Being a good parent is difficult. No matter what you do, there are a million and one influences affecting the malleable minds of children. Being the parent of a gamer is no different. In fact, some would argue it is more difficult. I do not personally subscribe to the notion that gaming children have more negative influence, and in most cases, I would say there is a some specific advantages. Nonetheless, raising children is damn hard work. When sites like What They Play [dot] com comes along, it is refreshing; afterall, it takes a village and ours is a virtual world.

Though uber-busy being an entrepreneur, gamer, husband and father, co-founder John Davison took some time to tell me more about What They Like and its subsidiary What They Play. Some may have read his contributions to EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly) but that is only the surface of the many layers that make up John Davison.

Would you consider yourself a gamer?
Yes, although I don’t get to play quite as much as I used to.

When did you start playing games?  What was your first?
I’m getting pretty old, so I remember the original stuff. The first game system we had in our house was a sort of Pong knock-off thing that had three or four different variations. This was, um...in the 70s. I was quite young.

(Laughs) I am right behind you. What is your favorite game of all time?
I’m hopelessly boring. I don’t think I have one.

Do you still find time to play?
Whenever I can. I play games with my kids at the weekends, so that’s a regular date. I still play a lot of stuff for work, and I play a lot of mobile and handheld games as time killers when the opportunity presents itself. If I’m going to play stuff that’s more involved, particularly if it’s M-rated stuff, it tends to be late at night when everyone’s asleep. When you have kids running around, and you don’t want them to see anything nasty, you can’t spend an afternoon playing though Gears of War, or Bioshock like you used to.

Why did you decide to start the WhatTheyLike(dot)com and WhatTheyPlay(dot)com?
I’ve been writing about video games for 20 years, so I’ve had the opportunity to see a lot of stuff, and see how both the games, and the audience have changed and evolved over the years. My business partner, Ira Becker, and I both have kids, and we noticed that there was a big gap in the media space when it came to video games. There’s more than enough critical content about games out there, but very little that’s not focused on the usual audience of opinionated, cynical 18-34 year old guys. A lot of gamers are settling down, and having kids, and there are a lot of people with kids that are really into games, and we noticed that there really wasn’t anything that spoke to these people directly.

What They Play is our first website, and What They Like is the company name. It’s also the umbrella brand under which we’ll launch other sites about other types of entertainment.

What is it exactly, for those who don’t know? What is the premise behind WhatTheyPlay(dot)com?
We built the site as a guide to video games for parents and families. We don’t judge games critically, and we don’t make calls on whether something is appropriate or not. Our goal is to describe the experiences of games, and put the ESRB ratings and descriptors into context. Our position is that the best parental controls are parents themselves, so we want to give them the information they need to make the best choices.

Rather than make recommendations, we try to anticipate what games kids are going to be asking for, and give parents the information they need about those. We also want to try and help take some of the fear out of video games, and educate parents about everything from the experiences the games offer, to more practical stuff like setting up consoles, or knowing what accessories to buy.

Do you think there is too much emphasis on the negative aspect of gaming?
There’s still something of a generational divide when it comes to gaming, so a big part of the negativity simply comes from a lack of knowledge. That said, there’ll always be sensationalism, and until people are more familiar with games, anything contentious is going to get blown out of proportion.

What are your thoughts on children and gaming?
The games coming out these days that are specifically aimed at kids are getting better and better, and there are a lot of very positive experiences that families can get from them now, particularly if they spend time playing together. My personal opinion is that as with any kind of entertainment, families need to moderate what their kids are spending time with, and not use them as a babysitter.

What about your thoughts about females and gaming?
After years of false starts, I think it’s fantastic that publishers are starting to get the hang of what girls might be interested in playing. Some of the recent stuff on DS has been really well done, though I’m not surprised that the hardcore boys are acting so appalled by it. Some of it is pretty much objectively ghastly, but the good stuff is really well done. Introducing young girls to games tailored specifically for them means that they’ll be as open to the grander, more adult experiences as they get older, just as boys have traditionally been.

Where do you see gaming in 5 to 10 years?
Lots of very different interactive experiences aimed at every possible taste, and every possible demographic. The audience will continue to change, and we’ll quickly reach a point where games are as accepted as movies or music, and people will get as excited about their content as much as they do with great TV shows like Weeds, or Dexter, or The Sopranos.

Tell me something about you no one knows…
Ummmmm. I’ll think of something for when we talk. For the juiciest stuff, there was usually at least one other person there.

What’s next for the What They Play (dot) com?
We’re working with our audience to evolve the site, and try and give them whatever they need to get more comfortable about games. Beyond that, we’re starting to think about other “What They...” sites.