The morning after the Today Show aired their thought-provoking piece on
women and Nintendo, I caught a teaser for a segment about what parents should know about video games. I didn’t watch the show, but when I looked it up later, I found an
article and accompanying video. When I read the article and saw that the first tip basically advised parents to know what system their kids have—well, let’s just say there was some scoffing and eye rolling involved. I mean, duh. I skimmed the rest then clicked away from the site, wondering to whom Today would condescend next. The other day, I stumbled on the article again and this time, I went ahead and watched the video.
I expected this John Davison person to be some sort of right-wing evangelical type, condemning to Hell anyone who even glances at a video game, but the more I watched, the more I liked what he had to say. I then surfed over to his website,
WhatTheyPlay.com, expecting something crazy like
this, but instead I found straightforward breakdowns of video games.
According to Davison, the ESRB can “only list so much stuff” on the back of the box. His staff reviews a game by giving a little background and introducing the story. They then take the ESRB rating and break it down, without judgment, giving specific descriptions of each offensive item listed. Take the game, Condemned 2 for the Xbox 360, for example. The
ESRB gives the game the rating M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol. Compare that to this
review and breakdown of Condemned 2. Additionally, the site provides screenshots and video for parents to peruse.
After each review, readers are then given a place for their opinions. Parents and kids alike can offer up their two cents. I couldn’t really tell if these comments were heavily moderated, but what was present seemed thoughtful and accurate. I also noticed a Community link at the top of the site that is currently inactive. If they get it up and running, it seems like it could be a great support center for parents and a safe place for kids to talk to other kids about games/parents/etc.
While I am not in favor of censorship, I think information is always a powerful tool. Any website that encourages parents to be parents is awesome in my book. The dialogue that could be spawned from a parent actually taking the time to understand something in which his/her child is interested is nearly infinite.
WhatTheyPlay.com FTW.
ThisYearsPink's blog
follow this blog
subscribe via RSS
send message
invite to meetup+play
TYP, John Davidson was the former editorial director for Ziff Davis. If you get the opportunity, check out some of his stuff on the 1up Yours and 1up Show podcast.
I hate to be pessimistic but if the warning on the game isnt good enough for parents a website that elaborates won't help much either. I would like to believe that parents care about what their kids play, but sadly most do not. Maybe when the generation that grew up with the ESRB being new comes about, we will care more?
*Ziff Davis's Game Group
I've been a big fan of John at 1UP, but when he left to do WTP I knew it would rock. Just hope parents realize that that's where they should be going for the real literature.
I'm all for this, because it places the impetus back on parents to keep an eye on their own kids - instead of some ultra conservative watchdog group that has no connection whatsoever to the kids being protected.
There doesn't seem to be an agenda behind this site, it's just spreading the word to parents who might need a little guidance. In all reality, I don't know how many parents will actually use this, but it's a good resource.
Good stuff... of course the parents could just play the games with their kids.
I LOVE JOHN DAVIDSON!!!
he was awesome at 1Up and he's still doing great work.
Yeah John is cool. He still shows up on the 1up Yours podcast every now and then. I knew he'd actually be able to handle this and make it work since he knows what he's doing.
That's pretty rad. It sounds like they're really trying to help both sides in that the parents are learning there's more to games than violence, but still know where to spot said content should they feel uncomfortable buying it for a child.
Maybe someday we won't be suing videogames for being negligent parents. One can only dream.
John Davidson is the man. If he's behind this, I'm all for it
I knew the name sounded familiar, he's a cool guy as far as I've seen from him.
Also, why does everyone use the term "right-wing" like it's something terrible?
Anyway, interesting read.
Very good write up ThisYearsPink. As a parent who really doesn't need this, I know of quite a few who do.
@eternaldeathslayer: "Liberal" has equally negative connotations in the other direction. I suppose I could have used hyper-conservative instead.
This is all well in theory, but you have to consider that if parents simply can't be bothered to look at the rating, or don't care about what their children play -and this is, by and large, what the problem is- what is the likelihood they will bother to check this site out?
If I were to make a guess, the vast majority of parents who use the site are those who would have checked the details on the box or asked a clerk anyway.
If adults are so irresponsible and indifferent as to pick up a box with a clearly displayed M rating (or in my case 18) nothing except the real possibility of fines or the like will deter them.
Honestly, look at Condemned 2 for example. There is no way on God's green Earth ANYBODY can look at that box art, the rating and the screen caps on the back and say "Oh, I didn't realise this was violent".
I have to say I agree with Timmeh on this one. I just don't see parents actually using the website. However, that being said, just because I don't think people won't use it doesn't mean it's a bad idea. In concept it's a good idea and I honestly hope it works. The biggest problem right now is that parents are not "Educated" about video games. This can help solve that problem. We just need to get people to use it.
If a parent needs to go seek help on a web site instead of friends or family members. Then they might be very well disconnected from their kids and the world.
it would be very sad, but yet, if it is for something good, then we can't trash it.
Hmm, that's pretty interesting, I didn't know that's what John Davison was leaving 1up to do. Good to have out there, so now if a parent claims ignorance about the content of their kids' games, it'll be even more obvious how lazy and retarded they are.
Just like the Bad Religion lyrics say: "If there's such a wealth of information, why are you so poor?"
Haha, "You watched a lot of games, you turned out ok".
@ Steel Squirrel: I noticed Meredith say that too. Maybe she needs to check out the site, huh?
@ Timmeh & SilverDragon: Another interesting point Mr. Davison brought up in the interview was that kids were accessing the site a lot to show their parents what's in games they want. This, it seemed, was unexpected. So maybe if parents aren't the first ones to find the site, if their kids can bring them their...they'll come back in the future. That might be a stretch, but I could see it happening that way.
Now we just need to get parents to put this info to use instead of just buying games all willy-nilly.
i just put all my faith in the Best Buy/Gamestop employees. they know what's going on.
/sarcasm
Hey, not all "right-wing evangelicals" are jerks. ;) I'd never really looked at What They Play much before. Surprisingly good. Parents need to parent, not the government. Good for Mr. Davison.
Good read!