Parents LOVE video games!

A STAGGERING 76 per cent of British kids as young as SEVEN go online to play video games each week, a new survey reveals.

And nearly half of all parents worry about how they can monitor their seven to 18-year-old kids’ gaming habits.

But the Play Smart, Play Safe survey by Microsoft also shows that video games are now seen as a force for good by British mums and dads.

Eighty per cent of parents see gaming as an essential part of modern entertainment and 52 per cent feel games bring their families closer together.

A rise in family-friendly games has made the big three consoles— Xbox, PS3 and the Wii—part of mainstream life in British homes where people now spend more time playing them than Japan.

Britain is now second only to America when it comes to video gaming.

And while 74 per cent of parents believe gaming is educational, a third admit knowing little about who their child interacts with online.

Parents want more information about safe gaming and 45 per cent would welcome a dedicated website as a source of information.

The gaming industry is now pushing for a traffic light system of game certification called PEGI to be adopted by all game makers to guide parents about game content and online play.

Because it covers all of Europe it lets parents know that the same standards apply to any particular game, whether the child is playing at a friend’s house down the road, or with a gamer online in another country.
Microsoft have already set up their own guide for parents at www.xbox.com/playsmartplaysafe