What They Play: Parents more worried about games than alcohol, porn
by Justin McElroy 
{ Aug 12th 2008 at 3:58AM }
Also, big changes in attitudes since April: Parents are slightly less concerned about their kids seeing a severed head and slightly more concerned about use of the F-bomb. Both are still less concerning than two men kissing. Hooray, America!
(*Side note: If parents come home to find their kids drunk and aroused by offing someone in Grand Theft Auto, we think they have every right to be concerned.)
Get a WordPress.com Blog
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Blah @ Aug 12th 2008 4:11AM
my dog just drank some water and his chin hair looks pretty long, like a big ol gandalf beard.
and maybe some dads want to drink a few cold ones with their sons while they watch sexually explicit programing.
Ihavepants @ Aug 12th 2008 5:30AM
Lol I'm high.
mandark @ Aug 12th 2008 4:13AM
HAHAHAHA ! Best picture ever ! Chug it down junior !
Alexisonfire @ Aug 12th 2008 4:15AM
Now, are parents just scared of EVERYTHING or are today's parents really, really bad at what they do?
ShadowflareXIII @ Aug 12th 2008 4:23AM
...no its not just you...today's parents are just *really*, *REALLY* bad at what they do.
Just take a look around the next time when your out shopping or just OUT in general...I see at least 1 bad parent every time I'm out.
...case in point...apparently its now *O.K.* to take your kids to a night club........who knew...?
mcatrage @ Aug 12th 2008 6:38AM
I think the media and politicians have also gotten very good at scaring them.
Haggard @ Aug 12th 2008 8:02AM
Never seen a family at a nightclub, but I imagine there are people stupid enough to do it. Heck, I'm in a school with an entrance exam (in Britain) and there's some right cretins in here.
Maverick Saturn @ Aug 12th 2008 9:06AM
Children are smoking, having sex and drinking in london at age 11. And parents are worried about games, roflmao.
Wiinterfang @ Aug 12th 2008 12:28PM
You will understand when you have kids.
GoldenS1104 @ Aug 12th 2008 4:15AM
To quote MIB, "A person is smart. People are dumb."
Ghen @ Aug 12th 2008 7:17AM
I'm sure there's a few individuals who would classify as well.
cyrix @ Aug 12th 2008 4:16AM
Digg it!
http://digg.com/gaming_news/Parents_more_worried_about_games_than_alcohol
Danny @ Aug 12th 2008 4:17AM
You know, you need a license to buy a dog, to drive a car - hell, you even need a license to catch a fish. But they'll let any butt-reaming asshole be a father.
Truly Keanu Reeves' best line ever.
GoldenS1104 @ Aug 12th 2008 4:20AM
"Truly Keanu Reeves' best line ever."
That's like saying "the best tasting anus," it may not taste as bad as the others, but it still tastes like an anus.
Imadogg @ Aug 12th 2008 6:12AM
bogus...
Eggy @ Aug 12th 2008 6:44AM
Have you ever tasted an anus? If you never have you can't comment on it's taste.
FOXHOUND @ Aug 12th 2008 7:12AM
I've been to Arbys, so I suppose that's close enough.
As for the article -- well, I'd rather let a minor go ahead and play the most violent, sex-charged videogame out there("PICTO-CHAT", lulz); than even expose them to alcohol and porn.
"That's daddy's stash, hands off ya little sh--"
Maverick Saturn @ Aug 12th 2008 9:21AM
Lol, I would hate to hand over games to parents, we would only have tetris and such to play. If you are telling me a fully grown young adult of age 18 stabbed and carried out GTA, then its obvious the parents needed to be banished from earth, stick them on a rocket and send them away, they are more the hazard then the kid, the concept of them breeding more children like that is terrifying.
Santo @ Aug 12th 2008 4:19AM
Sounds really horrible until you read the actual survey results:
"More than 1,600 respondents revealed they’re more apprehensive about their child smoking marijuana (49 percent) and playing the video game Grand Theft Auto (19 percent), than watching pornography (16 percent) and drinking beer (14 percent)."
Sounds like participants were only allowed to give one response. I'd wager dollars to donuts that the majority of the 49% who were most apprehensive about Mary Jane would have put alcohol or porn, and not GTA, at #2.
Danny @ Aug 12th 2008 4:28AM
True, surveys are bullshit. The person who wrote the survey was hired by someone and was told to get a particular response out of the target audience. In this case they probably wanted violent video games to look bad.
HOWEVER they were pretty open with what the poll asked in the report:
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 second poll, which ran August 1-6, 2008, queried parents on what they’d be most concerned about their 17-year-old child indulging in while at a sleepover. More than 1,600 respondents revealed they’re more apprehensive about their child smoking marijuana (49 percent) and playing the video game Grand Theft Auto (19 percent), than watching pornography (16 percent) and drinking beer (14 percent).
Santo @ Aug 12th 2008 5:07AM
Granted, but the title is *extremely* misleading. And I'd be willing to bet that 90% of people who see this "survey" (Joystiq readers included) don't go past the title.
The survey says absolutely nothing about how parents, in general, feel about violent games in relation to pornography or alcohol. Only that 19% of parents find them a worse sleepover activity than pot, sex, or beer. These 19% are clearly insane, but they are *not* the majority, as the title suggests.
To make this kind of claim, they would have to put games one on one against the others, or perhaps have parents rank them rather than simply picking the worst.
Haggard @ Aug 12th 2008 8:07AM
@ Danny
Nah, this survey is by What They Play, which is a site designed by gamers to inform parents the truth about content in games (and they're not sensationalist). From the most cynical point of view, it will be to whip up the sense in parents that "oh my god, look how silly my views are. Well from now on I'm using this site to be in the know" - and thus WTP gets more advertising revenue.
mezzanine @ Aug 12th 2008 4:32AM
Being a parent is hard, but jesus christ, people are stupid.
ice~ @ Aug 12th 2008 4:37AM
and this is the country I live in...? Its a sad world. Ive played so many games in my life that haven't effected my behavior, I mean u don't see me eating mushrooms or throwing balls at squirrels to make them my slaves in an underground fight club, or having sex with hookers (yet) I mean it's ridiculous what people believe
Noshino @ Aug 12th 2008 4:49AM
uh, anyone would know that parents that visit What They Play are more understanding of the matter, and well, they actually are, its just that Justin seems to have forgotten to quote this
"While researching for Grand Theft Childhood, parents we spoke with in focus groups often bemoaned the fact that they didn’t know how to use game controls - and felt unequipped to supervise or limit video game play. Of course, parents don’t want their children drinking alcohol, but that’s a more familiar risk."
Their fear of videogames has more to do with the fact that they are not familiar with the consoles, so they can't control them.
#28 @ Aug 12th 2008 5:08AM
That's a good point.
Perhaps it also has to do with the inevitable bullshit episodes of CSI or NCIS that portray gaming like a Dionysian cult.
Saria the Cat @ Aug 12th 2008 4:51PM
@Noshino: So not know about consoles is a good excuse for not knowing how to limit your kids' intake of any media? There's an on/off button like any other electronic. Johnny isn't listening to you telling them to stop playing? Press the button. Just because you [the parents] don't know how to play games doesn't mean you don't have any right to parent when it comes to gaming, or that it excuses you from the responsibility.
Psaakyrn @ Aug 12th 2008 4:56AM
Being a parent is easy. Being a good parent however...
Maverick Saturn @ Aug 12th 2008 9:17AM
I think some parents take the view that once they give birth, like the animal world, offspring should take care of themselves.
ymmv @ Aug 12th 2008 5:15AM
A far more interesting survery question would have been: what do you think the game GTA4 is all about? I bet most of those parents have no clue at all about GTA, all they know is that the game is somehow the epitome of violent gaming and really, REALLY gruesome without ever having seen it in action. They don't think twice about having theird kids see torture porn movies like Saw or Hostel, but GTA is of course taking it too far ...
The Fatass of Kickassness @ Aug 12th 2008 5:51AM
And yet, when you ask a kid why they want GTA4, more often than not they're not gonna tell you it's because of the engaging storyline or convincing overworld. I'm not saying games encourage negative behavior, I'm just saying that most kids who are into games like GTA are the same kind of kids who #1 buy games like that to look cool #2 won't play anything that isn't grossly violent #3 buy the game for its REAL selling point, which is fucking around in the overworld city violently.
Kye - Me_DF @ Aug 12th 2008 6:36AM
... because lord knows alcohol has never been the cause of anything bad.
I for one also think that there should be some sort of mandatory parenthood test.
And I'm sick to my back teeth of parents trying to blame everything else except themselves for their shortfalls.
Todays society = fail.
john @ Aug 12th 2008 7:00AM
Your talking about a society where most kids get alcohol and marijuana etc, FROM their parents and do those activity along with them. So really its no surprise
WarpedEye @ Aug 12th 2008 7:17AM
I'll agree with previous posters that the title is very misleading, as is the title on just about every other website that published this.
While it is disheartening, the poll itself seemed kind of flawed. And, more importantly, this quote from the article (from the author of Grand Theft Childhood):
"Of course, parents don’t want their children drinking alcohol, but that’s a more familiar risk."
It's about parents not knowing that much about the medium. The same thing happened when comics were the new media for young people.
It isn't necessarily that they'd rather see their child drinking alcohol and watching porn than playing violent video games; it's that they at least know what those problems are about, and can therefore more easily deal with them.
KarlW @ Aug 12th 2008 7:28AM
People today are scared by everything. It seems to be particularly bad in America. The section of society that is poorly educated and can't even bother to try qualify any concerns is staggeringly large. This isn't meant as an insult to all Americans - when large sections of society still are not even literate, it's hard to call that society as a whole civilized or sophisticated. You judge a society by it's weakest members - they're the least common denomenator to whom all rules have to apply.
All modern consoles have parental controls. Even if your child manages to pick the game up from eBay or a friend, they'll need to obtain a new PS3/360/Wii to play it. Once controls on the console are enabled, most concerns are gone. Maybe this kind of technology should be mandated to all future consoles. It wouldn't stop the idiots, but it'd make their concerns truly groundless.
LunarAura @ Aug 12th 2008 7:53AM
Mother Nature needs to facepalm the United States.
Amontoya15 @ Aug 12th 2008 9:59AM
This country amazes me with censorship. Remember the whole Super Bowl scandel with Janet Jackson and her nipple? I couldnt believe the "outrage" of people over a nipple. I remember, a week later on that same channel they showed Saving Private Ryan, uncut on primetime TV. That shows me that americans are more comfortable with war voilence (beheadings, blood, killing) then they are with a nipple. I remember visiting my family in Colombia and seeing billboards with topless women on it in the middle of the city selling lingerie. I look amazed as it seems nobody cared, I even asked my little cousin what he thought of it, and he said "its the human body, its natural, there is nothing wrong with it".........smart little bugger.
t_m @ Aug 12th 2008 8:12AM
The article is kinda misleading (joystiq is starting to annoy me with this kind of thing), but the priorities are still pretty messed up.
Parents these days are so filled with fear by the media that they have no idea what to panic about most.
However things like alcohol and pron are really dependent on the age of the kid and the level. If my 15 year old was drinking a little and watching some basic p)rn then I wouldn't be too worried.. kind of a natural part of growing up.
but on the other hand if a 10 year old was hitting the bottle or seeing some of the really messed up stuff on the net then i'd be much more worried.
Weed wouldn't worry me too much, but harder drugs would be near the top of the list.
Violent media, drink and underage sex would all depend on how much I trusted my kid, and how emotionally mature they were.
2 guys kissing? My kids could watch that all day every day from the age of 3 if they reall want, I couldn't care less.
(but the 2 girls kissing videos are only for me...)
Maverick Saturn @ Aug 12th 2008 9:12AM
See, I wouldn't even allow my kids to smoke weed, after they leave my house they can do whatever the hell they like, I expect by that time they would have excelled at thier chosen path, even if its not the academic route.
Smoking weed is for the time wasters, and really we only have one life, I would prefer my kids to take the bull by the horns and ride it towards success. I chose not to smoke weed myself, a lot of my mates do it, and personally, I don't understand the benefits of getting high or drunk for that matter, maybe I'm not British enough, but when the lads are like 'lets get smashed', tipsy is good enough for me, what joy would I get from vomitting, and sleeping on the streets, unable to get into my home because my parents would dare not let me in.
As for weed, its just dry grass to me, a waste of money, a way to get you put away, a waste of time, and a complete waste of life.
Farseer (GDI) @ Aug 12th 2008 3:39PM
lol @ Maverick Saturn,
You act like people get things accomplished while drunk. :)
A recreational substance is a recreational substance. When you choose to partake responsibly, you choose to do so as a break from the grind. I hope you're not trying to be productive while drunk, high, or whatever.
The moment that any substance enters your life at times that are not recreational times, you have passed the limit of responsible use and you have a problem.
Wasting time stoned is no different than wasting time drunk, though you will probably do less damage to yourself and others while stoned. :)
Kassu @ Aug 12th 2008 8:43AM
Soccer moms and a world political correctness.
Gotta love the States.
FSW @ Aug 12th 2008 8:57AM
I hate to put a damper on a sentationalist bandwagon, but I think this whole thing is a result of bad wording on the (already unscientific) poll.
The question posed was this:
'What would you be MOST concerned about your under-17 year old child having indulged in while sleeping over at a friend’s house?'
Polled subjects might have taken this to mean; what do parents think their children are most LIKELY to have done, rather than what the WORST thing they could do is.
Park Zero @ Aug 12th 2008 10:22AM
Good point. The media’s reaction to the survey is just as misleading as the survey itself.
Maverick Saturn @ Aug 12th 2008 9:03AM
Does anyone remember what I said in that last article concerning a matter like this? Point made.
In Britain, the major causes for concern are binge drinking which is possibly the highest in the world, young pregnancies which is the highest in Europe, an ever increasing number of violence and stabbings, people carrying knives etc
The fact of the matter is, if parents are so worried about games, then they as parents are crap parents, full stop, I played violent games below the age of 18, but still, it never once occured to me to shoot someone, stab someone, perform GTA etc etc, why? Because I was brought up right, and I expect the same goes for many if not all of you who visit this site. Some of you ARE parents, again I am sure your kids don't run rampant killing etc why? Because you bring them up right. A movie or game doesn't make a child, if the child is brought up right, and mixes in the right circles of friends and family members, they will know whats right and whats wrong, they won't need to be told. Parents have to stop making excuses to not raise thier children up right, besides, they are a tad stupid then aren't they, if you are so worried about violent games, why allow your children to play them? Logic maybe?
SoulBlade @ Aug 12th 2008 9:08AM
"Brenda... I'm sorry to hear about your son dying from Alcohol poisoning..."
"That's ok... at least he wasn't playing GTA!"
WRE @ Aug 12th 2008 10:19AM
I laughed silently, but only because my wife was sleeping and I didn't want to wake her. Otherwise I would have lol'ed.
jron @ Aug 12th 2008 10:01AM
man... I want a beer now.
jm2001 @ Aug 12th 2008 10:12AM
This is totally misleading. If I asked you which of these you were "more concerned" with: 1) losing your eye in a freak skeet shooting accident or 2) getting the flu this winter? You'd probably say "the flu". This doesn't mean that you'd rather lose your eye than get the flu. You're simply factoring in the low probability of one compared to the higher probability of the other when making your choice.
Granted, this is an extreme to illustrate my point. The probability of a kid drinking, having sex, and/or playing GTA are probably much closer than my example...But I'd bet that the respondents to the survey were applying similar logic when answering this question.
mlucky @ Aug 12th 2008 12:56PM
That's because the the majority of Parent age Americans only know what mainstream news tells them about games. So of course they believe that any game will turn their kid into Hannibal over time.
Shadow El @ Aug 12th 2008 12:38PM
The second paragraph's results unsettle me more than the rest of the article, to be quite honest...