Gamertell

With all the recent controversy surrounding video game titles including Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt, parents have begun to worry about the kinds of games their kids play. Most parents rarely spend time playing with their kids in order to find out what those games are really about and the ESRB ratings only provide brief hints about the themes in the game or its target audience.

Gaming news websites can provide more details about a game but they are generally aimed at describing its technical features like textures, frame rates and physics engines or how the artificial intelligence responds to certain situation. These details can be very meaningful for hardcore gamers but for most parents they could as well be written in other language and offer little clue as to whether a game is adequate for their children.

In response to this, two game industry veterans have launched a site dedicated to offering reviews not for gamers but for their parents. John Davidson, former editor in chief of two gaming magazines and Ira Becker, a former colleague from Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc., have launched WhatTheyPlay.com.

The site offers objective and clear explanations about games and their contents, detailing which parts of a game contain offensive or explicit language or images, like a chainsaw death on Gears of War or sexually suggestive ones, like the lifelike animations of female characters in Dead or Alive. Although the site maintains a neutral approach in their reviews parents are also encouraged to provide their own for a more subjective angle.

This could provide a lot of help for parents in deciding what kind of games their children can play. Sometimes the generational gap makes it hard for parents to understand gaming terms and what they entail and this may lead to confusion or unwanted surprises. Providing unbiased information about the content of games is important and can help in decreasing the tensions surrounding the Mature or Adults Only genres. People should be entitled to enjoy different kinds of games provided they can understand the subjects they deal with and just because they may not be appropriate for kids, games containing adult oriented subjects should not be simply crucified.

Parents are responsible for their children and for orienting them in their education and being informed about the activities their kids engage in is an important step in this process. Games should provide fun and education and with a little time and counseling by families they are sure to achieve both goals and help in a child’s development.

Read [LA Times] Site [What They Play]

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