John Davison on the Today Show

by Roly Reyes on July 10, 2008 at 7:36 pm

Former 1UP Network Editorial Director turned “What They Play” co-founder John Davison paid a surprise visit to my TV early yesterday morning when he showed up on behalf of his website, whattheyplay.com. Perhaps a little background information is due? What They Play is an extension of the still relatively new What They Like Corporation, and also co-founded by John Davison.

Since its launch, What They Play has been a repository and safe-haven for game clueless parents to gain somewhat of an idea as to what their child is experiencing, because let’s face it, there’s only so much room for the ESRB descriptors, and as Davison aptly puts during his Today Show segment:

“Violence can be anything from shooting something with a gun and there being blood, to shooting a robot with a laser and it just sort of crumbling to pieces.”

Tagging along with John was Managing Editor Zoe Flower who was given a short segment near the beginning giving a bit of insight into the process involved in getting a game up on the site. Her segment showed her playing through some of the Wii version of Kung Fu Panda and taking notes on a potentially suggestive quote from one of the characters in-game.

What I find most unique about What They Play is that they don’t critique games, but instead thoroughly examine and report objectively on what the game contains, ultimately leaving it up to parents to decide whether or not it’s suitable for their child. The company proudly states that their singular goal is to “empower parents to do what they do best: parent.” Who can argue that?

The Today Show host, Meredith Viera, surprised me as she asked appropriate questions instead of trying to back Davison into a corner by asking his opinions on more violent games. At the end she even said something to the effect of, “Hey, you’ve been playing games for a long time and you’re not a crazed maniac.” Imagine that.

Source: What They Play

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