The First Dumbass Award

It was raining hard. It was the kind of rain that would make a person want to stay inside all day, while drinking a cup of hot coffee staring out the window, but for one soldier he had to keep going. He slowly moved through the buildings going door to door making sure the rooms were clear. The pitter patter of the rain on the roof was making it difficult to listen for the footsteps of enemy soldiers, but he moved on yelling “Clear!” along the way. As he exited one building and was heading to take cover behind a truck, he heard the sounds of footsteps sloshing through the mud. He poked his head out around the corner with his M4 steady and the mud stained enemy soldier that appeared in his vision stopped dead in his tracks. The sounds of bullets being emptied from a clip echoed off the street and his enemy fell to the ground causing the mud from a puddle to splash up in his face. The soldier wiped the mud off of his face using his sleeve and carried on through the rain taking cover behind vehicles eagerly waiting for his next encounter.

No, I am not talking about a real life situation. I am referring to my four year old son playing the map “Storm” during a round of Modern Warfare 2 yesterday. He only managed to get two kills, one of those kills being a headshot.

Before anybody says, "why are you letting your four year old son play a game like that?" let me explain something.  I am not one of those parents who let's a game babysit their child.  When he plays a video game, either myself or my husband are in the room to supervise his gaming experience.  If either of us see him get angry or we feel like it is too much for him to handle, the game gets turned off and that is the end of it.

Now I understand that not all parents are like that.  Some parents turn a video game on and walk out of the room, not knowing what game their child is playing or what their child is saying back to someone during an online match.  They even let their youngsters have their game console in their bedrooms behind closed doors.  To these parents, I give you The Dumbass Award.

If you have ever visited the Parents and Family Gaming forum on xbox.com you know what I am about to say.  An angry gamer comes into the forum.  Makes a typical, "Why do you let your kids play" thread, never to reply again.  Those threads are the reason I tend to stay away from parent gamer forums, because there are only so many times I can call someone stupid before I sound like a broken record.

So where am I going with this?  It is this simple.  Speaking on behalf of gamer parents everywhere, if you let your kid play, know what they are playing, who they are playing with, and get the consoles out of their bedrooms.  We are tired of taking the blame for your dumbassness.  No matter what your kid says he or she is playing, chances are they not playing it.  Instead they are playing an M rated game online, (Gasp!) shouting a word that begins with an F and rhymes with duck, stuck, and buck.  They are talking about boobs, calling people homophobic terms, and spouting off racist words like they are pros.  This is the child who you are letting a game babysit while you go make dinner or bang the head boards against the wall in your bedroom.  This is the same child who you take into a video game store and begs you to buy them Gears of War or Halo.  The employee behinds the counter tries to warn you, but you don't listen, because you "know" what the game is about and you also "know" how the online experience is.  How about you buy the game, sit down and play it first or even read the ESRB rating that desribes what you are about to buy for your minor.

So for those reasons I am giving you, the "pretending to be knowledgeable non gaming parent", The Dumbass Award.  Enjoy the slow round of applause knowing that you truly worked hard to deserve this one.

*The opinions of Siren are not the opinions of Gamercide or the staff.  Siren is just a crazy, sarcastic blonde who needs to have duct tape over her mouth 24/7.  Seriously.....