Following her report (which follows all of the Manhunt 2 ruckus), UK psychologist Dr. Tanya Byron sat down to discuss some things with Next-Gen. While we don't know much about her, what with us living across the pond and all, she does come off as kind of grounded and level-headed about all of this.It seems that she's very much for adult content in games, just that the adult content in question should only be accessible by, you know, adults. "There's a huge moral debate around content in videogames," she says, "I'm very clear, that wasn't the remit of my review to pass judgment on that and I do believe that content for adults is content for adults. It should be rated that way."
She goes on further to add: "I can understand that gamers fear that there will be a 'you can't play these games anymore.' I've not said that, I'd never say that, and certainly if I heard people beginning to use my review to try and imply that I will be very quick to say that that was not and will not be a recommendation of mine."
While we're not resident of the UK, we're incredibly interested in where this is all going. Ratings improvements can be made worldwide, we're sure, and we'd like to see a world where it doesn't take an incredibly-long time to release a game because a bunch of uninformed people are too busy arguing about how it's going to train your kid to kill.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-28-2008 @ 3:58PM
ArmorForVictor said...
yes i'm all for ao rated games, but the problem is parents still letting their kids play m-rated games. my own 13 year old cousin plays gta:sa and i tell my aunt it's not intended for her age, but she just doesn't care. i'm 19 and should be able to play whatever i want.
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3-28-2008 @ 4:48PM
aeazel said...
I've seen this on many gaming blogs, including among my favorites the Brainy Gamer, and it looks to be a great and extensive study in favor of the games, as she states.
Perhaps more importantly is that she puts the impetus back on the parents to cater games to their children, since children are not all the same being and different maturity levels can play games at different levels and age groups.
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3-28-2008 @ 6:05PM
Ethan said...
The fact that she's actually doing interviews with sites that we read is great, she did one with spong. She's no Keith Vaz.
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3-28-2008 @ 11:26PM
hvnlysoldr said...
Asking parents and people to be responsible would solve many problems aside from gaming... though less important than our favorite hobby.
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3-29-2008 @ 5:59AM
Fredrik Augustsson said...
MILF!
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3-29-2008 @ 4:50PM
magiclava said...
For anyone who doesnt know her, she basically started the whole 'setting horrible kids straight' kind of tv shows here in the UK.
She basically made the country realise that its *always* the parents fault that kids run riot.
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3-31-2008 @ 7:56PM
Duo said...
I'd like to access her adult content ;)
In all seriousness though, she raises a decent point, one which should be recognized by all those idiots arguing over the "violence" of video games.
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