a recent uk survey finds parents are worried. end of story.

Concerned? How titillating.

Pft, UK isn't European ;)

It sounds like 43% of parents don't seem to care what their children are playing. If they did then it would seem like an easy task to look at what their children are playing, or better yet what they are buying their children. Look at the box people!

If they cant tell that they shouldn't buy their kids a game with a big 18 on the front back and side, im concerned that they're parents.

So, what percentage is going to take that concern and actually apply it to, oh, I don't know, actually taking a large enough role in their child's lives to not them play objectionable games?

@Dirkcee:
Like say, Final Fantasy 18? :D
j/k, but you know we'll get there sooner or later.

How many times do we have to go over this, retarded parents of the UK, America, and Australia?

IF YOU'RE CONCERNED ABOUT A GAME'S CONTENT, DON'T BUY IT. IF YOU THINK A GAME IS TOO VIOLENT, DON'T BUY IT. IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE RATINGS SYSTEM IS, IT'S NOT OUR FAULT YOU'RE TOO IGNORANT TO GOOGLE IT OR LOOK AT THE GAME BOX FOR WHAT'S IN THE GAME. WHAT'S YOUR KID GOING TO DO? IF HE'S TOO MENTALLY IMMATURE FOR A VIOLENT GAME, CHANCES ARE HE LACKS A JOB/FUNDS/CAR/ID TO BE ABLE TO BUY A VIOLENT GAME ON HIS OWN ANYWAY.

Stop giving Jack Thompson & FOX News more fodder because somehow your kids outwit you in game purchasing.

Or is this Microsoft's attempt to appear a more socially responsible company given the fact the Xbox360 seems to have a reputation for games where you have to kill everything?

that reminds me,i havent got my recent copy of MAD delivered....a nasty visit to the newsagents is on the cards

Personally, my mother knows nothing of the game ratings system, but that's a good thing. If she did, she'd panic at the mention of "Fantasy Violence" and ban all E-rated games from me.

However, she believes I'm mentally mature to be exposed to most content, and she's obviously there at the store whenever I buy a game, and she asks me what's in it and stuff and looks at the game. But she trusts my game decisions.

Cool underage kids buy games with their mom =D

I loath poling systems like these. (thank you Penn and Tellers Bullshit.. >.> Fuck you frank)

@Strangelove: /agreed, the majority cares, but a much smaller number seems to care enough to ACTUALLY do something.

@Huginn: Their idea of "doing something about it" is whining to the government to ban everything.

@thereturnoftheufo: Right on! That's why I loath a rating system. It is a cop-out. Games are not a one sized fit all game. A sports game and a shooter game can both get a 't' for teen rating, but are radically different in terms of parental acceptability

Surveys are crap.
They draw your attention to an issue by asking you specifically about it. How many of these people would have said video games if ask "what things will have a negative effect your children's development?"

this just in, at least 18% of european parents are COMPLETE HYPOCRITS

75% of European parents are concerned that their male children may, despite all their efforts to the contrary, grow up straight.

[www.cafepress.com]

How dumbassed can parents get?

That second stat can be read as: '43% of parents pay absolutley no attention to their childrens hobbies or interests.'

@LuminousTom:
Meh..

28% Drugs
25% Alcohol
30% Bad friends at school
10% Violent video games
7% Orlando Bloom

@ Mark, please stop thinking UK = Europe, Japan does not equal asia and neither does uk equal europe.

So they are more afraid then they are dumb. Better than just plain stupid like they are in America.

This is only from personal experience, but I find that video game sales are much more lax in checking for age than movies. Going to see an R-rated movie, for example - I am still carded TODAY and I am 22. And in my 10+ years of buying video games, I've been carded ONCE, and that was to buy Red Faction for the PC when it first came out. I promptly flipped the guy at the counter off, walked to the next video game store, and bought it no hassle. The employees at video game stores just don't stick to the regimen like movie theater employees. I don't know if it's a lack of care on their part or lack of legal consequences, but if video game stores enforced their ratings more like theaters, I think parents would, as a result, be much more aware of the rating system.

@onidavin: Yes it is.

Though sometimes I'm not so sure.

@ LATONONE, the study includes parents in UK, France, Italy and Germany.

The survey was conducted on behalf of the UK.

Isn't it fine to group the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany under the term, "Europe" or "European?"

They're obviously not THAT "concerned" if they haven't even done enough research to know about rating systems.

Games are the same as books and movies and essentially any other form of media. They can contain objectionable material. I wonder why, in almost 40 years, people still don't get this....

I mean, haven't parents ALWAYS been controlling what their kids are exposed to? I don't ever remember hearing in history about the "Parental Renaissance" where parent just STARTED caring about what their kids were exposed to as opposed to letting them run around doing everything.

Well, there was the '60's....

"Concerned parents" are my #1 most hated group of people. They are the type of people who have nothing better to do than be concerned.

The other day, I saw a kid about 11 in a store with his mother (I think, female relative of some sort) trying to buy GTA: San Andreas. The guy behind the counter was telling her quite clearly and without any kind of deceit that this game had adult content - sex, drug abuse, serious violence, etc. - and she ended up giving in to the kid's pleading and bought it for him. Make of this anecdote what you will... just thought I'd throw an experience I had out there.

One thing i've learnt by doing As Level psychology at my sixth form is;

DEMAND CHARACTER. Saying or doing what you think is right in front of another person or society.
Rarely will anyone tell the truth.

Surveys have one MAIN disadvantage,
and that is it.
If you do a survey, they will adhere to social customs and say what they think society wants them to say.
Which makes it quite apparent that 100% of those parents just said what they thought was right.

Statistics are bullshit.

If you don't know about videogame ratings by now, you're just plain stupid.

Awareness of the games rating system here (Australia) works because we have a unified government ratings system. Movies, games and sometimes music all share the G PG M MA R system. So a parent will see MA15+ and they immediately understand what that means because movies use the same system.

complaining about game content , which has a rating is like crying over a hot cup of coffee which has a warning on it "caution its hot" and then saying "what? theres a warning?"

So, at least 18% of surveyed parents were basically caught lying about the whole "concerned" thing. Interesting.

WHAT YOU SAY?

:/ I did email this story to Kotaku about 2 days ago but yet again it's ignored only to be picked up a few days later...

Eh, I saw this the other day on BBC online or whatever.

The findings are kinda worrying. Most will let their kids buy the game but about half will limit their kids to one hour a day? And they don't know the ratings system, and they don't know that some games have mature content at all?

GOOD PARENTS.

I live in a house where my parents know nothing of the ratings system. This is not for lack of trying on my part, mostly to explain that MechWarrior is not Mortal Kombat, but I even found some pamphlets years ago with what the ratings and each descriptor meant. these were promptly lost into the abyss of our house and game ratings have never been mentioned again. My house has a general "no blood" rule so anything M is basically out of the question unless it has a no gore feature like Unreal Tournament. I'm no longer sure where I was going with this but maybe the point came across.

I care more about the ratings than my parents

P.S. I can legally buy M rated games, but choose not to, usually.

@Kiriphii: be happy you're ahead of the curve.

Yes there is more than one way to read those numbers. I choose to read them as saying that for every 100 legitimate parents, there are another 18 people claiming fictional kids just to skew the results of the study. It helps take some of the repetition of finding out that no, parents really don't pay attention to what their kids are doing, and no, it's not a situation that's unique to the US.

These figures are skewed as the demographic for video game players is constantly evolving. Nearly 20% of players today are parents and you can't tell me they don't know about the rating system.

.. "mom, why is that man jumping on that woman nakid?" ...

Alot of moms and dads just don't care, if they did care they'd look at the box and use common logic to guess that their likely to have a rating system for games.

My mom always knew how the rating system worked, why? Because she wasn't an idiot.

In the end I'll have kids one day, and I'll check out some review sites to figure out if the games right for my kids.

Wow! I never knew that 43% of parents were idiots!