Byron Review Author Says Ratings Are No Substitutes for Parental Guidance

Tanya Byron, author of the influential Byron Review in 2008, stated, “When I did the review in 2008, I didn’t see a cynical industry that was there to create games just to exploit and make money. The industry has always been very clear with me, in a very genuine way, that adult content is created for adults – it’s not created for kids.”

The review was a study into how children are affected by both gaming and long-term exposure to the Internet and played up the role of the parents.

Byron added, “We cannot subcontract responsibility for how children play games to the industry but I think now the industry has got a much clearer system what we see is an industry that’s being absolutely transparent about what they’re producing and how parents should be thinking about it when their kids are playing.”

The video game industry has repeatedly underlined that rating systems are not efficient by themselves and they require active and informed parents who are interested about the gaming habits of their children.