Respect mah toys!

By Mike Koss | July 11, 2009

Why is it that people feel that consoles are nothing more than childish toys and don’t respect them? Due to the weather on the July 4th, I packed up my PS3, Rock Band and its corresponding peripherals to provide some indoor entertainment. After struggling for an hour trying to get the component input working on the TV, we were finally up and rocking. No sooner do I leave to grab some food but someone’s kid starts beating on the “instruments” like they were a red-headed step child. I quickly reprimanded them and they continued playing in a less abrasive manner. But that’s when the realization hit me that there’s a lack of respect for these items.

Is it because these aren’t real instruments? If someone had grabbed the real instruments at the house and banged on them in the same way, I know for certain that someone would have intervened to ensure their safety. What makes my toys any less valuable? Is is the price tag associated with them? Does paying $500 for a real guitar mean that it deserves more respect than a $60 similar knock-off? If this holds true, then are your chairs that you bought at IKEA any less deserving of proper respect than the uber-expensive chairs I bought at Ethan Allen? Is it OK for me to come by your house and break your chairs because they didn’t cost as much as mine?

Maybe it’s the mentality that they are just toys, and some how that makes them a lesser item in the totem pole of life. If your child had a toy truck and my kid came over and crushed it under his foot, I would correct my child and replace it. So why does a console and its extraneous add-ons get excluded from these types of actions?

Or maybe I’m just too OCD and materialistic in my thinking that I want to keep my things in good, working order. Maybe I’m too worried about protecting my things rather than letting people have fun. Or maybe, just maybe, your kid’s a spoiled brat and you need to put his ass in check.