games unsuitable for children

Javier Candeira javier at candeira.com
Sat Dec 23 07:47:22 CET 2006


Bruno Kleinert wrote:
> i didn't think of nudity and i'm happy it's mentioned! but i don't
> regard that - as long as it's not prnographic - as much harmful as
> violence.

I don't think videogame depiction of either is much harmful at all, but what
each of us thinks is not the point.

The point is not to judge what we think is or isn't harmful, but to help
parents identify games they might find objectionable for their kids, and to
allow them to make informed choices based on their own value system (without
having to play each game first!). Nudity is for many parents a big concern,
as would strong language, gore/violence, and religious and political
considerations.

Don Armstrong's suggestion of using the ESRB rating scale is a good start,
but flawed for one factor: it is very value-laden, suggesting ages for which
a game is suitable. It is also geared to the values of some US-ian middle
average: for instance, Kleinert has just stated to him nudity is not as
harmful as violence, while the ESRB's standards consider nudity and
depiction of sexual acts at least as bad for children as violence.

I suggest we only adopt the objective scale ("gore/no gore", "nudity/no
nudity") and let parents decide for themselves.

Age ratings are needed for informing parents of which games can be
understood and enjoyed by younger children, not based on morals but on their
stage of intellectual development. I think the place for this would also be
the documentation, the package description and webtags. However, this
value-free age-suitability information should be kept separate from the
"let's help you protect your kids from violence and porn" information.

-- javier



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