Believe it or not, the choice between taking life or creating life is one that is very unclear to parents. In a poll on parent-oriented gaming site What They Play, respondents were asked to pick from a choice of four what they found the most offensive in a video game.

The four choices offered were: a graphically severed human head; a man and a woman having sex; multiple use of the F-word; or two men kissing.

Perhaps as a strange demonstration of social values, those who voted in the poll reported that sexual matters of any sort were more offensive than explicit violence or profanity. The leading pick as the most offensive act in video game was “a man and woman having sex” at 37 percent. Off second place with 27 percent was “two men kissing.”

Next in second last place with 26 percent was the anti-violence answer of “a graphically severed human head.” In a distant fourth was “multiple use of the F-word.”

Informed parents are the best defence against exposure of inappropriate material to children, though it appears that many are more concerned about sexual matters than graphic violence.

Susan Arendt of Game|Life shared the story of an encounter she once had in a game store: “A woman was trying to buy her 12-year old daughter some games for Christmas, and overhearing me talking about games, asked me for advice. She picked up one of the Resident Evils and asked me if it was any good. I told her that it was an excellent game, but quite violent and scary. ‘Oh, that's no problem,’ she replied. ‘But there's no, you know, people having relations in it, is there?’