MINNEAPOLIS -- The ratings on computer games are supposed to make it easy for parents to keep inappropriate content away from their children. But many video games rated "E" for "everyone" may be too violent for young players, a new study concludes.

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Researchers who analyzed 55 video games with an "E" rating -- similar to the "G" rating for movies -- found that many of them contain significant amounts of violence and reward players for violent actions.

The findings by Kimberly M. Thompson and Kevin Haninger of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston are to be published in the August 1 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Many E-rated video games contain a significant amount of violence," Thompson and Haninger wrote. "Many E-rated games do involve violence, killing, and the use of weapons in the course of normal play. No games provide messages about not using violence, and some games reward or require violence and the destruction of objects."

"An 'E' rating does not automatically signify a level of violence acceptable for very young game players," they continued. "Physicians and parents should understand that popular E-rated video games may be a source of exposure to violence for children that rewards them for violent actions and that they may contain other content that is not expected given the E rating."

In specific:

Sixty-four percent of the games involved intentional violence that lasted about a third of the total time the user played the game, on average. That's 35 out of the 55 games sampled.

In 60 percent of the games, the player had to injure other characters in order to advance in the game. That's 33 out of 55 games.

Action games were more likely to involve intentional violence than games that fell outside those genres. "Action and shooting games led to the largest numbers of deaths from violent acts, and we found a significant correlation between the proportion of violent game play and the number of deaths per minute of play," Thompson and Haninger wrote.

The researchers said they undertook the study because there has been no comprehensive look at the content of video games available to children despite their popularity as a form of entertainment. A recent study found that 70 percent of youths under 19 have at least one game console in their home, 30 percent in their bedrooms, the journal reported.

About The Study

The Harvard researchers used a database to analyze the depiction of violence, sex, alcohol, tobacco and drugs in E-rated video games sold in April 2001 on one or more of the four leading home gaming consoles, Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, Sony PlayStation and PlayStation 2.

They recommended that parents should be more aware of the genre of the game and should participate actively in picking games.

The researchers also suggested that pediatricians should ask children about their exposure to video games, then tell parents about the video game content.

"We believe that … the medical and public health communities should play an active role in informing parents about the content in video games," the authors conclude.