Published by Children Now, this 36-page report examines the top-selling video games for each of the seven different game systems. "'Fair Play?' identifies some of the unhealthy social messages that video games may be sending to young players about violence, gender and race and contains ideas for improving games for children."

From the
Key Findings

Violence

• Most of the top-selling video games (89%) contained violent content, almost half of which was serious in nature.
• Killing was almost always seen as justified in the games and players were always rewarded for their acts of violence.
• The negative consequences of violence were rarely shown, with most victims appearing unaffected by the aggressive acts committed against them.
• More than three fourths of games rated "E" for "Everyone" (79%) contained violent content. In half of these games, violence was significant to the plot.

Gender

• Female characters were severely underrepresented in video games, accounting for only 16% of all characters.

Race

• White characters were the majority in the video game population (56%) and were the only human characters in children's games.
• There were no Latina characters or Native American male characters in any of the yop-selling games.
• Nearly all heroes were white while African Americans and Latinos were typically athletes and Asian/Pacific Islanders were usually wrestlers or fighters.

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