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Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us  Who is GamerDad? Andrew S. Bub is GamerDad. He's not a child psychologist or a teacher and he doesn't play them on TV. But he's founded his career as a consumer advocate on media issues. He's considered an expert by The New York Times, Associated Press, NPR, CNN, and countless other sources. He's an expert on videogames with over 7 years experience reviewing them and interviewing the people who make them. He's been published in newspapers and nationwide magazines and he's a parent himself. GamerDad's Staff has similar backgrounds. We've got teachers, parents of troubled children, a former JV Prison Guard, and more working for us. We at GamerDad are dedicated to the following propositions. * Games are not harmful to kids. This hasn't been proven, of course, but despite what you may have heard or read causality has likewise, never been proven. * Good parenting = involved and informed parenting. You can't keep kids from what they love. But you can remain involved. GamerDad will help you do that. * That this is a good industry, but the media often misportrays the game industry as irresponsible. A pro-active approach is necessary. Parents need better information than newspapers and "pundits who aren't gamers themselves" can provide. * Parents need more information than the ESRB can provide on the back of a box. * That we can't tell you how or what to think. Read our reviews and articles and come to your own conlcusions. We aren't pro-gaming evangelists. We're just talking about games. Join the discussion with us, and your kids. * We don't think it's wrong, bad, evil, or dangerous to let your kids play M-Rated games! Really. We don't recommend it but we're not going to judge you. All we ask is that you stay informed and involved. Supervise how they play, play with them, be involved, talk about it. Scores GamerDad rates games on a 1-5 star scale with half-stars allowed. This means it's really a 10 point scale. I hate ratings systems, I prefer to just give you the text of the review and let you decide but we understand that parents are harried and sometimes a ratings scale is useful. Here's a quick guide on how to interpret these scores: 1/2-2: Terrible Game. 2.5: Below Average. 3-3.5: Worth considering if you like the genre or characters. 4: Good game, worth buying 4.5-5: Best games you can play. Please note. Games like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (an M-Rated game we don't recommend for anyone under 18) can and do earn a 5 of 5, or Perfect score, here at GamerDad. Why? Because we're adults. We're moms and dads and we like violent games aimed at adults as much as anyone. We rate games based on quality. The ESRB, Kid Factor and the Age Ratings (see below) are there to help parents. We're the only Kid/Parent review site that does this, by the way.
 Beyond the ESRB: The Entertainment Software Ratings Board GamerDad supports the ESRB even though we occasionally disagree with it. We like the fact that a Ratings Board exists. The problem with the ESRB is that they don't play the games (they watch videos of the gameplay, 1/2 hour of the most offensive stuff compiled, voluntarily, by the developer). The judges aren't gamers. The ESRB believes this is best because it reflects the average mainstream mom or dad's sensibilities. That's a fair point. Where GamerDad disagrees is with the idea that a GamerParent, like myself and much of my staff, is somehow out-of-touch with the non-gaming parent the ESRB is trying to help. We disagree. Those non-gamers are our wives, husbands, friends, parents, etc., and as we parent, we look at the violence, sex, drug references, occult imagery, etc., in games with the same eyes a non-gamer does. That said, the ESRB does an excellent job overall and is a terrific tool for parents as a front line "at-a-glance" system. GamerDad, however, is not limited to what they can fit on the back of the box. We go beyond the ESRB and tell you more about what's inside the games. The content. The ESRB ratings can be viewed and are explained in full here GamerDad Seals of Approval GamerDad has come up with five "Seals of Approval." Parents can search our entire site using the ESRB as a guide, but they can also use the GamerDad Seals, which are more detailed and less rigid. For now, lets look at our Seals and talk a bit about them. To begin, the Age Seal isn't just maturity and appropriateness. Sometimes a game gets a higher age Seal because of difficulty.
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This Seal is given to games that are simple to play, easy for kids, and inoffensive in every way we can imagine here at GamerDad. Examples include games based on TV shows like Dora, G-rated movie games, and games aimed specifically at kids and babies.
This Seal means the game in question can be handled by 6-year olds and older. How much older depends on the kid's interest. You'll find many Disney games, Dancing games, excercise games, and puzzle games here, even though though these games appeal more to teens that 6-year olds. The review will guide you in the right direction.
Not quite a teenager but not interested in little kids marks this crowd. Games that are violent in a cartoon way, simple strategy games, and games that simulate something in an educational way are perfect for this age group. Generally this is reserved for titles that would appeal to 6+ as well if they weren't so complicated, or 14+ if they weren't so friendly and inoffensive.
Now we're getting to the interesting games. 14 is when kids hit highschool and that when a whole world opens up to them. Kids need to be protected but the more protective a parent is at this age, the more likely some kids will rebel. This is when a parent should move from defender to counselor, in our opinion. Games that are violent or fantasy based (green blood or no) go here. 
This is our M-Rating, except we draw the line at 18 rather than the ESRB's 17. This is for exceptionally violent games or games with extremely mature themes and subject matter. These are the games your teens want to play and probably shouldn't. And that means these are the games your teens probably ARE playing already - even if only at a buddies' house. This is normal, just be aware and know what your kid is talking about.
