AOL Wants Parents to Be Smarter about Games

AOL has launched PlaySavvy.com in an effort to help parents keep up with the PC and console games their kids might be playing.

In recent weeks, AOL has been better known for shutting down operations than starting up new ones (what with Xdrive, AOL Pictures, and BlueString all going dark), but today the company has announced the launch of PlaySavvy.com, a site designed to help parents keep informed about the world of PC and console games…and what exactly their kids might be getting into when they buy an innocent-sounding title like Skull Grinder VII: The Exsanguination. The site aims to offer parents information so they can make informed choices about buying games for their kids, along with reviews and how-to articles to help parents select games appropriate for both their households and their children.

“Playing video games is one of the top pastimes for children these days, almost more than watching TV,” said PlaySavvy’s editor in chief Libe Goad, in a statement. “We created AOL PlaySavvy to help parents navigate through all the gaming information out there in order to decide what’s appropriate for their children. In addition, PlaySavvy provides advertisers the opportunity to reach this targeted user base by creating appealing campaigns around the content.”

Oh, right. Parents? When you visit PlaySavvy.com, AOL is going to try to sell you some video games, OK?

PlaySavvy.com features articles on how to select content-appropriate games for children, along with game reviews, a “real-time” Q&A section where visitors can ask questions and get responses from a panel of real-life parents, along with a Gaming 101 section that helps parents find things like game ratings, kid-friendly Web sites, and a basic overview of current gaming consoles.

PlaySavvy.com is a followup to AOL’s new SafetyClicks.com, which offers tools and information for parents to help keep their kids safer online.