More GB activism
For the last couple of weeks Godzilla Boy has been bugging me. He wanted to send an email to the big honchos of the movie and video-game producing companies. He had a big idea!! So, we did. We sent his email to Viacom, Sony, Microsoft and a couple of others that I can’t remember because they actually had “contact us” screens that sent his email directly to it’s recipient.
S o far, he has gotten responses from all of them. Everybody sent a form letter response, which was ok, I mean he’s only an eight year old kid. Except for the Vice President of Viacom. His email was obviously NOT a form letter. We could tell he had actually read it. So, I’m passing the letters on for you to read. Because I was proud of his “big” idea, and the fact that he wanted to go so far as to send it off in emails to very important people. As you can see, he’s not very intimidated by importance.. LOL 
January 16, 2007 Dear Sir or Madam, I am an eight year old homeschooled boy who lives in Virginia. I have an idea that I would like you to try when you are making movies or video games. There are many games that I want to play, but they have blood and gore, and I can’t play them because my Mom won’t let me and it grosses me out. I thought that you could make an option on the menu screen of the movies and video games that allow a clean version or a bloody version of the movie or game to be watched or played. It wouldn’t be too hard for you to do if you just knew you were going to do it from the beginning. You would just have to shoot a scene twice, once with blood and once without. I think this option screen would be good for cutting out cussing too. Some people don’t mind cussing, but I think you could sell more movies if there was an option for parents to control what their kids see and hear. I am hoping you could remake some of the movies or games that I can’t see now, like Halo and Turk and Dawn of War. I also like alien and war movies, but don’t like to see gross things. Thank you for reading my letter,
Here is the response he got from the Vice President at Viacom:
Thanks for your email - it’s always nice to hear ideas from gaming and movie fans. It’s great that you’re so interested in how entertainment is produced, and we genuinely appreciate your thoughts. I have passed your email along to our Vice President of Gaming, and will share it with our movie group. Keep in touch. -Jeremy ——————– Jeremy Zweig Vice President, Viacom Corporate Communications 1515 Broadway New York NY 10036 jeremy.zweig@viacom.com
Isn’t that cool?!
That *is* way cool and it’s an awesome idea.
(Did you know Ron used to teach in a game design program?)
Comment by
Andrea (admin) — January 22, 2007 @ 5:19 pm
I can’t believe this! My 14 yo is trying to put together an online petition to address this very issue! He’s been really busy with schoolwork lately so he hasn’t really gotten into it as much as he’d like. But he wants to start a massive on line movement to show the marketers that they are missing out on a big market by not issuing edited games. I have been meaning to post on it for him.
Bravo for your son!
Comment by
dumboxacademy — January 22, 2007 @ 7:27 pm
This would not be as much work as most would suppose. It is an excellent idea. An alternative which would be equally practical is to create 2 versions of the game each with it’s own rating.
Comment by Ron — January 22, 2007 @ 8:23 pm
This is a wonderful idea and a wonderfully composed letter. Way to GO Godzilla Boy!
Comment by Steph — January 23, 2007 @ 11:32 am
That is so cool - especially that it wasn’t a form letter. And what a wonderful idea - I would be SO glad to see a non-violent option on many games.
Comment by
carrie — January 23, 2007 @ 5:01 pm
That was a great letter he sent! It is funny that I had posted something about movies. My boys like games, too, but are extremely limited in the ones they can play. I would love to see some changes in movies and games. Good job on the letter!
Comment by
morethanfine — January 23, 2007 @ 11:41 pm
I agree 100%. I am tired of all the grossness on TV programs too, such as the yucky autopsies you have to sit through on programs like CSI: Miami, etc. It just seems things get worse and worse each season. And that includes bad language too. I’ve noticed that networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC are allowing more and more crude language. Now why is this? Is it because the majority of people LIKE it, or because the majority DON’T like it, but don’t speak up against it. I like the shows, and I like trying to figure whodunit before they end the program, but my wife and I just close our eyes when they start all that gross stuff.
We even stopped going to movies that look like they will have grossness in them. We’ve been to a lot of the movies that are rated G or PG, knowing we’ll like them better. Loved Eragon.
I think the consensus of opinion about GB’s letter would be that he’s correct. Maybe some others of us should follow his example.
Comment by Grampa — January 24, 2007 @ 10:48 am
Actually I think that some games already have this feature…I am not sure what game it was on, but a friend of mine was saying that he could turn off the swearing and I think (but am not sure) the blood of one game when he played with his son…I will have to ask which one it is…
Congrats to your son!
Comment by
throwingmarshmallows — January 24, 2007 @ 11:22 pm