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.

“We need to look at this data a little more critically than the way it is presented by What They Play; it doesn’t tell us what “parents” think, it tells us what readers of this particular blog think,” Kuchera wrote in an article published Aug. 12. “This was simply a survey on the site, so not only is it impossible to tell if respondents even have children, but whether these numbers are in fact a truly representative population other than What They Play readers.”

According to Tom Byron, vice-president of marketing at WhatTheyPlay.com, those results were taken from their own community of readers and visitors, a poll created to foster discussion and debate in their community.

“The results were interesting,” Byron said. “We weren’t trying to make a push-poll or seem like we were setting anything up.”

Byron, along with director of corporate communication Tom Sarris, regularly run polls for their website. Both admitted that while the have experience polling within the advertising and public relations fields, they have no professional polling training or experience.

“What we had hoped we do was start a discussion,” Sarris said. “The overriding intent was a snapshot what our community was thinking on these subjects.”

Unfortunately, the experiment escaped the laboratory. The poll was picked up by videogame bloggers and websites, including IGN, Joystiq, Kotaku, The Escapist Magazine, and Games Industry.biz.. Even the mainstream media got a hold of the poll. CBS games news carried IGN’s coverage on the story to the CBS website. The LA Times also ran the story on their website.

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

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.

The site extensively plays through each game and informs parents what scenes may be inappropriate for their children. An example from their Call of Duty 4 write-up is as follows:

“The blood and gore, though not gratuitous, is prevalent throughout. Bullets tear through body armor and into flesh, explosions throw combatants around like rag dolls, and corpses litter the battlefield in the aftermath of each skirmish. There are also multiple scenes were the player is savaged by an attack dog, and the only way to survive this is to either shoot the animal, or snap its neck.”

The write-ups serve to elaborate on the ESRB rating system, often using it as a jumping off point to discuss the “Mild Suggestive Themes” or “Intense Violence”. Though unable to offer a true review score, users can rate the game at the end based on what age group they think the game belongs in.

Be careful, because if you haven’t played through some of these games, the write-ups can contain some pretty sizable spoilers. The site is clearly designed for parents, who likely won’t be playing and enjoying these games.

In addition to the text, What They Play also takes screenshots and video of the more questionable portions of the game. With this level of disclosure, parents can see exactly what their children are getting into, leaving me with one thought: Thank God my parents didn’t have this when I was a kid.