Gaming With Your Children: It’s Not All Guts And Glory

There was a time in my life when I didn’t care what the parental guidance rating was for a game, nor did I care about the age range of people playing them. However, some years ago, I was a manager at a well-known game retailer. I had a lady come into the store who looked to be in her mid-30’s, and was asking to pick up a reserved copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (see, you CAN tell it was a long time ago). From the look on the woman’s face, I could tell that she didn’t know much about the game, which prodded me to ask, “Ma’am, are you picking up this game for yourself, or….?” I was surprised when she responded with “No, I’m picking it up for my 12 year old son. I don’t know much about these things, I’m just here to pick it up.”
 
I was shocked. I didn’t realize that people REALLY don’t stop and take a look at the ratings on these games and understand the content in them. I took the woman aside carefully, showed her how the ESRB ratings work and what they mean. I naturally drew comparisons to the ratings system that is used for movies and talked about the content of the game, and closed out my statements with this: “Well, if you wouldn’t let your 12 year old go to an R-rated movie, why would you let him play an R-rated game?” That was enough for her, when she realized what she was actually about to purchase. She smiled at me, a big wide smile, and thanked me for informing her, and was VERY surprised that I didn’t try and cram a sale down her throat.
 
She didn’t buy GTA: San Andreas that day, but from then on out, that woman came into the store twice monthly with her kid. We walked through the store and shopped together. I talked to him about what games he wanted to play; I would then share this information with his Mom, giving my recommendations based on his interests. Every time they left my store, they left with a smile and a confident purchase. Sure, I lost the initial sale with GTA, but wasn’t that a good trade-off for repeat business and referrals? Sure enough, they were regular customers right up to when I no longer worked there. There were quite a few customers similar to this woman that I ended up coaching in this manner, and even to this day in passing on the street, they’ll stop me and ask me about what new games are coming out and what I suggest. I would be a liar if I said it didn’t bring a smile to my face.
 
It really spoke to me, though. There were people who really didn’t know, people that just grabbed what they were told to grab and nothing more. I didn’t want to be a part of the problem, I wanted to be a part of the solution. So I started taking a lot more time exploring games that weren’t necessarily about how many guys you could kill, or how bad you could make your opponent feel. I started to take a strong active stance on family fun FIRST, questionable content second.
 
These days, I have a lot of friends around my age group who have children who are more than old enough to be into serious gaming, but are afraid to get involved in games because they feel uneducated about the subject matter. Needless to say, this is when “Uncle Threedog” comes to the rescue with education and information. I think that doing ANYTHING with your children is important. GAMING with your children is even better!
 
That said, I’ve had them and a few others ask me to help them by putting together a list of great games that they can play together without having to worry about major levels of objectionable content. And seeing as how Black Friday is just around the corner, I thought this would be a great time to pick out my family fun cream of the crop.
 
The games I’ve selected are the games that I think put the BEST foot forward when it comes to fun for all ages at all times. I would like to point out that although it may seem like it’s platform skewed, I chose the games in my list based purely on their content. Along with that, this particular list of games I have spent a VERY significant amount of time with, in the upwards of 30+ hours on each game.
 
Just to sweeten the pot, I’ve even taken the time to bring forth the POSITIVE qualities of the game and how they’re going to help with your child’s development, from basic hand-eye coordination skills, to complex logic building and thought processes.
 
So without further ado, Threedog’s top family game choices. You can consider these to be “bite-sized” reviews if you like. They scrape the surface, just enough to get you interested. But DON’T take my word for it! If it sounds interesting, do further research! Included in this list are related games or sequels, so consider these the jump-off points for more content. Some are older, and some are newer, but all of these titles are VERY reasonably priced at this point, so it won’t break your bank, either! The platforms include Nintendo Wii, iPhone/iPod Touch, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Nintendo Gamecube, and Playstation Portable.
 
The “bite-sized” reviews will be featured on a daily basis here at EOGamer, though you can access all of the articles below. With Black Friday approaching in less than two weeks, what better way to help our users pick out games for their children than by reviewing them?
 
Below is a list of the games we’ve reviewed:
* Professor Layton and the Curious Village
* Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
* Katamari Damacy
* LittleBigPlanet
* WiiMusic
* Cooking Mama
* Animal Crossing 
 
 Were these reviews useful to you? Do you want to suggest some games for us to review? What are your experiences with these games?  Do you agree/disagree with the age ratings?  Let us know by leaving a comment either here or better yet, join the discussion or debate the issues in our forums!