August 23, 2008

Survey: Parents more concerned with kids' exposure to videogames than alcohol, porn, and violence

A recent survey from What They Play, a parental advisory website, revealed that parents seem to be more worried about their children's exposure to videogames than alcohol, pornography, or violence. Furthermore, a second survey by the group showed that parents considered content showing sex and sexuality as more offensive than depictions of violence.

Here's an excerpt from the What They Play press release, courtesy of GamePolitics (external link):

Nearly 3,000 respondents in two separate What They Play polls concluded that drinking beer and watching pornography were less objectionable activities for children than playing certain video games. Further, viewing violence was more acceptable than seeing content involving sex and sexuality within games.

The first survey What They Play took was conducted from April 4-10, 2008, and asked 1,266 participants what they were most offended by in videogames. Here's the breakdown, according to the poll:

a man and woman having sex (37 )
two men kissing (27 )
a graphically severed head (25 )
multiple use of the F-word (9 ).

The second survey, done from August 1-6, 2008 looked at what parents were most worried about their kids indulging in while at a sleepover. Here's what the press release said about that:

More than 1,600 respondents revealed they re more apprehensive about their child smoking marijuana (49 ) and playing the video game Grand Theft Auto (19 ), than watching pornography (16 ) and drinking beer (14 ).

While the usual social issues (alcohol, drugs, and porn) are all present in many a parents' list of worries, it seems videogames are slowly emerging as a social issue that many parents fear can be detrimental to their kids. While it's probably a good thing that videogames are becoming more emergent in the social consciousness, the representation of games in the public eye (especially if Rockstar North's GTA is the only game people can remember) leaves much to be desired.

Grand Theft Childhood authors: Parents often ignore game ratings

Source: wow.qj.net

WotLK beta servers down for new build; level cap to be raised?

The beta servers for Wrath of the Lich King are down , ladies and gents. That's because they are about to unleash a new build, and you bet this is but the calm before the storm.

As rumor would have it, based on the Gamona video interview at Leipzig earlier today, the level cap will be raised to 80. We cannot know for sure until the servers go back up. The downtime is expected to run for about six to eight hours, which started at 2:30PM PST.