Picture this: your child comes up to you and asks for a brand-new video game that they’ve been wanting. They’ll start to list their reasons like “all my friends play it” or “we can all play together online” or maybe even “it’s the cool thing right now.” Many parents and caregivers I work with don’t know how to respond most of the time. Why? Usually, it’s because they have very little knowledge about the video game world as a whole. As a counselor, I encourage all parents and caregivers to seek understanding of a matter before attempting to address it with the kids. But where can you start? Thankfully, there are several free-to-access resources online to help you make an informed decision. By using these resources, you can open a discussion with your kids about the kind of content your family consumes and make your bonds together even stronger.
The first resource to check out is Common Sense Media. Their platform covers all sorts of content including TV, movies, music, YouTube channels, and of course, video games. The website provides in-depth analysis of different video game titles, reporting on important problematic material such as language, violence, and suggestive/sexual content. Their writers also share what healthy pro-social themes there are to open good discussion with your kids about important topics. You can even filter the kinds of games that match your kid’s interests which makes it a great tool to compare many games at once. However, it is worth noting that Common Sense Media is not a Christian-based service and some of the writers’ opinions in their reviews may not line up with your family’s values. If you are more interested in a Christian-based review service, I have a great resource for you as well.
PluggedIn.com is a service provided by Focus on the Family and functions a lot like Common Sense Media. They provide reviews on all kinds of media and cover much of the same content areas as well, both positive and negative. The biggest difference is that their writers focus on seeing things through a Biblical lens. As a result, many of the reviews are more sensitive to supernatural and spiritual content and share about it in their “Content Concerns” section along with what cursing, violence, or suggestive material there is. PluggedIn’s writers also sum up how appropriate it might be for your kids and even suggest discussion points for families to talk about spiritual and moral issues. The one downside I’ve noticed is that there aren’t as many gaming reviews as some other sites, which can be frustrating for parents who need help with a specific game. With that, there is one resource that is the closest thing to a catch-all source I know of.
In the United States, all video games need to be rated by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board or ESRB. This is how games get identified as “E for Everyone”, “T for Teen”, or “M for Mature” and notated with the appropriate content warning. What many don’t know is that the ESRB has an online database of all video games available at ESRB.org. There, you can simply type the name of the game in question and most entries will have an in-depth description of the game’s story and the red flags they found in the content. There are two issues worth pointing out here, however. Firstly, these summaries focus only on the red flags related to violence, sexual material, and language. Certain data such as the spiritual content, creepiness factor, positive messaging, and other preferential measures are not found. Secondly, the problematic content is described with a high-level of detail which can be disturbing to some, depending on the game. As such, I would recommend only parents to use this tool to fully investigate and then summarize with your kids in an age-appropriate manner.
While just using one of these services can provide helpful information, I do encourage using all three together, taking each of their strengths to cover for the others’ weaknesses. Different perspectives can provide a much clearer picture that way. It can also provide more points of discussion for you and your kids to think more critically about the content you want or don’t want in the home.
Picture this: your child comes up to you and asks for a brand-new video game that they’ve been wanting. They’ll start to list their reasons like “all my friends play it” or “we can all play together online” or maybe even “it’s the cool thing right now.” Many parents and caregivers I work with don’t know how to respond most of the time. Why? Usually, it’s because they have very little knowledge about the video game world as a whole. As a counselor, I encourage all parents and caregivers to seek understanding of a matter before attempting to address it with the kids. But where can you start? Thankfully, there are several free-to-access resources online to help you make an informed decision. By using these resources, you can open a discussion with your kids about the kind of content your family consumes and make your bonds together even stronger.
The first resource to check out is Common Sense Media. Their platform covers all sorts of content including TV, movies, music, YouTube channels, and of course, video games. The website provides in-depth analysis of different video game titles, reporting on important problematic material such as language, violence, and suggestive/sexual content. Their writers also share what healthy pro-social themes there are to open good discussion with your kids about important topics. You can even filter the kinds of games that match your kid’s interests which makes it a great tool to compare many games at once. However, it is worth noting that Common Sense Media is not a Christian-based service and some of the writers’ opinions in their reviews may not line up with your family’s values. If you are more interested in a Christian-based review service, I have a great resource for you as well.
PluggedIn.com is a service provided by Focus on the Family and functions a lot like Common Sense Media. They provide reviews on all kinds of media and cover much of the same content areas as well, both positive and negative. The biggest difference is that their writers focus on seeing things through a Biblical lens. As a result, many of the reviews are more sensitive to supernatural and spiritual content and share about it in their “Content Concerns” section along with what cursing, violence, or suggestive material there is. PluggedIn’s writers also sum up how appropriate it might be for your kids and even suggest discussion points for families to talk about spiritual and moral issues. The one downside I’ve noticed is that there aren’t as many gaming reviews as some other sites, which can be frustrating for parents who need help with a specific game. With that, there is one resource that is the closest thing to a catch-all source I know of.
In the United States, all video games need to be rated by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board or ESRB. This is how games get identified as “E for Everyone”, “T for Teen”, or “M for Mature” and notated with the appropriate content warning. What many don’t know is that the ESRB has an online database of all video games available at ESRB.org. There, you can simply type the name of the game in question and most entries will have an in-depth description of the game’s story and the red flags they found in the content. There are two issues worth pointing out here, however. Firstly, these summaries focus only on the red flags related to violence, sexual material, and language. Certain data such as the spiritual content, creepiness factor, positive messaging, and other preferential measures are not found. Secondly, the problematic content is described with a high-level of detail which can be disturbing to some, depending on the game. As such, I would recommend only parents to use this tool to fully investigate and then summarize with your kids in an age-appropriate manner.
While just using one of these services can provide helpful information, I do encourage using all three together, taking each of their strengths to cover for the others’ weaknesses. Different perspectives can provide a much clearer picture that way. It can also provide more points of discussion for you and your kids to think more critically about the content you want or don’t want in the home.
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