GameSpot's new subscription service

For gamers, it's sort of like an ever-available, create-your-own LAN party or one of those strip-mall game centers in your own home, and it's an interesting development for gamers' parents to know about. GameSpot, a Web site owned by CNET that's visited by some 20 million gamers a month, has started a $9.99-a-month subscription service that allows them to play "at the highest speed connections in online games such as Electronic Arts's Battlefield 2," the San Jose Mercury News reports (Battlefield 2 is rated 13+ for violence). "It remains to be seen if gamers will pay to play online games that they can play for free via the Internet," the Merc adds, but GameSpot folk say it "removes a lot of the hassles from online gaming." Gamers can host their own games, e.g., customize a Battlefield 2 game "to their tastes so that as many as 64 players can fight it out without annoying hiccups in broadband service that slow down a game." They'll be able to tap into "computing power" GameSpot has leased and data centers on both US coasts for a better gaming experience.

Parents may want to be aware that the service also offers discussion groups, voice chat services, and tournaments, which means communicating with strangers, but this is more for teenagers and experienced gamers focused on the game, so probably less risky than Web-based chat in general. However, an anonymous poster to my blog who says s/he's an adult player of online games, wrote, "Then of course there's the chat system built into every game, which is constantly working to pass on all sorts of abuse … sexually as well as aggressively." Ask any gamers you know how much they use those community tools, how bad the griefing is, and - beyond griefing - whether people use chat to talk about anything but the game at hand. I'd appreciate hearing their answers - via anne@netfamilynews.org.