T3 reports on a recent study conducted by Playr2.com that reveals that most parents aren't checking the age ratings found on video game boxes.
A staggering two thirds of the parents asked in the survey conducted with more than 1000 parents with children under the age of seventeen who play video games admitted to not checking age ratings, and an even more interesting note is that 55 per cent "did not think that age ratings mattered for video games".
An interesting note, "61 per cent of parents do not believe that violent video games affect their children's behaviour in a negative way; with 76 per cent of these parents stating that violent games do not mirror real life and so did not believe that they could affect behaviour."
The survey seemed to focus a lot of violence in games, and as you may or may not know, that is a sensitive topic at the moment with experts on each side of the fence going at it. The current data suggest that violent video games do influence aggressive thoughts, but there is no evidence that directly links violent behaviour with video games.