Penny Arcade

Dog · September 2021

Penny Arcade - Comic - Vitamin Z

Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.

Anon von Zilch · September 2021

Ronia's twelve. Even I, who grew up in the 90s, had already learned all the bad words by that age.

But speaking of Life is Strange, I've only played a bit of it, but I don't think bad words are really the issue. Would I allow my hypothetical twelve-year old daughter to play it? Yeah, probably, but in such a way that I was available if she needed to talk about it.

Lucascraft · September 2021

I haven't played Life is Strange and I also don't know anything about it. Are they talking about swear words? Or are they perhaps talking about something else? From the context of "kids these days don't care about swear words," maybe the "no no words" are something else? Racist, or homophobic, or something like that? Maybe? I don't know.

Bropocalypse · September 2021

Parents can damage their children in far worse ways than exposing them to media containing no-no words, tbh. A lot of them don't consider the power they wield over these young people, and what can happen when you have complete control over a person for almost two decades.

Anon von Zilch · September 2021

Lucascraft wrote: »

I haven't played Life is Strange and I also don't know anything about it. Are they talking about swear words? Or are they perhaps talking about something else? From the context of "kids these days don't care about swear words," maybe the "no no words" are something else? Racist, or homophobic, or something like that? Maybe? I don't know.

I'm pretty sure the no-no words they're talking about are swear words. That still works in the context you mention, because Gabe and Tycho aren't the ones worried about the no-no words. But the game does deal with some pretty heavy stuff, like

a kid bringing a gun to school

so it's probably not something children should play completely on their own.

Zilla360 · September 2021

Lucascraft wrote: »

I haven't played Life is Strange and I also don't know anything about it. Are they talking about swear words? Or are they perhaps talking about something else? From the context of "kids these days don't care about swear words," maybe the "no no words" are something else? Racist, or homophobic, or something like that? Maybe? I don't know.

Strong language, adult themes, suicide, mental health, identity, corporatocracies. Just to list a few, if you mean all of the games and comic books.

Hevach · September 2021

I checked, my kids don't have this claw. Little shits can't even open a bag of chips without ruining most of the contents.

Jgr9 · September 2021

Bropocalypse: "Parents can damage their children in far worse ways than exposing them to media containing no-no words, tbh. A lot of them don't consider the power they wield over these young people, and what can happen when you have complete control over a person for almost two decades."

^ THIS.

dennis · September 2021

A quote I ran across recently from Mark Twain:

I am greatly troubled by what you say. I wrote 'Tom Sawyer' & 'Huck Finn' for adults exclusively, & it always distressed me when I find that boys and girls have been allowed access to them. The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean. I know this by my own experience, & to this day I cherish an unappeased bitterness against the unfaithful guardians of my young life, who not only permitted but compelled me to read an unexpurgated Bible through before I was 15 years old. None can do that and ever draw a clean sweet breath again on this side of the grave.

HerrCron · September 2021

I'm just surprised that Derry Girls has any impact at all across the pond.

dmit · September 2021

dennis wrote: »

A quote ... from Mark Twain

Isn't that redundant? All online quotes were authored by Mark Twain.

Steel Angel · September 2021

Anon von Zilch wrote: »

Ronia's twelve. Even I, who grew up in the 90s, had already learned all the bad words by that age.

But speaking of Life is Strange, I've only played a bit of it, but I don't think bad words are really the issue. Would I allow my hypothetical twelve-year old daughter to play it? Yeah, probably, but in such a way that I was available if she needed to talk about it.

I, a 90s kid, most certainly had not learned all the bad words by the age of 12. A key point is that I did not have internet access until I was 14 because this was the 90s. My accumulation of bad words expanded after that.

dennis · September 2021

dmit wrote: »

dennis wrote: »

A quote ... from Mark Twain

Isn't that redundant? All online quotes were authored by Mark Train.

While I agree, it would be really weird if someone else talked about when they wrote Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn...

H3Knuckles · September 2021

The reason people were questioning whether or not Life Is Strange is appropriate for a preteen isn't because of bad words, that's just the comic making a joke about Gabe (the character, not Mike the artist, mind you) being clueless. I don't really have an opinion on whether or not LIS is okay for Ronia, but I don't think it is unreasonable that people have concerns:

school shooting
teen suicide
abductions
exploitative photography (it's definitely meant to imply rape, though that never canonically happens in the story)
additional murders
and all but one of the above come in forms of violence against women (well, there is one guy murdered as well)
having to choose which person to save and which to leave to a dire fate

As for cussing, I turned 12 in the mid 90's, and I definitely knew all the English bad words well before we had access to the internet. Although it bears mentioning that I was also the youngest of four, with a ten year spread between me and my oldest sibling, so that probably helped a lot in terms of early exposure.

Ringo · September 2021

At twelve I knew all the swear words but I was still incredibly clueless about sexual slang. I still vividly remember telling my parents the "Yo momma" jokes I learned that week and the response "Do you even know what a blowjob is?" and then proceeding into the most detailed The Talk that I had ever had

I don't think I've told a Yo momma joke since

Armored Chocobo · September 2021

dennis wrote: »

A quote I ran across recently from Mark Twain:

I am greatly troubled by what you say. I wrote 'Tom Sawyer' & 'Huck Finn' for adults exclusively, & it always distressed me when I find that boys and girls have been allowed access to them. The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean. I know this by my own experience, & to this day I cherish an unappeased bitterness against the unfaithful guardians of my young life, who not only permitted but compelled me to read an unexpurgated Bible through before I was 15 years old. None can do that and ever draw a clean sweet breath again on this side of the grave.

The fact that Mark Twain thought reading an unfiltered Bible as a kid was a problem is very telling.

dennis wrote: »

While I agree, it would be really weird if someone else talked about when they wrote Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn...

People can't add additional text to quotes on the internet. I said that myself as I wrote Star Wars.

dennis · September 2021

Armored Chocobo wrote: »

dennis wrote: »

A quote I ran across recently from Mark Twain:

I am greatly troubled by what you say. I wrote 'Tom Sawyer' & 'Huck Finn' for adults exclusively, & it always distressed me when I find that boys and girls have been allowed access to them. The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean. I know this by my own experience, & to this day I cherish an unappeased bitterness against the unfaithful guardians of my young life, who not only permitted but compelled me to read an unexpurgated Bible through before I was 15 years old. None can do that and ever draw a clean sweet breath again on this side of the grave.

The fact that Mark Twain thought reading an unfiltered Bible as a kid was a problem is very telling.

That's the point.

He had some other thoughts on Christianity:

I have a religion — but you will call it blasphemy. It is that there is a God for the rich man but none for the poor … Perhaps your religion will sustain you, will feed you — I place no dependence in mine. Our religions are alike, though, in one respect — neither can make a man happy when he is out of luck.

For instance, he concedes that God made man. Made him without man's desire of privity.

This seems to plainly and indisputably make God, and God alone, responsible for man's acts. But man denies this.

He concedes that God has made the angels perfect, without blemish, and immune from pain and death, and that he could have been similarly kind to man if he had wanted to, but denies that he was under any moral obligation to do it.

He concedes that man has no moral right to visit the child of his begetting with wanton cruelties, painful diseases and death, but refuses to limit God's privileges in this sort with the children of his begetting.

These people's God has shown them by a million acts that he respects none of the Bible's statutes. He breaks every one of the himself, adultery and all.

The two Testaments are interesting, each in its own way. The Old one gives us a picture of these people's Deity as he was before he got religion, the other one gives us a picture of him as he appeared afterward. The Old Testament is interested mainly in blood and sensuality. The New one in Salvation. Salvation by fire.

The first time the Deity came down to earth, he brought life and death; when he came the second time, he brought hell.

Yeah, he wasn't a fan.

Giant Sloar · September 2021

Gotta watch that foreclaw. It's the precursor to the Slayer, born to rip and tear.

ironzerg · September 2021

This debate is nice, but as a parent I've found that actually talking to my kids and asking them about the games the play is pretty effective.

If one of my kids wanted to play "Life is Strange", I would ask them why they wanted to play it, and what their expectations are. You'd be really surprised at how much easier parenting can get if you treat your kids like their intelligent, emotional creatures with their own thoughts, opinions, and world view.

I'm less worried about my kids getting a giggle out of violence, language, or sexual material in video games, and more worried about them seeing that as an actual foundation on which to build their values on.