nimf posts

The non-profit media watchdog group the National Institute on Media and the Family was at one time a leading critic on the game industry. However some of its critical bite has been taken away thanks in part to the game industry and retailers doing more to enforce the ESRB game ratings. Today the NIMF has decided to go in a new direction, claiming that 8.5 percent of gamers age 8 to 18 are 'addicted' to games.

The new study, conducted by researchers from Iowa State University, is a result of a survey of 1,178 kids in that age group from a Harris Interactive Poll. The NIMF claims the results show that "nearly one out of ten" kids are addicted to game playing. However, as Game Politics points out, the actual 8.5 percent mentioned in the report is closer to 1 in 12 children. At least one researcher, Harvard's Dr. Cheryl Olsen, is somewhat critical of the report's findings. She tells Game Politics that the study uses " . . . questions used to assess problem gambling in adults; however, lying to your spouse about blowing the rent money on gambling is a very different matter from fibbing to your mom about whether you played video games instead of starting your homework."

The recent post on the National Institute on Media and the Family by our own John Callaham brought to mind this well-trod subject. Let's lay out the particulars. Video games sometimes feature violent and/or sexual content. Children who are too young to access such material should be prevented from doing so. The Entertainment Software Ratings Board exists to assess the content of video games and provide a label for parents to use in determining which games are safe for their children to play. However, the NIMF has been at odds with the ESRB for years, claiming that they're either not doing their job properly, or that their system isn't enough of a deterrent to prevent the sale of non-kid friendly games from being sold to minors.

This begs the question: when it comes to the safety of children, who's responsible? The parents, or society? Can any organization, well-meaning though it might be, have a reasonable expectation of adherence to its own standards? Shouldn't it be up to the parents alone to determine what's okay for their kids to experience? Do children really need protecting?

The National Institute on Media and the Family has attacked the game industry for years and has also issued their annual "report card" on both the industry and specific games. In the past they have generated a lot of publicity for their report card by holding press conferences in Washington DC with various national lawmakers also taking part.

However, the game industry has taken huge steps in the last few years to police itself through both its ESRB ratings system and enforcement of those ratings in retail stores. So this year's report card by the NIMF is very low key with just a media announcement and no press conference or senators around. Indeed, the actual report card on the industry has the industry getting almost straight "A"s (they got a B+ for ratings enforcement). So the organization is now focusing on getting parents involved in making sure they know what games their kids are playing.

The NIMF has also issued a list of games children should avoid playing. All of these games are rated "M" for Mature so the industry has already done its job in labeling them as not appropriate for kids. They include games released for the PC platform like Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, Dead Space, Far Cry 2, Silent Hill Homecoming and Legendary (another game, Saints Row 2, is due for release on the PC this January).