Conker’s Bad Fur Day was one of the most over the top games on the market at the point of its release and since then not many games have done much to take the extreme title away from its tainted name. This game featured one of the most controversial little squirrels out there, Conker, while he made his way on the most outlandish adventures ever before seen. Having this game be rated mature right alongside of more modern games like Halo seems to be an understatement compared to that mature rating of the past. The game was out there, it was dirty, it was violent and everyone seemed to love it… everyone, yes everyone, even from the viewpoint of a seven-year-old.
Bring the subject of a youngster playing such a mature video game has been the topic of debate for years. The effects each mature title has on a child’s mind and actions have been one of the most common arguments since the early years of the gaming industry. So what really happens to a kid when you set them up with one of the most controversial titles in video game history? Is it the effects on the child’s mind that’s the consequence or the effects on the gaming industry as a whole that ends up being a consequence?
What parents all around the world wish we would say games like that rots child’s brain; it makes them violent and matures them too quickly. Honestly, that is not the case. This is a game that was played by me at the very young age of seven. Conker’s Bad Fur Day was just one of the mature rated titles I got my hands on and under no circumstance was what was happening on screen even remotely understood. The subject matter was not something that was commonly brought up, although the violent actions were apparent they were not something that was fathomable to such a young mind. It comes down to all aspects of a game such as Conker’s Bad Fur Day that are deemed too mature for a young audience, are too mature for someone of that age to understand.
While parents and non-video game related media outlets want people to be fooled with mature ratings they really are not all that bad. We are not advising to not censor what children see or do by any means just saying the actual effects of what can be played on a video game aren’t as harmful as outlets make them to be. From the viewpoint of someone who has been there, I can say I am not brain dead; I am not violent and have always acted my age. Video games did not rot my mind or make me perform actions that I shouldn’t have because I was taught otherwise. It is not the games job to teach right and wrong.
I may not have understood that most of the game had alternative motive or a second meaning but I did know that it was really fun to steal a bag of money in Heist multiplayer. I may not have understood what was happening on screen but that didn’t make me go chop off my teddy bears head. Bottom line is it gets annoying when people take negative behavior out on games. Parents do have the right to restrict what their children play; they have knowledge on what might be too mature on a child’s mind now more than ever. With that being said there is nothing to make a fuss about. Even if their child went to go play a game that they weren’t supposed to, it’s likely nothing all that bad would happen. The world is getting too strict and hopefully someday people will let loose and have fun again.
In the past what the rating was on a game wasn’t quite publicized as it is now that affected how ‘extreme’ games are allowed to be made. Past mature rated titles are what angered parents to make a argument about what their children were playing which kind of put a cap on how crazy games where able to be made. Compare the mature content in Conker’s Bad Fur Day to that of what is seem in Call of Duty or Halo. Sure mature rated titles have a reason for their rating but it is obvious that some titles are a little more mature than others and most of those titles are games of the past. In modern gaming, mature means you can hold a realistic gun basically. Games with the humor of Conker’s Bad Fur Day may be stamped with an adult ratting if released today… In all honesty it was the parent’s fault for purchasing the game for their child but instead of taking responsibility for not monitoring what their kid was playing they would blow it up in the media’s face and state how wrong it was to have such games on store shelves. It’s a sad situation that has actually probably taken its toll on the industry as a whole; something that could have potentially hindered creativity due to the fact of fear in negative attention. Unfortunately, every gamer suffers from the thoughts of strict parenting. Mature will never be what it used to be.
