I’ll never forget my first experience of discussing the finer points of team strategy in a Gears of War lobby with a six year old. Ah yes, the initial shock was followed soon after by ‘wtf?’ I decided to ask this kid how he could possibly be playing an R16 game when he was only six and then proceeded to ask him what his parents thought of the idea. He said his parents didn’t care and that his uncle bought the game for him so he could play it. He also continued to brag about how he is so much better than most of the people he played. That still didn’t explain why an under-aged child was playing a moderately violent game rated R16 for a reason.

Hmm. OK so what do we as gamers, parents and concerned community individuals think of this? I am sure this kid is one in many who have shared similar experiences. The parents don’t care because their kids are doing something ‘relatively safe’ in the comfort of their own living room/bedroom etc. I’ve also read online that some parents refer to the Xbox 360 as their ‘virtual baby-sitter’ – again, WTF?! I’m sorry but calling the Xbox 360 a virtual baby-sitter really is beyond me.

I mean let’s dissect this for a second. Sure, playing games online in your own home could be considerably safer than having your kid running around outside and meeting strangers. But then there’s the ever increasing online ‘threat’ that alot of parents just don’t understand or even know about. Online predators can be hiding anywhere, they’re not always in chat rooms. And you never know who the people are you’re playing with online, even when you’ve talked to them in chat or via live cam. The danger is always there, even for people who are the right age to be playing R16 games. Would you ignore this fact if you knew about it? Would you continue to let your child add strangers to their friend’s list and play with potentially dangerous people?

Take the recent case of the boy that went missing in Canada a couple of weeks ago. After a disagreement with his parents over his excessive Xbox 360 use, he left the house and never returned. The police have finally given up searching for him after two weeks. That child could have been your kid. Now the police are looking into potential leads stemming from his online activity using Xbox Live.

The fact remains that many adults are allowing their under-aged children to play games that they shouldn’t. In the example of the boy who went missing in Canada, of course the fact that he’s missing is of the utmost importance, but nobody has even mentioned that the boy at 15 years of age is actually a minor and also shouldn’t be playing Call of Duty to begin with due to its game rating. To enforce this fact, the official CoD website presents an age gate to logon before you can even access the site!

Putting the potential dangers aside, there is no way that these laws can actually be enforced so I guess that is one reason why online gaming can be a dangerous place for young people. Nobody polices it and anything goes. As much as I love gaming, I draw the line at allowing under-aged children to be exposed to a potentially abrasive environment. There is a reason why the games carry an R rating and parents should really be taking more responsibility for what their children play and get up to online.