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Hey, it's me. I'm not a scam artist. In fact, almost everyone here knows me in person. So trust me when I say this.

If you want to, you can have my blog e-mailed to you whenever I make a new post. This means that if I make a new post, it's e-mailed to you. Because, I confess, none of you probably read this more than you check your e-mail.

So, just e-mail me at rct2guy@hotmail.com your e-mail address, and I will put you on my list of people to e-mail.

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Also, you may have noticed a new little button next to the comment link. Click that to e-mail the post your your friends and/or family.

Thanks for reading, and have fun. I'm trying to throw up some other opinions and update this blog more.

Video Games - The Parent's Point of View

NOTE: This does not apply to all parents. DO NOT tackle your mom or dad because of this post.

Why do video games alarm certain parents?

The Random House Unbridged Dictionary, published in 2006, states that a video game is "any of various games played using a microcomputer with a keyboard and often joysticks to manipulate changes or respond to the action or questions on the screen, " or "any of various games played using a microchip-controlled device, as an arcade machine or hand-held toy." In other words, a video game is playing a game on a TV. Then why do your parents tell you to play a board game when a video game is no different?

Parents generally have three problems with video games:

1. They encourage violence.
2. They hurt your eyes and melt your brain.
3. They prevent you from playing outside.

I'm here to tell you that these reasons, with sources, are worthless and stupid.

First off, video games do not encourage violence, no matter what Jack Thompson says. Source one: The ESA, or Entertainment Software Association, created the ESRB, who rates all of your games with an E or T or M. The ESA states on their website that "blaming video games for violence in the real world is no more productive than blaming the news media for bringing crimes of violence into our homes night after night." Reading this you can see the facts, such as that in 1990, the total number of crimes were 2 million. In 1999, that number decreased to a steady 1.5 million.

Second, some obscure Boy's Life magazine I own states that video games actually help your eyes, and we all know games like Brain Age can't hurt you. Plus, it's never bad to have great hand-eye coordination.

Third, my neighborhood is not active enough to have it so when I walk outside, someone is out there playing. I bet it is no different everywhere else. Video games help you play with people when there's no one to play with. As Nintendo sates with it's Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection slogan, "there's always someone to play with."

Hopefully, some parents will now shut up and let us play in peace.

NOTE: That did not apply to all parents. DO NOT tackle your mom or dad because of that post.

Club Penguin

Ah, yes. The strange game of Club Penguin. The horror. The fun. The craziness.

In case you don't know, Club Penguin is a game where you go online and play with other friends while controlling a penguin. You can talk to them, play with them, or just follow them. There are parties, games, and places to go to. There are pets that look like you bought them from a Hallmark store. There are people that act like those jerks from high school. There is a paragraph following this one.

My sister is obsessed with this game. If she can't play with someone else, she plays this all day. She has a membership (which means you pay for more in the game.) It puzzles me how she can live with this game. It's really boring. Not entirely, but pretty much.

This is because without a membership, you basically can't do anything. I earned about 3000 coins, and I can't do anything with them. All the people on there either dance, play a game, or ask you "BOY OR GRL?" No one talks to you about how you are, what's up, or if you want to play a game. They all whine about how no one plays with them or how someone "broke up" with them on the game.

Now this doesn't necessarily mean that this game is all bad. The servers are good (with around 30-40 of them,) the games are repetitive but fun, the parties are fun as well, and the graphics aren't half bad. The game also has many secrets.

The question here is what is the popular vote? Do people in middle school think Club Penguin is cool? Do they think it's too much for kids or just don't plain care for it? As for adults, do you think the game is unsafe? Do you think kids spend too much time on it? Please answer in the box comments.

Also, I will take this time to tell everyone I will not be able to update the website because I have lost my CD for FrontPage. Until I get it, I will not be able to update the website.