So, you, your friends, and/or family members have children. Those children like to play video games. Those parents are, um, not playing every darned game in the universe, and are wondering if any given game is going to be suitable for their kids.

http://www.gamehubhq.com/

This site is really new. It's still limited. But it's... it's what I think the ESRB/PEGI ought to be. It doesn't aim to answer the question "is this game any good", or even "should my kid play it". Instead, it helps parents figure out what sorts of experiences their kids will be having with the game, and then lets parents figure out if those experiences are acceptable for their children.

I am very hopeful that this site becomes huge.

I had a little look around the site, ended up wondering if slicing up a watermelon in fruit ninja should count as "dismemberment".

Thank god no sexual content in goat simulator.

Okay, joking aside this seems like a nice site.

I'm confused. What are the questions?

I'm confused. What are the questions?

I don't have the questions right now? But for those who do, there's a nice new resource.

From what I've heard from some people who work in videogame retail, you'll get some parents who are ok with their 10 year olds slicing and dicing and killing and running over people in games, but if there is one instance of foul language in the game they will raise hell! Or they are ok with running over hookers in GTA, but no with your character being able to have (ofscreen) seks with said hooker.

So now they can look up if mortal kombat 10 has potty mouth in it

There is conclusive scientific studies that show no links between video games and violence or any other negative behaviours, if anything it's proven to be cathartic.

When I was ten I was watching robocop, predator and the alien movies and I've not gone on a masses murder spree because of it.

Don't coddle kids it ill prepares them for the real world and they end up getting trampled, they will hear bad language as soon as they attend school I did in the 80`s you can not protect them not then and not now it's better to be honest and open with the wee Baines.

I remember my parents not wanting me to play Wolfenstein 3D when I was eight because of the blood. I complained and pointed out that by this point I had been a diabetic for four years and been seeing my own blood several times a day for that period as a result. They claimed video game blood was different somehow.

I just played the game at other people's houses after that until I turned thirteen and mom basically dragged me kicking and screaming to an R rated mystery film I had absolutely no interest in seeing. It was one of the most boring films I have ever seen and as soon as it was done I made it clear that after forcing me to see it they couldn't complain about blood in games any more.

My parents never really bothered about what videogames i played. Usualy more about how long I played. ("we wanna watch TV now! Shut yer console off!") Horror films was a bit different tough. I think i was 8 when I wanted to see aliens and my mum said no because she tought the spider limbed severed head was to scary. (Yes, she got "Aliens", and "The Thing" mixed up, I know.)

But I'm with Hobojebus: no sense in molly coddeling your kids.

From what I've heard from some people who work in videogame retail, you'll get some parents who are ok with their 10 year olds slicing and dicing and killing and running over people in games, but if there is one instance of foul language in the game they will raise hell! Or they are ok with running over hookers in GTA, but no with your character being able to have (ofscreen) seks with said hooker.

So now they can look up if mortal kombat 10 has potty mouth in it

One of the cool features of the site is that it tells parents if modding is possible in the game. Some parents will love it, some will see it as a vector for unwanted s*x, durgs, and r*ck & ro*l to sneak in.

There is conclusive scientific studies that show no links between video games and violence or any other negative behaviours, if anything it's proven to be cathartic.

When I was ten I was watching robocop, predator and the alien movies and I've not gone on a masses murder spree because of it.

Don't coddle kids it ill prepares them for the real world and they end up getting trampled, they will hear bad language as soon as they attend school I did in the 80`s you can not protect them not then and not now it's better to be honest and open with the wee Baines.

Eh. Totally disagree. The whole reason human adults raise young humans is to gradually introduce the young humans to the world. I'm sure we _could_ just throw our young to the wolves- it worked for Romulus and Remus!- it's generally not considered a good idea.

Obviously at some point kids _will_ run into things they will find painful. But the point of parenthood is to help kids develop the tools needed to deal with that pain. That's a long, gradual process. There's nothing wrong with parents wanting the tools to do it right.

I want the new wave of badly-disguised moral crusaders to up and bugger off.

I want the new wave of badly-disguised moral crusaders to up and bugger off.

Good news! The vote in Ireland came back Yes.

I want the new wave of badly-disguised moral crusaders to up and bugger off.

Good news! The vote in Ireland came back Yes.

I remember playing games as a child. Despite playing Doom, Wolf3d, Rise of the Triad, and every other bloody game out there, the biggest shock to me was when I got to the last boss of Bionic Commando on the NES and he called me a '**** fool'. It was a major 'whoa' moment because I'd never seen that word on the NES before. The only real impact it had on me in real life was telling my friends about it and all of us snickering like idiots about it.

There is conclusive scientific studies that show no links between video games and violence or any other negative behaviours, if anything it's proven to be cathartic.

When I was ten I was watching robocop, predator and the alien movies and I've not gone on a masses murder spree because of it.

Don't coddle kids it ill prepares them for the real world and they end up getting trampled, they will hear bad language as soon as they attend school I did in the 80`s you can not protect them not then and not now it's better to be honest and open with the wee Baines.

Eh. Totally disagree. The whole reason human adults raise young humans is to gradually introduce the young humans to the world. I'm sure we _could_ just throw our young to the wolves- it worked for Romulus and Remus!- it's generally not considered a good idea.

Obviously at some point kids _will_ run into things they will find painful. But the point of parenthood is to help kids develop the tools needed to deal with that pain. That's a long, gradual process. There's nothing wrong with parents wanting the tools to do it right.

Roman empire did pretty well for itself though didn't it.

We know what happens when you home school or send kids off to private schools, the first time they come out from under that shield they go nuts because they never learnt how to have moderated fun.

If you repress kids when they leave the nest they will over indulge in all these new things they were never allowed before, it's why England's kids binge drink but Frances don't because they are raised with small amounts of wine at dinner.

Nothing warps a child like an over protective parent.

There is conclusive scientific studies that show no links between video games and violence or any other negative behaviours, if anything it's proven to be cathartic.

When I was ten I was watching robocop, predator and the alien movies and I've not gone on a masses murder spree because of it.

Don't coddle kids it ill prepares them for the real world and they end up getting trampled, they will hear bad language as soon as they attend school I did in the 80`s you can not protect them not then and not now it's better to be honest and open with the wee Baines.

Eh. Totally disagree. The whole reason human adults raise young humans is to gradually introduce the young humans to the world. I'm sure we _could_ just throw our young to the wolves- it worked for Romulus and Remus!- it's generally not considered a good idea.

Obviously at some point kids _will_ run into things they will find painful. But the point of parenthood is to help kids develop the tools needed to deal with that pain. That's a long, gradual process. There's nothing wrong with parents wanting the tools to do it right.

Roman empire did pretty well for itself though didn't it.

We know what happens when you home school or send kids off to private schools, the first time they come out from under that shield they go nuts because they never learnt how to have moderated fun.

If you repress kids when they leave the nest they will over indulge in all these new things they were never allowed before, it's why England's kids binge drink but Frances don't because they are raised with small amounts of wine at dinner.

Nothing warps a child like an over protective parent.

I think there's all the difference in the world between "protective" and "overprotective".

For instance: real children would be eaten by the wolves that raised the mythological Romulus and Remus. That's _why_ we don't let wolves raise kids.

I was asked by a friend if " Shadows of Mordor" would be ok for a 13 year old*. I couldn't say "yes" or "no". I _was_ able to say that it was similar in tone to the LotR movies, but about 10% more visceral. The parent would then be in a good place to figure out if their particular 13 year old would be ok with the game.

I know my parents moderated the amount of horror movies I watched because they didn't want to deal with me having nightmares. Not for my sake- they just didn't want to deal with me in the middle of the night.

*Answering that question is how I found the site I linked to in the first post.

I want the new wave of badly-disguised moral crusaders to up and bugger off.

Good news! The vote in Ireland came back Yes.

Neat, but not actually what I as referring to.

Oh. Your meaning is opaque. But I'm not actually seeing any moral scolds in this thread. Nor am I seeing them linked to in the site above. So good news! This is a moral scold free zone!

I don't think video game content has a meaningful impact on the development of a child, apart from the benefits of criticical thinking and puzzle solving. I also don't think it's our place to badger a parent for having an interest in the specific media that his/her child is exposed to. There are valid comments on all sides here, but some posters are assuming a level of extreme investment on PP's part; the guy is clearly just trying to make us aware that such a site exists for like-minded folks.

Whether or not you agree that parents should audit the video games themselves, I hope it's at least clear that a parent with no interest in their child's activities isn't worthy of being one in the first place.

"For instance: real children would be eaten by the wolves that raised the mythological Romulus and Remus. That's _why_ we don't let wolves raise kids"

Two seconds on Google would have shown you that's not true wild animals don't automatically kill kids there's multiple true accounts of children raised wild.

"For instance: real children would be eaten by the wolves that raised the mythological Romulus and Remus. That's _why_ we don't let wolves raise kids"

Two seconds on Google would have shown you that's not true wild animals don't automatically kill kids there's multiple true accounts of children raised wild.

I think you're missing the point.

Yeah and Bagheera didn't eat Mowgly..wait what does this have to do with parents and videogames?

Ok let's jam this thread back on topic:

A few years ago i was playing Mortal Kombat Armageddon when my friend walked in with his then 6 year old daughter. She sees me playing MK and goes "Is that guy dead?" And i've just ripped some dude's head off in the game so I can hardly tell Johnny Cage is just sleeping (or pyning for the fjords) I'm stuck for words for a bit and she wanders off.

A minute later she's standing next to me again. "Are those guys dead, now?" And then it dawns on me she doesn't sound upset, she sounds impatient. as in "aren't you done beating up these guys? i wanna have a go!" So I go, "yeah sure you go play". Next fight was the final boss so i figure it wont last long and she won't see to much gory stuff. And then she proceeds to almost beat the final boss!

Moral of the story: Never underestimate kids.

Well they can tell real life from make believe despite what some people insist.

Children are very curious about death at early ages. They go from believing that somebody who has walked out of the room for 10 minutes is never coming back, to believing that people and pets who have died will be back in a few days, to knowing that the people who have died will never come back, to figuring out that THEY might die at some point.

The concept of self-death usually scares the pee out of children when they are young. But death also seems like a lovely way to no longer have to deal with the mean cat that scratched them or the kid in school that picked on them. They therefore seek death out and try to figure it out. Humans are weird like that. A kid probably won't flinch at watching you mow through hordes of enemies with a chain gun, but show them something a few degrees hotter than the fare in Duke Nukem, and they'll probably run out of the room yelling 'Ewwwwww'.

I don't think violence itself is really a big deal in video games.

I think the bigger issue is: who are you committing violence against? Now that I'm almost 30, I look back and see how games help shaped certain fundamental ideas I had about people. It's very easy to get comfortable with certain ideas when they get repeated a lot.

For instance: White Americans are "normal, baseline people". If you need a character where his/her background isn't important, then choose a white guy. You can't be a black guy without "being black" as part of the story....he's either from some exotic land, overcome some great hardship and is tough as nails, or in some way mysterious. Gordon Freeman can't just "be a black guy" and that's the end of it.

Also, Xenophobia. Killing hordes of enemies needs to be OK...so often they need to be something "normal people" aren't familiar/comfortable with. Monsters, aliens, robots, etc. But when the bad guys need to be people, they're usually middle eastern/asian, gangsters with a racial identity attached, or just generic "masked" people. It sets you up thinking that adversaries will be unquestionably evil and won't have any obvious signs of humanity. When a real conflict happens, (say Iraq 2 after 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina), it makes it difficult to relate to the enemies/victims, because we're so used to those types of people not being people.

Sorry if any of this is unclear...wasn't really expecting to get into this kinda content this morning, so these are the Cliffnotes of how I feel. I just know from experience, I've had to make some of these "moral corrections" myself and was able to identify video games as an influence.

Yes videogames have left me biased towards space invaders.

But you are correct.

Low point was America's army (admitedly a recruitment tool disguised as a vid game, but stil...) in wich you play as american soldiers against the evil terrorists. Except you can only play as the americans, and the other team sees you as the terrorists (and vice versa)