I have little kids. I love video games. So, I read with interest a post over at Geekdad on the subject of how to decide which games are appropriate for your kids. My kids are still just 1 and 3, so video games haven’t really entered the scene yet, but it’s just a matter of time.
One approach, the Lego Rule:
Chris Anderson suggests an even more intriguing strategy: the “Lego Rule.”
The Lego Company, it seems, has a policy of not producing toys that replicate 20th century weapons. “You can have swords, and you can have laser guns in space, but no actual 20th century guns,” Anderson says. So his four children can play games like Halo, since it contains only futuristic, fantasy war, where you’re killing only green- or blue-blooded aliens. The same goes for Roman swordplay titles. “But it clearly walls off Grand Theft Auto.”
(I e-mailed Lego’s spokesman Michael McNally, and he confirmed the company’s Solomonic logic. Lego, he wrote, agrees that good-versus-evil combat “is at the root of children’s play scenarios, and we believe is an important part of a child’s exploration of the world.” But they don’t want it infecting the children’s perception of the real world around them, so the solution is to place it decisively in the realm of fantasy.)
Or, y’know, you could just use the damn ratings that have been on the boxes for over ten years. That is what they’re there for, after all. Sheesh.
The post actually does reference the video game ratings but says that the raters err on the side of caution.
“realm of fantasy”
Next thing you know they’re all grown up and attending GenCon dressed as Chewbaca.
Well, in that sense the ratings are an accurate reflection of the American people. :)
That’s actually a great idea….
And I think that I will pass that advice on.
Thanks you!!
So does this rule out G.I. Joe?
What about that drug addict, Super Mario? I mean, the guy gets “powers” by eating mushrooms, flowers and leaves.
It would probably rule out the GI Joe stuff I had in the 70s, but not the cartoon GI Joe stuff from the 80s. I think the latter always used laser weapons — not to mention they were terrible shots. I think they had worse aim than A-Team villains.
The cartoons might have looked like lasers, but the toys had real world weapons. Uzi’s, M-16’s and so forth. It got more fantasy oriented as time went on.