The holiday shopping season has begun and many shoppers are already flocking to the stores. Some cheerful Christmas music is playing in the background.

Is it Jingle Bell Rock today? Or are they going to loop Silver Bells for a few more hours?

Customers are scurrying from aisle to another, franticly trying to get everything on their lists before the end of November (because you have got to beat the rush). Somewhere in the hustle and bustle of it all, a mother has stumbled into the electronics department. She sees a copy of Modern Warfare 2, she knows if junior doesn’t see it under the tree, he would be ever so disappointed. She picks it up, pays for it and walks away happy. But after she sees the violent content her young son will be exposed to, she will not be happy.

This could be you! But it doesn’t have to be. These kinds of situations can be avoided rather easily through simple observations.

Like movies and television shows, video games have ratings. The good folks over at the Entertainment Software and Rating Board have provided and easy-to-understand rating system.

The ratings are as follows: EC- Early Childhood. These are games, which are appropriate for very young children who are in the three to five age group.

Next comes E-Everyone. These are games are the safest and most common family friendly titles on the market. They are usually aimed at people who are six and up. The Super Mario franchise is a prime example of a game that appeals to gamers of all ages. 

This may sound confusing at first but there is also an E10 rating. This rating means the game is aimed at those who are 10and up but there isn’t usually a whole lot of difference between this and the regular E rating. There might be a higher level of difficult and maybe some stuff that maybe younger children don’t understand, but other than that there isn’t really much difference between the two. Think of E as G and E10 as PG.

T for teen is where you’re beginning to wander into adult territory. These games would have the same level of sex, swearing, violence, and blood as a PG-13 movie. These games are intended for players who are 13 or older. Although, there are a couple of T rated games that shouldn’t cause much of a problem. The Super Smash Bros. franchise may be a series of fighting games but there is no blood, swearing, or any sexual innuendo. When compared to other fighters, the Smash series is considered pretty tame. The other example is Rock Band/Guitar Hero. There are some songs, which contain swearing, but there are also some safer songs to choose from that don't have swear words. In fact there is a Lego version of Rock Band which was recently released. It has an E rating and a super easy mode, which prevents younger players from becoming frustrated.

Isn't that just adorable?

Then there is M for mature. This is the most important rating for parents to look out for. Games with the mature rating are the ones that are only recommended for older players (ages 17 and over). These titles have all of the graphic violence, heavy swearing and sexual content that most parents don’t want their children to see. If you do not want to exposure your child to this level of content, then don’t purchase an M rated title. Plain and simple.

There is also an A rating which would be the same as an NC-17 in the United States or a “hard” R rating here in Canada. But it is not worth worrying about since most games with an A rating are not sold in stores and if they are they would have  be hidden behind the counter or ordered into the store by customer request.

All of these ratings appear twice on the cover of every game that is released. Once on the front and again on the back. I recommend reading the rating on the back of the box, because  it will have a short list of reasons as to why the game has that particular rating.

If you are still unsure of which games you should purchase for a younger player, the store clerk is usually a very helpful resource. Most store clerks that are worth their salt will warn parents about M rated games before completing the transaction. I even remember one such incident at a Zellars in Charlottetown. 

A mother was about to purchase an M rated and the store clerk warned her about the game’s content. The mother smiled, looked her directly in the eye and said, “I’m not buying this for my kids. I’m buying it for my husband.”

If you want to know more about a paricular game before brining it to the counter, asking the cashier about the game is always helpful. They will give you some very useful information about the game and also make their own suggestions based on the age and tastes of the inteneded player.

Internet review sites are also a great resource for information. They will explain the content of the game, as well as tell you if it is an enjoyable one.

There also two more methods a parent could follow when considering buying a game. I apologize if this sounds a tad insulting to your intelligence, as they do seem pretty obvious but many people ignore these steps. Take a close look at the name of the game and the artwork on both the front and back cover of the box.

Most often than not, a title of a game will be a painfully clear indicator of a game’s content. The Grand Theft Auto series is the best example, since it clearly indicates that one of the main goals of the game is to steal cars. The title is even the legal term for car theft.

Box art is also a clear indicator of a title’s content. If you see images of characters being armed to the teeth with guns, pictures of a man who is clearly a serial killer, women who are scantily clad or zombies eating human fleash, then it is a safe beat that you wouldn’t want your young child playing it. Actual gameplay pictures will also be featured as part of the art on the back of the box. These will  give you a taste of a games content. If you see any of the same kinds of things mentioned in the description of the box art, then you should know that it is a title not to buy for a child.

I’m sorry if you felt like your intelligence was in anyway insulted but you would be surpirsed at the amount of parents who will ignore all of the warning signs and still purchase these kinds of titles for their young children and become mortified at the content. Common sense seems to be thrown out the window and the blame always gets placed on the stores or the game developers  when it sould actually be placed on the parents who buy the games in the first place.

I hope this has been helpful for anyone who doesn’t know anything about games but is thinking of buying games as Christmas presents. If you follow theses steps, you should be able to find a safer title your youngster will actually enjoy. If you feel your child can handle the mature content of certain titles, then more power to you. But if are you absolutely opposed exposing the little ones to certain content and you still purchase an M rated game with all of the information you can access, then you have no one to blame but yourself.