It’s 10 o’clock. Do you know what your kids look like?

Clive Thompson is a pretty cool guy. He covers tech without dumbing things down and he has a kid, so I can relate to his musings on video gaming and the little ones. He basically says, along with Brian “Grandpa” Crecente of Kotaku, that games are like movies — let the wee ones only watch video games with the same level of sex and violence as the movie’s you’d let them watch.

Another cool point? The LEGO test. LEGO doesn’t allow recreations of 20th century weapons. Swords are OK and ray guns are fine, but no AK-47s.

What do you all think about gaming and kids? I played hours of NES and PC games in my formative years, spending an entire summer slacking at work by playing the original Civilization at Carnegie Mellon’s computer clusters. But what am I supposed to do when junior decides that Grand Theft Chariot: Rape, Pillage, Plunder is #1 on his birthday list? After all, I’d probably want to play the game with him.

You Grew Up Playing Shoot’em-Up Games. Why Can’t Your Kids? [Wired]