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GamesTracker

Parents More Concerned About GTA IV Than Alcohol and Porn

During the week of July 30th, WhatTheyPlay.com ran a poll asking what parents would be most concerned about if their under-17 year old child was sleeping over a friend's house. By overwhelming majority smoking marijuana was the most concerning but what was surprising were the remaining placements. Parents were more concerned that their children would play Grand Thefy Auto IV by a small percentage over watching porn and drinking alcohol.

Former EGM editor-in-chief and WhatTheyPlay.com executive John Davison said in the most recent episode of 1UP Yours said that the survey, which received over 1600 responses, was a research tool for the site that proved that parents still don't get it and need to be more informed on the content in games. He feels the industry as a whole has a long way to go before everyone feels more comfortable with gaming. As a parent and a gamer I can't say I would be more concerned that my children may play GTA IV, or any M rated game for that matter, than I would be that they were underage drinking or watching pornography. What do you think? And what do you think can be done to educate parents more extensively on the content in games?
(3 comments)

By Falconer on August 20th, 2008 - 14:11

I agree with Oweful. People don't trust what they don't know.

By Oweful on August 20th, 2008 - 01:01

I think perhaps porn and alcohol are more established evils than GTA. People are more scared of what they do not understand.

By Heliosai on August 19th, 2008 - 20:58

We need to be careful here, because without keeping an open mind and thinking about the various possible contexts we wind up no better than the parents who actually do think that GTA and other video games are the devil.

The question is not very specific and somewhat vaguely worded. Perhaps many parents have children who are 10 or under and can't see them getting there hands on beer or pornography at a friend's house, (and at 10 and under, most kids don't care so much about porn and beer), but can certainly imagine them playing a violent game like Grand Theft Auto. That's just one possibility.

While many parents really don't have a clue when it comes to video games, at least the parents who visit that site are taking a step in the right direction by checking out the site and trying to learn.


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