Controversy is brewing over poll results featured in a What They Play article featured earlier this month.

The poll, published in a story titled “Parent’s More Concerned About Video Games than Alcohol or Pornography” generated significant attention from the video game media as well as mainstream news outlets.

Representatives from What They Play told Ripten.com that the polls had been taken from visitors and members of their own community. The veracity of the poll results and the article has been called into question by readers as well as Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica. Read more…

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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. Read more…

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Mr. John Davison and Mr. Ira Becker recently left Ziff Davis to begin work on a new startup website, What They Play. WTP focuses on what games are suitable for certain age groups of children. Read more…

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