Common Sense and Parenting: Games of 2006
Each year, the National Institute on Media and the Family, an advocacy and education watch-dog group posts their top 10 lists of video games to seek out for children and 10 to avoid at all costs. To their credit, the group does tout the benefits of the ESRB rating system and being involved in the child’s playing habits, though they have been know to publish often discredited reports that violent games cause violent behaviour in children.
I want to comment on their Top 10 to Avoid list. Each of these games has an M rating, and parents should avoid purchasing the games for kids for the holidays. They are as follows:
- Gangs of London
- The Sopranos
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
- Reservoir Dogs
- Mortal Kombat: Unchained
- Scarface: The World is Yours
- The Godfather: Mob Wars
- Saints Row
- Dead Rising
- Just Cause
The point I’d like to bring up here is…. DUH! I propose the following: anyone thinking about having children should be tested for their ability to recognize the violence potential of a game (or movie) based on it’s title before being allowed to procreate. Is that too much to ask? I think it goes beyond gaming and reaches far into a common sense issue. C’mon! DEAD RISING… does that scream fluffy bunnies and light hearted fun to you? Nevermind the bolded M rating on each of their packages, if you can’t recognize that a game (or again, film) titled Gangs of London will have a hefty amount of violence in it, the last thing you should be doing is rearing offspring.
I will commend their group on their recommendations, not only recognizing these titles for being suitable for younger players, but for being high quality games to boot:
