*Note: If you are a child or teenager who depends on parents to buy games for you, we recommend that you print this guide and give it to them to read.

The object of this guide is not to tell you which games to buy for your children. Rather, we hope to give you the tools and answers you need to make those decisions for yourself. We at Planet GameCube understand that many parents don’t know much about video games, and that it’s hard to make decisions about what to buy for your child when you don’t have that empowering knowledge. Here are some common questions parents have about video games and buying games for their children. We hope this information will prove helpful.

The Basics:

Q: Why do kids (and other people) like video games?

A: There are many possible answers to this question, but it all boils down to this one thing: games are fun. Sometimes they replace other activities or let us live out experiences we can’t in the real world, but having fun is a must.

Q: Are video games safe to play?

A: There are many conflicting studies and opinions about the benefits and dangers of playing video games. Perhaps the safest and most reasonable answer is that playing them is fine if done in moderation. That means mixing games with other activities like sports and studying. Because they are mentally engaging without being physically exhausting, games can be played for many hours at a time without significant breaks. But just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should. Every major game manufacturer recommends frequent breaks while playing their games, and it’s probably wise to follow those recommendations.

Q: Are games beneficial to play in any way?

A: Most of us gamers would gladly spend hours explaining all the benefits of playing games, but of course we are heavily biased. The skills to be gained from playing games depend largely on the type of game; you would expect a text-heavy game to improve reading skills, and that can certainly be the case. Some dedicated gamers have even used games to help learn foreign languages, especially Japanese. There are many scientific studies on the benefits of playing games. The reports show that playing certain games can improve everything from hand-eye coordination to eyesight to phobias. Certainly some of these findings are disputable, and other studies show that games may do more harm than good. Perhaps it’s best to recommend that you don’t rely on video games to teach your child anything, and then whatever they do teach will be a nice bonus.

Q: Why are video games so violent?

A: Actually, a great many games released every year are not violent at all. Many more contain the sort of playful violence you might find in Looney Tunes or a Disney movie. But let’s be honest, there are plenty of extremely violent games on the market, some of them quite realistic. The reason is hard to pinpoint, but it probably stems from the idea that games should have some kind of character interaction. Usually this interaction takes place between the player and computer-controlled characters. Of the many types of interaction that can take place between characters, many of them are very difficult to model in computer language. Conversation, trading, etc. are currently not possible on a complex, satisfying level. Violence is relatively easy to model as a behavior, so it is a natural choice for character interaction. Another reason is that games are often used as a way to act out feelings and impulses that you can’t act out in real life, and violence is an obvious candidate for this kind of vicarious action.

The Rating System:

Q: Is there some kind of guide to a game’s content?

A: Yes. The Electronic Software Ratings Board (ESRB) is an independent organization that evaluates practically every game released in North America. There is a similar system in Europe and some other regions. The ESRB assigns a rating to each game based on their determination of how appropriate it is for each age level. These ratings are found in the lower-right corner of the game’s packaging, and more detailed content descriptors are listed on the back of the box. The “E” rating stands for Everyone; it means the game is appropriate for practically any age or level of maturity. The “T” rating is for Teen, and it means the game is recommended for teenagers 13 years old and up. Usually Teen-rated games contain some violence, but nothing graphic or excessive. The “M” rating means Mature, and it is for games recommended to people 17 years and older. These games may contain almost any level of gore, verbal profanity, and sexual references. Although many people in the gaming industry are critical of the ESRB and how it rates games, and parents should certainly do their best to make their own evaluation when possible, the current ratings system is at least a rough guide that should provide some help.

Q: What about games with sexual content?

A: The gaming industry and ESRB are actually stricter than the movie industry when it comes to sexual content. The fact is that actual sex acts are almost never portrayed in video games. Even full frontal nudity would earn the game an “AO”, or Adults Only, rating. Less than a dozen games have ever been released with this rating, and all of those games were miserable failures in terms of sales, in part because major retailers have refused to stock games with the AO rating. Much like the NC-17 movie rating, AO has become a mark of death for games. However, movies can actually get away with things in an R-rated movie that games cannot with the comparable M rating. Even games that push the M-rating by showing partial nudity have bombed at retail. The result is that games are simply not released with sexual content, only vague sexual references at most. If you want to avoid games that contain sexual references, check the ESRB content descriptors on the back of the box.

Q: Can children purchase T- and M-rated games?

A: There are currently no major retailers that restrict the sale of games with the T rating. However, most major retailers do restrict the sale of M-rated games, at least in policy. In practice, it is not very hard for a child to find a cashier who will look the other way. The best way to prevent it is to always be with your child when purchasing games, and check with the child during playing time to make sure he is not playing a game bought or borrowed without your knowledge.

Q: Should I purchase M-rated games for my child?

A: This is a decision you must make based on the child’s level of maturity and ability to deal with the kind of content found in M-rated games. There are certainly people under the age of 17 who can play M-rated games with no adverse effects. There are also people who probably could never handle such content, regardless of age. Observe or play games with your child so you can assess his reactions to the game’s content. The ESRB ratings serve as a loose guide to age appropriateness, but they should not replace your ability to make decisions based on your own child’s maturity.

Q: What if I have a question about a game’s content not answered on the packaging?

A: Unfortunately, the ESRB is very unresponsive to inquiries about its ratings for individual games. However, there is a well established video game journalism industry which provides extensive information on most games well before they are released. With a little searching online, you should be able to find plenty of information about any game’s content. You could ask store employees, but they tend to be ill-informed on most issues, partly because they receive information from management in the company, which only cares about selling more games.

Other Stuff:

Q: Should I buy a strategy guide to go along with the game I’m purchasing for my child?

A: The answer is almost always no. Retailers make a lot of money by convincing parents that their child will need a strategy guide to fully enjoy a game. The truth is that strategy guides usually take fun out of the game by providing all the answers right off the bat. They also tend to spoil the story, which can take away a large part of the reason for playing some games. Strategy guides also tend to make the game only last a few days, so your $10 addition is dwarfed by the $50 game going to waste. Experienced gamers know that part of the enjoyment of playing a game is struggling a bit and having to figure some things out on your own. Using a strategy guide is like doing a crossword puzzle with the solution nearby. Despite your best intentions, you’ll end up just reading off the solution and filling in the blanks. If your child does get hopelessly stuck in a game, we highly recommend the website GameFAQs (http://www.gamefaqs.com), which provides excellent user-written game walkthroughs…for free. You can even print them out, though it will use up a lot of paper.

Q: Should I buy accessories for the games and systems?

A: All of the modern gaming systems require basic accessories, like controllers and memory cards, which are typically not included in the system’s packaging. If you have an old television, you may also need to buy a cable that is not included with the system. We highly recommend that you stick to first-party brands when buying these products. In other words, if you need a controller for the Nintendo GameCube, buy a controller made by Nintendo and not some other company. Same thing especially goes for memory cards. Though there are occasionally very good third-party accessories released, and some manufacturers tend to be better than others, rarely do any of these products have equal or better quality than the first-party alternatives. As for specialty items like unusually-shaped controllers and plug-in lights for Game Boy, these products tend to be practically useless, not to mention poorly made. Again, store employees are trained to offer these items and make them sound integral to your child’s gameplay experience, so don’t fall victim to the suggestive selling.

Q: What if I have a question that is not answered in this guide?

A: Please email other questions to jonathan@planetgamecube.com and we’ll try our best to answer them. We may include the most common questions in a future update to this guide.