Won’t somebody please think of the CHILDREN?

That’s essentially the rallying cry of the watchdog group Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, or CCFC. The name may ring a bell to those who follow the gaming news; those who don’t, well, really didn’t miss much. 

Once again the CCFC’s antics don’t fail to deliver on the entertainment value, and this time the object of their (pointless) ire is Lego Batman: The Videogame. Why, you ask? I don’t know either. 

Let’s try to rationalize the two basic components of Lego Batman: The Videogame:

• Lego = good, educational, mindless fun.
• Batman = awesome story revolving around the concept of justice and about how crime doesn’t pay. 

I certainly don’t see any problem with it; it looks like a winning formula when looked at from any angle. But of course, CCFC being a watchdog group that dedicates itself to the unneeded, unwanted, and unnecessary cause of taking commercialism away from childhood, they condemned Lego Batman as a virtual spawn of commercial Satan, including it in their list of Toys Oppressive and Destructive to Young Children. Check out their write-up:

How do you turn the ultimate creative toy into a symbol of commercialized childhood?  Begin by partnering with media companies to sell that toy in branded kits designed for recreating movies like Star Wars, rather than creative construction.  Then, dispense with hands-on building altogether by turning your toy into a video game so that instead of deciding what to build next, children choose which cyber weapons to use to beat up their opponent.  Finally, ignore the fact it was rated suitable for ages 10 & up and partner with McDonald’s for a Happy Meal toy giveaway to simultaneously promote the video game, junk food, and the violent Dark Knight movie series to preschoolers.

See, the root of the problem (and sadly, the existence) of CCFC lies with the misguided reasoning that commercialism is bad, bad, bad for children. Blame the people of older generations who wistfully say things beginning with “You know, in the old days we [insert nice but horribly outdated activity here].” This is not to say that old games rife with physical activities are passe; this is to say that things change as time passes. What’s interesting to kids now is decidedly different compared to what was awesome during the collective childhoods of the people who comprise the CCFC.

Let’s be open-minded here. Commercialism has become and now always will be a part of every childhood. There will always be the fictional heroes that children want to idolize, there will always be merchandise related to those “heroes” that children would want to have, to let them bring a piece of their beloved idol along wherever they go. Like the Lego Batman toys and their virtual counterpart, the videogame. 

We shouldn’t also forget about the people whose lives are sustained by this aspect of childhood, and included among them are those who work in the videogame industry, who are now sadly experiencing the brunt of the current economic crisis. But the CCFC doesn’t care, right? All they care about is thinking for the children, yes?

Which brings us to my next point: why bother thinking for the children when there’s a great, awesome invention already available for this very function? Yes, I am talking about the Parental Units, also known as Mum and Dad.

These self-professed watchdogs are the very reason why people nowadays don’t exercise their ability to think for themselves or to be accountable by their actions. At the risk of saying something that has been said ad nauseum, parents are responsible in looking out for their children. Watchdogs dedicating themselves to the noble cause of saving children are, in essence, good, but at the end of the day, the parents are the ones ultimately responsible for molding their children’s thinking, especially when some of the watchdogs in question are spouting inane statements such as:

Finally, ignore the fact it was rated suitable for ages 10 & up and partner with McDonald’s for a Happy Meal toy giveaway to simultaneously promote the video game, junk food, and the violent Dark Knight movie series to preschoolers.

Last time I heard, ESRB and ratings exist. Again, another horrible example of them assuming that parents don’t and can’t provide the much-needed guidance to their kids.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who watches the watchmen?