Fact: Most parents don't even know a rating system exists.

In 1999, the Interactive Digital Software Association (representing retailers who rent or sell video games) initiated a campaign to boost parental awareness of its five-year-old ratings system, created by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Association members, including big chains such as Blockbuster or Hollywood Video, are being encouraged to display posters informing parents of the ratings, and to train clerks to decline to rent or sell games to children ages 17 and under.

Is this a genuine attempt by the industry to alert parents to graphic sexual and violent content in games, or a ploy to ward off federal regulators? Doug Lowenstein, president of the Interactive Digital Software Association addresses these issues for familyeducation.com.

Q: Why did you launched this "Pledge to Parents" campaign?
A: What has become apparent to us these days is that awareness of the ratings system was uniformly low. And the way kids are acquiring games is through adults. It's up to parents, not the industry or the government, to be the regulators.

Q: Why is it solely up to parents? Why shouldn't the industry or the government play a role in helping to protect kids from inappropriate content?
A: Because as an industry we are making content for users of all ages, all tastes. We are going to continue to make games with a diversity of content. The majority of our market is over 18. By the way, only 7 percent of all video games carry the "mature" (suitable for 17 and older) rating. As for the government, we don't tolerate the idea of the government regulating books. This is no different.

Q: But many people would argue that the video game experience is much more intense for kids than the experience of reading a book, and therefore should be regulated.
A: There is absolutely no research to support the idea that playing a violent video game leads to violent behavior. That's the first point I'd like to make. The second is that with regard to books - who is to say that someone who reads a lurid crime novel won't take away ideas. You can learn how to make a bomb by reading a book. But look - the crime rate is going down at the same time the use of video games is exploding. Finally, what we're talking about here is a game. It's entertainment.

Q: Do you think parents will actually pay attention to ratings, even with an awareness campaign?
A: I think some will, but many won't. That's the problem. Parents are either intimidated by it, or they've suspended their authority regarding games and the Internet. They seem to pay a lot more attention to TV programs.

Q: Couldn't you be accused of blaming parents and saying it's all their fault?
A:There are tools available that allow them to choose whether a game is appropriate for their child. It's not up to the industry to make that choice, only to provide the tools, and I hope parents use them. But if you don't and you choose to ignore the ratings, then that game is winding up in your kid's hands because you made an affirmative choice.

Q: What about retailers? What is their responsibility?
A: The rating system doesn't prohibit the sale of any game to anyone. We have encouraged stores not to sell mature games to anyone under 17, but these are only guidelines. Remember, we are not talking about thousands of 12 year-olds walking into stores and buying or renting "mature" games. Adults are doing it, or kids are going in with the money their parents gave them.

Q: Why only guidelines? Liquor stores won't sell to minors.
A: That's because there is absolutely irrefutable evidence of the damage that can occur when a minor drinks too much. We're talking about a game here. It's a benign product in terms of human behavior. Video games don't kill people the way drunk drivers do.

Q: Are you feeling threatened as an industry these days, in terms of federal regulation?
A: Certainly there have been a lot of legislative proposals since the school shootings in Littleton, Colorado. Some misguided and most unconstitutional. It's a threat. But there's also a recognition that the awareness levels (on the part of parents) weren't there. We've put out over 7 million brochures to retailers. Certainly the threat of regulation was a catalyst for that, but not the only one.