Study: Mature ratings make kids want games more

Whether it's staying up past bedtime or playing with their food, kids enjoy some activities partially because they're forbidden. According to a new study in the journal Pediatrics, games with restrictive ratings hold a similar appeal.

A group of researchers took 310 Dutch children between the ages of 7 and 17 and showed them descriptions for fictitious games. Included in some descriptions were Pan European Game Information (PEGI) ratings from 7+ to 18+ or violent-content warnings. The children then rated each game based on how much they wanted to play it.

As the researchers had predicted in their hypothesis, the games with restrictive ratings and violent-content warnings drew higher ratings from the study participants. That finding wasn't limited to a portion of the test subjects; the games that bore warnings of sinister content were more attractive in every group, including 7- to 8-year-olds and girls.

Although the researchers were testing a hypothesis that many would have taken for granted, their conclusion featured an assumption that has been contested (and found wanting) in courts many times in recent years. "Pediatricians should be aware of this forbidden-fruit effect," the researchers caution, "because video games with objectionable content can have harmful effects on children and adolescents."