Net Results: A recent lecture looked at the 'moral panic' over explicit, violent games and how children use them

As some computer games gain notoriety for their graphic and realistic violence and sexual undertones (not to mention overtones), is there a place for censorship in the games industry?

And if not censorship, should retailers be held liable if they sell adult-rated games to minors? Should the industry in turn be held responsible for antisocial behaviour - even murders - that people believe is the result of playing violent computer games?

Those were just a few of the questions into which a panel of speakers, as well as a vocal audience, sunk their teeth last Friday as part of the Digital Hub's free Talk Digital lecture series.

The panel was nicely balanced between the academic perspective of Dr Mary Corcoran from NUI Maynooth, who has done research into games, Ger Connelly, deputy film censor, and Paul Hayes, a games industry consultant, with moderation from columnist and critic Medb Ruane.

Dr Corcoran set a good context for thinking about games by noting that society tends to go through "moral panics" from time to time, where anxieties are expressed about the impact of some development on society.

Media developments have been a particularly rich source of panic - from the development of the telegraph to radio, right through to film, television and the internet.

But she notes that, often, panic about what a particular media development might be doing to society fails to see that society itself - the audience - is an active participant that shapes and makes use of the medium; it is not a passive receptacle.

Studies show that children receive benefits from playing computer games, she says - increased reasoning skills, faster reaction times, and an enhanced ability to read complex situations.

On the other hand, they can also see violence and adult situations - and these possibilities tend to be emphasised by the media (which also fails to note that, as Hayes pointed out, only about two per cent of all games released have adult content ratings).

Hence a conundrum. Is censorship needed when a ratings system already exists?

Interestingly, Connolly thinks not. He prefers to see the Censor's Office as a ratings board offering guidance, not imposing restrictions.

Adults should be free to make decisions about what is appropriate for themselves to see. But the office should have a "duty of protection" towards children, which involves the censor's office "encouraging an environment of supporting responsibility".

Ah - but where does the responsibility lie?

Both Hayes and Connolly agreed that some lies with both parents and retailers.

The problem, as Connolly explained, was that most parents do not play computer games.

They don't know how to watch them to make decisions themselves about content, and they certainly have no idea how to win their way up to higher levels of the games - so they are left feeling that they are buying something very unknown.

Therefore ratings systems should provide guidance. But the problem is, as all the panellists agreed, that parents and guardians pay very little attention to games ratings and regularly buy games intended for older children, or even adults, for kids.

The censor's office has only ever had a single query about a game, and that was out of concern that a game might have a link to an ongoing murder case in the UK, he said.

All the panellists saw the very term "computer game" as a source of the whole problem.

"The word 'game' implies a childish occupation," Connolly pointed out. An audience member who is a game designer noted that the term suggests that computer games are toys, "But this is not a toy, this is a sophisticated piece of media."

If such is the case, then perhaps people should be thinking about providing a basic level of media literacy to children, particularly while they are young.

There's no denying that children start absorbing media, from TV to the internet to computer games, at a very young age.

Why then do we not start to teach them anything about critically weighing up what they see, hear and read until, at best, secondary level - and often not until university age?

Several industry figures in the audience, as well as Connolly, advocated placing more responsibility on retailers, penalising them if they sell adult games to children. All saw parental oversight as being crucial.

Finally, Corcoran gave some perspective by noting that children are far more damaged by the real violence in their lives than by game violence that most see as just a made-up world on a computer screen.

Children in impoverished areas of Dublin might regularly see violence, abuse and sexual behaviour, but Irish society as a whole feels far more anxiety about whether a middle-class 12-year-old is sneaking off to a friend's house to play the adult-rated Grand Theft Auto.

Go figure.

Maybe it's the adults who have the problem distinguishing between the screen and reality, not the kids.

Note: "Exhibit8: New Frontiers in Gaming" is a Digital Hub exhibit on games, interfaces and creativity. This includes a clever analogue version of the classic game Pong.

It is in the old Media Lab Europe building on Crane Street, Dublin 8, until June 3rd, open from 9.30am to 5.30pm.