Aleks touched on it in her blog below, but as the Christmas retail rush gathers pace the issue of educating parents has hit the headlines once again. ELSPA - the UK's industry body - has today launched a new site which, it says, will, "help parents understand the age ratings system for computer and video games so that they can make more informed choices when choosing games for their children."
Sadly this "informed choice" is unlikely to lead to parents buying classy platformer Psychonauts - now sensibly delayed until Feb 2006 - rather than FIFA06, but it may help some of them realise that GTA isn't suitable for their kiddies.
But let's be honest here. Parents who are clued up enough to check out ELSPA's site are not the ones that need to be educated. Instead it's the parents buying the latest "urban action game" for their 12-yr old - it's only a game, isn't it - who need the help. It's a bit like the 360. Yes, it has accessible and prominent parental controls, but chances are little Johnny will either be setting up the console on his own or his parents will be unaware of the facility to block unsuitable content. Still, even if they are not used, MS can point to the fact that they have included parental controls and it's likely they will be a feature of every console going forward.
Perhaps the best hope is generational. As the current mass of gamers in their 20s and 30s become parents the need for sites such as this will fade. Well, that's the theory.
