Computer games have become a mainstream leisure activity for children and teenagers. Adults, and especially parents with children who like to play a lot in their spare time, rarely share this enthusiasm, and often object to gaming.

Many parents find it hard to understand the appeal. Gaming takes up a lot of time, and the content is frequently offputting.

It is up to parents and guardians to ban specific games or gaming in general if the need arises. For the state to do so would be a severe violation of various fundamental freedoms - not least those of parents.

An official recommendation of the sort issued by BuPP is much more helpful than a state ban. There are a number of reasons why recommendations are, as a rule, a more effective than any outright ban, namely:

1. The emphasis in media education has long since shifted from "protection" towards media literacy and parental guidance. The aim is to reinforce the ability of children and teenagers to make sensible decisions about the media they use. Of course, this is a learning process, and mistakes will often be made. But young people can learn from their mistakes, and that goes for media use, too. The learning process is even more effective if the right kind of support is available. And nobody is better placed to provide it than well informed, open-minded parents.
   
   
2. Bans on specific games are easy to circumvent. Nowadays young people have little trouble obtaining any game they happen to want by visiting file sharing sites or asking friends for pirate copies. Studies from Germany, where such bans are already in place, reveal that most young people have already played games that are "on the index", i.e. prohibited for minors.
   
   
3. Recommending good games instead of outlawing bad ones also avoids the risk of providing free publicity for problem games. If young people particularly relish violent games a blacklist will be a welcome pick list for them.
   
   
4. Ultimately, there is no cast iron case for banning games. That would require scientific proof of the harmfulness of computer games, which does not (as yet) exist. No studies of the long-term effects of gaming that have produced results that would justify a ban. Some studies point to short-term effects, but most of these rest on shaky methodology, and are open to a variety of interpretations.
   
   
5. In Germany games have been "indexed" for a number of years (i.e. completely prohibited for young people) or sales subjected to age restrictions. But comparisons of government data from Germany and Austria (where there are no bans or restrictions in place) yield no evidence whatsoever that children and teenagers in Austria are more prone to brutal or violent behaviour than their German peers.
   
   
6. Recommendation lists are genuine and welcome publicity for the games they feature. If BuPP recommended games sell better there is a good chance that the scheme will exert a positive influence on the entertainment software market. Game studios will then take account of the BuPP criteria, and BuPP approved titles will be displayed more prominently and stay on the shelves for longer in the stores.