Raising children in a digital age presents unique challenges, especially when it comes to video games. Aubrey Quinn, Senior Vice President of Communication and Public Affairs for the Entertainment Software Association, joined us this week on the Dad & Daughter Connection podcast to share her insights on guiding your children through the world of gaming.

The first step in ensuring your child's gaming experience aligns with your values is understanding the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) system. Established in 1994, the ESRB provides ratings for video games similar to those used for movies, helping parents determine if the content is appropriate for their children's age and maturity levels. Aubrey urges parents to start here but to also engage in deeper evaluations by looking up game ratings and descriptions through quick internet searches or the ESRB’s own website and app.

Advanced Parental Controls: Your Best Ally

Today’s gaming consoles come equipped with robust parental controls that were unthinkable a few years ago. These controls allow parents to set time limits, restrict access based on ESRB ratings, and even block player-to-player interactions, making it possible to tailor the gaming experience to suit each child’s needs.

Aubrey highlights that these controls are particularly beneficial for managing screen time and ensuring that your children aren't playing games or communicating with strangers in ways that are inappropriate for their age. By using these built-in controls effectively, you can create a safer, more controlled gaming environment for your children.

The Power of Representation in Games

Inclusivity and positive representation in video games have seen significant improvements in recent years. Games now often allow players to create avatars and characters that resonate with their identities and experiences, fostering a sense of inclusion and diversity.

For instance, Aubrey mentions her daughter’s fondness for Sims, a game where players can create and customize characters and worlds, and the recent inclusion of female athletes in major sports games like Madden and FIFA. This advancing inclusivity helps children see themselves and their interests represented in their virtual worlds, which can be extraordinarily empowering and validating.

Navigating Online Multiplayer

The rise of online multiplayer games introduces new social dynamics and potential risks like cyberbullying. Aubrey underscores the importance of having open conversations with your children about online interactions. Learning how to mute, block, and report inappropriate behavior can help children navigate these spaces safely.

Additionally, parents should be aware that not all games feature online multiplayer modes. Titles like "Hogwarts Legacy" and "Astro Bot" are excellent single-player alternatives that eliminate the risk of interacting with strangers.

Staying Informed and Engaged

The gaming industry continues to evolve, constantly introducing new features and technologies aimed at enhancing player experience and safety. As Aubrey reveals, companies are implementing more comprehensive cross-platform functionalities and creating specific parental control ecosystems that adapt to new gaming trends.

She advises parents to stay informed about these changes, utilizing resources like the ESRB’s website, which offers family gaming guides and safety tips. Staying updated ensures that parents can effectively use these evolving technologies for their children’s benefit.

Being proactive and involved in your child's gaming life can make it a safe and enjoyable experience, fostering fun and learning while keeping potential pitfalls at bay. By understanding game ratings, utilizing parental controls, and engaging in ongoing conversations about online safety, parents can help their children navigate the complex world of video games.

For more insights from gaming experts like Aubrey Quinn, tune into the Dad & Daughter Connection podcast and explore resources offered by organizations like the Entertainment Software Ratings Board.

By bridging the gap between enjoyment and safety, we can all ensure that our daughters grow up empowered and confident in their gaming experiences.

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TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:16]: Welcome back to the Dad & Daughter Connection podcast where we bring you guests to be active participants in your daughters' lives, raising them to be strong, independent women. Really excited to have you back again this week. As always, every week, we have an opportunity to learn and grow from each other, but also from other people to be able to be those dads that you want to be for your daughters. And every week, I love being able to bring you different people with different experiences that can offer different resources that can help you to be that father that you wanna be. This week, we got another great guest with us. Aubrey Quinn is with us, and Aubrey is a senior vice president of communication and public affairs for the Entertainment Software Association. She leads ESA's integrated communication efforts to showcase the dynamic impact the video game industry has on people, culture, and the economy. Now I know we just had the holidays not too long ago.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:01:13]: And when you run across holidays, birthdays, etcetera, many times these days, kids want video games. And as you're starting to think about those type of things, there are definite questions that come up, especially if you're just introducing your kids to video games or even if they've been there for quite a while and they've been playing games. There's a lot of aspects to gaming and things that you need to be thinking about. So I'm really excited to be able to have Aubrey here to talk about a number of different things today and to have her as a guest on the show. Aubrey, thanks so much for being here.

Aubrey Quinn Thanks for having me. I'm excited to talk about games with you.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:01:51]: Well, I'm really excited about it as well. You You know, and I was I've been a gamer for a long time, and I've tried to get my kids to be gamers. They were willing to do some, not all. So I can't say that I was completely successful in making them gamers, but I tried. Now, in preparing for talking to you today, I started thinking about a lot of different things. But I guess first and foremost, I said at the very beginning, there are a lot of games that are out on the market today. And as parents are trying to watch over what their kids are doing, especially as they're young, I know that there's the ESRB ratings that are out there that parents can use to assess whether a game aligns with their values or the maturity of a child. But beyond those rankings that are out there, how can parents evaluate whether a game aligns with their values or their maturity level?

Aubrey Quinn [00:02:49]: That is the important question. Right? And I think we ask that of ourselves as parents, not just for games, but for any form of entertainment. So you mentioned that you've been gaming for a long time. I love to hear that. You know, I started playing video games with the original Nintendo Entertainment System. System. I grew up with Sega at m 64, all through college. You know, that's something that we did for fun.

Aubrey Quinn [00:03:12]: Games are meant to entertain. They are meant to be fun. And so when I'm talking to parents, I always like to remind them, we're raising kids. We want them to be independent, functional adults, and we'll talk a lot about that, I'm sure. But let's remind them that life is fun. There is joy in this journey and to enjoy so many parts of it, and it's okay to play. And there is power in play, so play and have fun. But games are video games are a form of entertainment just like movies and TV shows and books and music.

Aubrey Quinn[00:03:44]: And just like there are some books that I don't want my 10 year old daughter reading, there are some video games I don't want my 10 year old playing. And so the same way we evaluate all forms of entertainment, movies, TV shows, music, what's appropriate for our kids, we have to think about that with video games too. An example I used to someone the other day, they were like, but games games are for kids. And I said, well, you know, there's this very popular card game on the market called Cards Against Humanity. Not gonna give that to my 10 year old daughter. And it is a game. It is designed and meant for adults. And so you mentioned the ESRB ratings.

Aubrey Quinn [00:04:22]: I think it's really important to reiterate that for listeners who maybe don't know about it. The entertainment software rating board was established in 1994. So for over 30 years now, they've been rating video games. So the same way you can tell if a movie that's r is probably not appropriate for your little kids at home. Video game that's rated m for mature is not meant for little kids. It's entertainment that's designed for more mature audiences. It's gonna have more mature visuals. It's going to have more mature themes.

Aubrey Quinn [00:04:54]: So if you have younger kids at home, look at e for everyone. Look at e for e ten plus, everyone 10 and older. Get to know those ratings. And, you know, my best tip, trick with ratings is if your kid asks for a specific game, don't just assume that it's meant for their age. Just do a quick Internet search, name of game plus ESRB rating. ESRB has a great app. They have a great website, but you can find it on a quick Internet search. And make sure that the content start there.

Aubrey Quinn [00:05:25]: Make sure that it's age appropriate for your kids. From there, we can talk about different features like player to player communication and game spending, screen time. Right? There are a lot of other elements to consider. But fundamentally, games are a form of entertainment. Not all forms of entertainment are appropriate for every age. So make sure that the content in the game is something that whether it's age, culture, religion, personal opinions, feelings, that you decide it's right for the daughters, sons in your home.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:05:56]: Now, you know, you talked about the maturity level, but I've also noticed over the years that the gaming industry has truly evolved in addressing inclusivity when it comes to the games that are out there in the market today, and also really expanding in positive representation within games. As you think about those aspects of inclusivity, positive representation, what's your parents look for in that regard?

Aubrey Quinn [00:06:25]: What I love about games is that there is a game for everyone, for everyone. You know, if you love tennis and you have a child who's taking tennis lessons, topspin, they can be their favorite tennis players. They can be Coco. They can be Serena. They can be and embody their favorite tennis players. So you can do that with NFL and Madden, certainly, but you can also do it with FC. The new EA game has women's soccer players all throughout it. MLB, the show, for the first time ever, has historic women baseball players in the 2024 version.

Aubrey Quinn [00:07:02]: And so like you said, the industry is being really, really intentional about representation in terms of accurate and historical characters and, public figures. But, also, I have a 10 year old daughter at home. Her favorite game is Sims. And she loves and she has this huge imagination. She wants to create worlds. She has created this whole village. There's not a single man in it. This girl has created a world where it's just just women just women and daughters, and that is her utopia.

Aubrey Quinn [00:07:38]: But, you know, she can create characters. And something I love about games, but I think often gets overlooked, is that you can play as someone, like I was saying, you can play as a cultural figure, a historical figure. You step into a game, and you are going to be Mario or you're going to be Sonic the Hedgehog. Right? Those characters exist. More and more games exist where you create your avatar, and you can be whoever you want to be. So you don't get assigned a character. You get to decide who you are. So Hogwarts Legacy, top selling game in 2023 inspired by the Harry Potter franchise, just this gorgeous, beautiful role playing game.

Aubrey Quinn [00:08:21]: You create your character. So my experience playing that game, I can create someone who looks like me. I can create someone who looks like my best friend. My daughter can play as a man if she wants to. Right? She can create whoever you want to. So in terms of games, you know, when you take if you play Forza, you play Gran Turismo, it's you. You can't see the character. You're you're the race car driver.

Aubrey Quinn [00:08:46]: Whoever you think in your mind that is, no other form of entertainment does that. You know? Unless you're reading, you're imagining in your mind, but it it lets you create avatars. And so in addition to, I think, being more representative in terms of cast characters, official characters within games, the ability to create your identity, to create your avatar is such a cool and unique part of the video game experience.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:09:14]: You know, another thing that has become much more prevalent in so many games is the online multiplayer games that are becoming so popular. And some parents talk about the fact that there are some things to be aware of, things like cyberbullying or other risk factors that parents need to have conversations with their kids about. As you think about that online nature of some of these games that are out there, what advice do you have for parents that are navigating the social aspects of gaming, like online multiplayer chats or forming teams with strangers and some of those risks that go along with it.

Aubrey Quinn [00:09:54]: If you'll give me a a minute, because this one actually well, it feels like it should be a simple answer. There's quite a lot to unpack. So we talked a little bit about my childhood playing video games. And you had a console, you plugged it into your TV and the wall, and then you take a single game, you'd stick it in. If you were lucky, you had 2 controllers. You know? And then maybe with n 64, you had 4, and you could all do Mario Kart together. But there wasn't the online connection.

Aubrey Quinn [00:10:20]: You played either by yourself or with the people in the room on the couch fixed to you. And that has changed. And not just because of video games, but because of the Internet and mobility and and how we interact with people online. And I'm I'm a mom of 3. My oldest is in college. My youngest is at home. And I have had to navigate with them what does communicating with people look like online when you're young? What does it look like when you're a teenager? And now my son who lives across the country is about to turn 21. I I don't have a lot of visibility in who he talks to and what he sends, and I I have to have had those hard, difficult, important conversations when he was at home, and I could talk to him about what do we text, what pictures do we take, what do we share online, is someone really who they say they are? We have to have conversations with our children today that we didn't have with our parents when we were young and growing up because the Internet wasn't a thing yet.

Aubrey Quinn [00:11:20]: So I'd start by saying the reality of the Internet is much bigger than games. And those are important conversations for us to be having with our children. I've lived through it. I'm having to have them now with my 11 year old daughter as we think about what online gaming looks like for her. So I think that's part 1 is that this is this is part of parenting now. We just have we have to have these conversations with our kids about interacting with people online. People we know, like you said, bullying. You know, we know cyberbullying is happening across different online platforms with kids, but also interacting with strangers.

Aubrey Quinn [00:11:55]: Like, these are just things we have to deal with that maybe we didn't have to deal with when we were kids. Technology has changed. In terms of gaming specifically, greatness for parents. Not all games are multiplayer games. You know, Hogwarts Legacy that I mentioned is a single player game. Astro Bot won game of the year in December. It's a gorgeous, fun, it's meant for kids, family friendly game, single player game. Right? So you can still give your kids the most popular games, top selling games that aren't multiplayer games if you're not ready for that.

Aubrey Quinn [00:12:29]: Right? That's a personal decision you have to make as a family. The good news for parents is that virtually every device that you can play video games on, including the consoles, the Switch, the Xbox, the PlayStation, have parental controls built into them. And they have been a a game changer, I can say, for for me and my family. They let you put limits based on those ESRB ratings we talked about. They let you set time limits. You know, my daughter yesterday had an early release, and I got a text from her. She says, why can't I play the Xbox? It was because I have it set up that she can't play until after school gets out. But she was home early because of the early release day.

Aubrey Quinn [00:13:07]: And but my console enforced that rule even though I wasn't home to do it. So these are the parental controls that exist, but they also let you limit or block player to player communication. I mentioned my daughter loves Sims. Sims is a multiplayer game. She can't play with anyone online. She's creating these whole universes and worlds. For her, it's a single player game because I'm not ready for her to communicate with strangers. She's only 10.

Aubrey Quinn [00:13:33]: We're not ready. Who I do let her play with are her cousins who live across the country and her big brothers who live across the country while they're in college. If you think about the experience I could be giving her, she's 10, her brother's 20, if I force them to talk on FaceTime once a week, it was an awkward conversation, what do they talk about? I can't tell you how adorable it is to hear the 2 of them playing games together and strategizing and communicating and teasing each other. And they do this on their own, and they're playing. And it's hard to find things 20 year old boys wanna do with 10 year old sisters. They love to play video games together, and that is something I could not give my family without the power of multiplayer games and the Internet and that technology. I will also add that not every family looks like mine. And there are kids who are immunocompromised.

Aubrey Quinn [00:14:27]: There are kids who are neurodivergent. There are kids who have disabilities or who are accident survivors, and it's changed their ability to play different things. During COVID, I saw firsthand the power of connecting with friends and building those social connections over video games and allowing our kids to play together in a way that they couldn't. You know, my son got very big into esports during COVID. He was in high school. They canceled all of sports. He couldn't play football. He couldn't play soccer.

Aubrey Quinn [00:14:56]: I mean, all of his high school sports experience was canceled. And while we were trying to keep our kids safe by social distancing, they were able to play with each other online. And hearing him laugh and connect with his friends, I mean, they couldn't we literally weren't allowing him to do that because we were not sure at the beginning of COVID what the impact was gonna be. And so there are a lot of reasons why multiplayer games are powerful, really, really important for social connection and engagement. It's great for multigenerational play. You know, grandparents playing with kids across the country. So many benefits to it. That said, strangers can be scary.

Aubrey Quinn [00:15:35]: We have these conversations with our kids when they go to the park for the first time by themselves, so we drop them off at the mall for the first time by themselves. We, as parents, have to talk to our kids about talking to strangers, both in real life and online. Use those parental controls. But, also, you know, if someone approaches you on the DC metro, where I live, and it's saying something uncomfortable, it's hard to avoid that situation. I have to get off the train. If someone does something in a video game, I can mute them, I can block them, I can report them. These are tools that exist in most games, the majority of games. And our kids should know about it.

Aubrey Quinn [00:16:14]: Our kids should be prepared to use them. We, as parents, should know about it. And this last thing, and then I we can move on. But such a big piece of advice for all of this is watch your kids play. See the games they play. See how they interact with other people. Listen to the types of conversations they're having. Because as they get older, you know, if your kids are 15, 16, 17, 18, again, preparing to go to college, they do need to learn how to interact with people in real life and online.

Aubrey Quinn [00:16:41]: So pay attention. See how that in game communication works, what they're talking about, how they interact with people. It's very different than social media platforms, other form of communication. I mean, it's short. It's only that time of the game. It's not like there's a wall and an instafeed. You don't get sent things through algorithms. Video game communications are very different.

Aubrey Quinn [00:17:03]: And so I think for parents to feel comfortable, pay attention because it's changed since we were kids, doesn't look like the NES anymore. So watch what they're doing, and you can figure out what you want your rules to be, how you want to advise them. And your kids will love explaining Fortnite or Minecraft or whatever they're playing to you. Sorry. That was a very long answer, but I hope that helped unpack the in game communications piece a little bit.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:17:28]: It definitely does. Now you're in a unique situation of being able to see the gaming industry from a different perspective than many parents would. So as you look ahead from your association and what you see in the industry, how do you see gaming evolving in ways that will impact the way parents need to monitor and guide their children's gaming experiences?

Aubrey Quinn [00:17:52]: Love that question. So so much of what I see in the industry as they think about what comes next is how to improve the player experience. So keep in mind, this this is one thing I didn't appreciate until I worked in the game industry. Time is a finite resource. So games want to be the form of entertainment that you choose, that you love because you love it. It's valuable to you. If you have a negative experience with a don't like the book, you're gonna put it down. You're not gonna read it.

Aubrey Quinn [00:18:23]: If you don't like the game, you're gonna you're if you have negative experiences consistently in a game, you're gonna stop playing it. You'll find another game. You'll do something else. So they benefit from creating the most positive player experiences. And so what I have found is that as technology evolves, the ability, as you said, to interact with other players is that they're continuing to look for new forms of technology, new services. And I'll give an example that I think is relevant to the player conversation. Epic Games creates Fortnite, Rocket League, some of those popular games for young players who are just starting, and a lot of them are the multiplayer games. They have done some really unique things because they are one of the first games to be a cross platform.

Aubrey Quinn [00:19:11]: And what that means is I don't have to buy the game for the Xbox. I don't have to buy the game for the PlayStation. I can log in to my Fortnite account on any system. So if I go to a friend's house and they have PlayStation, I can log in to my account there. If I'm at my house and I have a PC, I can log in to my account there. I can play with my friends who might not have a Switch or a PlayStation. Right? So you can all play across platform. They have set up parental controls that transcend platforms.

Aubrey Quinn [00:19:38]: They also, within the game itself, have different rated sections. So Fortnite, I believe, is rated t for teen. It might be e 10 plus, so I think it's t for teen, the core multiplayer game. But now within Fortnite, they've done this great collaboration with Lego. They're talking about doing other collaborations with Disney, and these are rated e for everyone. So if you aren't ready for your kid to play Battle Royale version of Fortnite that we all know sorry. I need to send that to voice mail. You can play the e rated version, and that I think we should expect to see, but that version of Fortnite and Epic Games parental controls didn't exist, call it, 3 years ago when I first started working at ESA.

Aubrey Quinn [00:20:26]: So as you ask, like, what's gonna evolve and what's gonna change, I think companies are gonna continue to keep up. They're gonna continue to innovate, which means parents have to continue to keep up and continue to innovate. Because if I got my kid Fortnite 3 years ago, didn't have the parental controls, maybe I want them now. And so there is a little bit of self education. Find out what your kids like, what games they're playing, and then make sure you know what the resources are available within those games. That's what I think parents need to commit to. It's like if you get a subscription service, right, like a Netflix or a Disney plus, you can have parental, like a parent account, you can have a kid account, you can put different ratings on it. That didn't exist when I first got Netflix.

Aubrey Quinn [00:21:08]: Right? We all just use the family the family account, and then my kids could watch House of Cards or whenever I was watching. And that's what parents are gonna have to keep up with is as the technology advances to keep kids safe, are we adopting the technology and using it too?

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:21:23]: One final question as we finish up today. As you look at kind of where you sit, are there specific resources or communities that you'd recommend parents recommend for parents who want to stay informed about gaming trends and safety tips or other issues that would help them to be able to have these conversations with their kids into the future?

Aubrey Quinn [00:21:47]: The esrb.org, they have a family gaming guide. They have all the ratings. They put out a blog that tells you like, they give information about specific games, what you should know about Fortnite, what you should know about Minecraft. The ESRB blog and website is a fantastic resource. So I would point parents to ESRB and FOCI.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:22:18]: Well, Aubrey, I just wanna say thank you. Thank you for the work that you're doing with the Entertainment Software Association, as well as for all of the information that you shared today, and I wish you all the best.

Aubrey Quinn [00:22:30]: Thank you so much. Bye, Chris.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:23:31]: We're all in the same boat, And it's full of tiny screaming passengers. We spend the time. We give the lessons. We make the meals. We buy them presents and bring your a game. Because those kids are growing fast. The time goes by just like a dynamite blast, calling astronauts and firemen, carpenters, and musclemen. Get out and be the world to Them. Be the best dad you can be. Be the best dad you can be.