isn't being mean, just cautious. He has taken the time to raise his kids, and care what they do. Those kids aren't upset, they understand why he does these things. They get upset when he does it, but they discuss it, and his ruling stands. They respect him, and his authority.

This respect is earned through the relationship they have as well. You cannot expect respect from your kids, you earn it. They want to know that you care. They may not always act like it, but they do. You earn it by spending time with them, listening to them, and being willing to discipline them when they do wrong. If you don't, they won't care or listen when it is important.

So to those parents that feel that I have to not play those games, and that John Carmack should'nt make them cause your kids will be corrupted, I say this...

Take the time to spend time with your kids, and be responsible for their actions, and what they learn. If you don't like the games, don't buy them, and don't let them buy them. The same with music, the same with television.

'nuff said!

posted by ZWarrior at 5:00 PM

Friday, March 23, 2001

Yep, it's about time we the staff of Ambush! got off our lazy butts and started writing our rants again. Say what you want, but we have been busy around here. I realize that it doesn't really show on the site so much, but there is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes. The biggest thing has been preparing for LAN-Bush! 2001. We have been working our tailends off to create an event to be remembered, hopefully in a positive light.
Anyway, that isn't why I started writing this. I started writing this because lately I have been having the same discussion with numerous people, and I thought it was time to publicly start saying this. I think that the Unreal Tournament players are getting the raw end of a big green weenie!
Until the last year or so, we haven't really had an organized league for us to play in. I mean, the CPL is out there, but how many events have they held for the UT players? So anyway, not too long ago, Twin Galaxies started an "Official" UT League! Whoopie! I even contemplated sponsoring a team through Ambush! I feel that I am a good enough player that I might be able to hold my own against some of the better teams out there. With the rest of the staff that is. We didn't go through with it though. Most of the people in our clan are old friends, and are married with kids and big time jobs. That meant that none of us could actually promise anytime for the practices and competitions. So we scratched that. Now we were watching the leagues to see how they were doing, and waiting for a chance to try again.
Until, that is, Twin Galaxies lost the sponsor and folded. Bummer. So where does that leave us? Well when CPL formed years ago, we had high hopes that UT would be a part of that. I am not a big fan of Quake3. I loved Q2, but 3 just seems so... so... fake. The textures aren't very good. The colors are so unrealistic. The physics isn't too bad, but the whole experience as a whole isn't very satisfying. Kinda like grabbin' a glass of kool-aid from the fridge, gulping it down, and then finding out that it's the "Add you own sugar" version, and they used saccarin instead of sugar. If you haven't ever experienced this, take my word for it, it's nasty!!
So anyway, I left off at TG being done for (looked like Wolverine after facing me in a 1v1, stone cold dead) and nothing left to hope for, right? Wrong. Jeff Gross, the person who founded the UT league at TG, has moved over to the CPL. Yeah! Sorta. It seems that we aren't good enough to play in the same group as the Quake players. See, CPL stands for CyberAthlete Professionals League. Sounds cool, so are we professionals now? No. Herein lies my beef. See when they formed the league for UT, we got listed in the CyberAthlete Amateur League (CAL)! So now we are amateurs. Granted I don't get paid to play , but to be listed in the CPL, all you need to do is pay the fee, and play in the prequalifiers. Yes, they have a CPL event for UT, but what get's the most ad time???? Q3!!!
Maybe I don't know the whole story, but I feel somewhat insulted by them calling a league "Amateur". This really sucks! UT is a great game that has better feel and playablility than Q3, and yet it continues to get the short end of the stick! I can only hope that the future will lead to more support for on of the better and more overlooked FPS games on the market today. At least until Duke Forever comes out that is. ;)

If you have something to say about what I have posted, then by all means post it in our forums, but remember we are all entitled to our own opinions!

'nuff said!

ZWarrior
posted by ZWarrior at 6:18 PM