More violence, more problems

According to a joint U.S.-Dutch study, as reported in the Chicago Tribune, the more warnings and restrictions you put on a game's package, the more a minor is going to want to play it.

The study took 310 Dutch children aged 7-17 and handed them game descriptions with varying degrees of violence and the like in each summary. Participants were asked to rate how much they wanted to play the game and, as a result, the games with the most graphic content were rated highest.

The piece also cites a similar effect with television and movies.

The study should not be very surprising: sex and violence always sell! However, the study SHOULD be a good basis for how to advertise adult-themed games, cut down on all the factors that make it attractive. Or, at the very least, tone down the description of what less-than-wholesome activities you can do in-game.

With the constant legislative struggle with video games (and recent "can't not sell to minors, row row fight the power against what games can be sold in the U.S.") media string, studies like this really reinforce what everyone should already know- sex and violence sell, but if you don't want to sell them based on those merits... don't make them focal.

I'm not an advertising guy (at least not for video games), so I don't know how the video game industry and keeping kids safe from a controlled fantasy violent setting go hand-in-hand. I know showering blood and gore on the cover of your packaging is appealing, though, and not just to 7-17 year olds.