1. yvonnef asked Anne Collier: "Is there any evidence to show that the more realistic a character, the more likely the behaviours are to be mimicked?36253"
2. Anne Collier answers: "Interesting you should ask that. I've seen only one study (at Iowa State University) that looked at animated vs. highly representational videogame characters, and it found that playing "cartoonish" violent..." Show more»" Interesting you should ask that. I've seen only one study (at Iowa State University) that looked at animated vs. highly representational videogame characters, and it found that playing "cartoonish" violent videogames that display no blood "had the same short-term effect [on 9-to-12-year-olds and college students] of increasing aggressive behavior as the more graphic teen (T-rated) violent games." Here's the URL of my blog post talking about it. "Show less«
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4. 0 comment   |  Topic: Arts and entertainment   |   Email to friends   |   Dec 21 2007 1:04:00 PM

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1. JazzHand asked Anne Collier: "Do games get unfairly treated by censors when compared to other art forms?"
2. Anne Collier answers: "If you're talking about rating boards (different from censors, I think), I don't think so. I'm not familiar with the UK ones, but the US videogame rating board is actually a nonprofit organization funded..." Show more»" If you're talking about rating boards (different from censors, I think), I don't think so. I'm not familiar with the UK ones, but the US videogame rating board is actually a nonprofit organization funded by the videogame industry trade association, so - theoretically - they'd rate videogames more leniently than movies. But, in fact, each medium is rated by its own industry. I think it's more politicians and the news media covering them that have the biases. "Show less«
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4. 0 comment   |  Topic: Arts and entertainment   |   Email to friends   |   Dec 21 2007 1:01:57 PM

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1. Theee84 asked Anne Collier: "As gamers grow into tomorrow's parents, do you see parental responsibility regarding video games improving? "
2. Absolutely. An informed parent is (usually) a better parent.
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4. 0 comment   |  Topic: Arts and entertainment   |   Email to friends   |   Dec 21 2007 1:01:05 PM

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1. yvonnef asked Anne Collier: "With only brief information about a game you are buying, how can a parent monitor the content when they can't preview the whole game. With movies you can watch the whole thing whereas with these games..." Show more »"With only brief information about a game you are buying, how can a parent monitor the content when they can't preview the whole game. With movies you can watch the whole thing whereas with these games we have to rely on censors?" Show less »
2. Anne Collier answers: "Right, movies are different. But a lot of parents - even really good ones - just check a film's rating before deciding if their children can view it. There are videogame ratings too - and, because they're..." Show more»" Right, movies are different. But a lot of parents - even really good ones - just check a film's rating before deciding if their children can view it. There are videogame ratings too - and, because they're on the Web, they're accessible to any parent anywhere who has a Net connection (and speaks the language of the Web site). Those ratings help a lot. There are also magazines and searchable magazine-like Web sites targeting the gamer market with descriptions and reviews of popular games. More fodder for parental research. You're right that there's a huge amount of material in a videogame that no one, not even the rating board, has enough time to view. And there's a whole lot of unpredictable, player-generated material in multiplayer online games. But what anyone can find about a game in the above resources or with a Web search engine can give a parent a pretty good feel for what a child player would encounter. Parents should also know that there is content - in the US called "mods" for "modifications" - that's not in off-the-shelf games that kids can download from the Internet. Sometimes it's x-rated. Some game manufacturers encourage gamers to create and circulate mods, whether or not x-rated, and some don't. It's another thing for parents of highly Net-literate children to be aware of. "Show less«
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4. 0 comment   |  Topic: Arts and entertainment   |   Email to friends   |   Dec 21 2007 1:00:10 PM

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1. larry1 asked Anne Collier: "Surely the certificate system is intended to restrict children from having access to adult games, why are games such as Manhunt 2 banned if it they would only be availble to adults? "
2. Anne Collier answers: "I probably answered this partially above. I'm not familiar with the certificate system you refer to, but it sounds like some sort of authorization that has to be obtained in order to buy or access specific..." Show more»" I probably answered this partially above. I'm not familiar with the certificate system you refer to, but it sounds like some sort of authorization that has to be obtained in order to buy or access specific games. That sounds better than outright banning to me. Another useful but not fail-proof tool. "Show less«
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4. 0 comment   |  Topic: Arts and entertainment   |   Email to friends   |   Dec 21 2007 12:59:25 PM

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1. udders asked Anne Collier: "What sort of people work on the'advisory council', does this include children?"
2. Anne Collier answers: "That's a fair question. It really depends on the organization. I happen to know those two, as I suspect you know. Their advisory boards are made up mostly of people in the children's online-safety advocacy..." Show more»" That's a fair question. It really depends on the organization. I happen to know those two, as I suspect you know. Their advisory boards are made up mostly of people in the children's online-safety advocacy field. Many of them have been in the nonprofit, or as you say in the UK, the charitable sector for a long time. Many in the online-safety field to date have legal training. I don't. I'm a journalist by training, which is pretty unusual (I'd like to see more psychologists and experts in at-risk teen behavior in the field). Most of us are parents, so we see our subject from both 30,000 feet and close up. The two organizations you mentioned do not have children on their advisory boards. One I'm closely associated with in the UK, Childnet International, does have a youth advisory board it consults frequently, which I think is fantastic - something we should be doing more of in the US. "Show less«
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4. 0 comment   |  Topic: Arts and entertainment   |   Email to friends   |   Dec 21 2007 12:58:07 PM

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1. ricky0 asked Anne Collier: "Do you think the voluntary age rating system PEGI and BBFC system is enough for parents or guardians to decide on whether a game is suitable or unsuitable for a child? "
2. Anne Collier answers: "It sounds like the ratings in our country by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB.org), which I think are a tool in the parental "toolbox" - no panacea or total solution (there is no such thing),..." Show more»" It sounds like the ratings in our country by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB.org), which I think are a tool in the parental "toolbox" - no panacea or total solution (there is no such thing), but another aid to parents for intelligent decisionmaking. As for whether ratings are enough, they are for me as a parent. "Show less«
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4. 0 comment   |  Topic: Arts and entertainment   |   Email to friends   |   Dec 21 2007 12:57:23 PM

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1. Theee84 asked Anne Collier: "Do you think ultra violent games like manhunt should be banned?"
2. Anne Collier answers: "I am not a big fan of censorship, of some designated authority deciding what is or isn't appropriate for all people who fall into some category such as a particular age or, worse, maturity level. That's..." Show more»" I am not a big fan of censorship, of some designated authority deciding what is or isn't appropriate for all people who fall into some category such as a particular age or, worse, maturity level. That's not to say I feel Manhunt is appropriate for young children (I wouldn't want my 10- or 15-year-old to play it, though the latter could handle it). I feel people, especially parents and caregivers, need information to help them make decisions on what's appropriate specifically for their children. So I feel ratings - guidelines, in essence - are a helpful tool for an individual family's decisionmaking. The other, more modern, problem with censorship is that there are a growing number of workarounds (ways to gain access) and youth usually are the first to know what they are. Banning works less and less. "Show less«
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4. 0 comment   |  Topic: Arts and entertainment   |   Email to friends   |   Dec 21 2007 12:55:48 PM

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1. MasterChief asked Anne Collier: "What do you think about toy guns in gaming? Does it make it any worse."
2. Anne Collier answers: "As a parent I've never been a huge fan of first-person shooter games for people whose prefrontal cortexes are still in development (i.e., people under 18), so I was not thrilled to hear that not only ..." Show more»" As a parent I've never been a huge fan of first-person shooter games for people whose prefrontal cortexes are still in development (i.e., people under 18), so I was not thrilled to hear that not only is the player represented as behind a gun, but now the "gun" is being placed in the player's hand. I understand that realism is always the objective in games and virtual worlds, but this just doesn't seem good in a "real" world that already has too much violence in it. It's depressing, and it makes me wish that there were a rating board for game hardware now - or some sort of disclaimer or other tool that could at least give parents the opportunity to stop and think before they buy a gun-type controller. Maybe Nintendo has something like that in the works. I hope so. "Show less«
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4. 0 comment   |  Topic: Arts and entertainment   |   Email to friends   |   Dec 21 2007 12:54:33 PM

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1. udders asked Anne Collier: " AC: Do you think that the parents treat the purchase of video games different from purchasing films? Why do you think this is?"
2. Anne Collier answers: "I know more about US parents, but - yes - I do think they treat videogame purchases differently from film ones. I think it's because parents just know a lot more about movies and movie ratings than about..." Show more»" I know more about US parents, but - yes - I do think they treat videogame purchases differently from film ones. I think it's because parents just know a lot more about movies and movie ratings than about videogames and their ratings. Parents see as many movies as kids do, though not always the same ones, and the former generally know what's "out there" and child-appropriate because movies are so widely marketed in mainstream media and they're just a part of parents' everyday (or weekend) lives. Videogames and MMORPGs are kind of the media "great unknown" to parents still. This will change, of course, but it'll be a while before videogames and film reach parity in the parental collective consciousness. As to your last question, I think there might be something to that for some parents, but overall parents are increasingly taking games seriously. In our country, videogames get much more negative media hype than positive, and some politicians who are very good at drawing media have made violent videogames their cause. So you hear much less about all the general-audience games than about the violent ones. Pretty much the way it works with everything, though, of course. "Show less«
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4. 0 comment   |  Topic: Arts and entertainment   |   Email to friends   |   Dec 21 2007 12:52:05 PM

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1. HoaiHood asked Anne Collier: "I have a little boy, who will probably be growing up in the era of booming interactive media, and of course, video games. As a professional as well as a mother, what advice would you give me?"
2. Anne Collier answers: "In a nutshell, I'd say know your child and know the content s/he's interested in. Of course, it's a fortunate child whose parent cares enough to do those things without overreacting to what's being said..." Show more»" In a nutshell, I'd say know your child and know the content s/he's interested in. Of course, it's a fortunate child whose parent cares enough to do those things without overreacting to what's being said in the media. But that's the ideal. In other words, be informed. A large children's publishing company here recently released a survey showing that 60% of US kids 8-17 expect to 1) get a game they didn't want or a game for a console they don't have, or 2) not get any or all of the games they asked for. The newspaper that covered it suggested that parents know what games their kids want to play and what console they have (i.e., many adult gift givers don't know that a PS3 game won't work on Xbox 360). What's missing in the advice is knowing the games' ratings and whether a game's appropriate not just for the console but also for the child! Anyway, knowing a game's rating is essential; actually checking out a demo in a store or renting a copy and trying out the game (or watching your child do so) is ideal. "Show less«
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4. 0 comment   |  Topic: Arts and entertainment   |   Email to friends   |   Dec 21 2007 12:50:54 PM

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