The UK’s Association Of Teachers And Lecturers is to debate a resolution calling for tougher legislation on violent games.

The motion, to be discussed at their annual conference next week, calls for the commissioning of research which will allow government lobbying for the introduction of more “stringent legislation” on such titles.

ATL head Dr Mary Bousted talked of violent video games having a damaging effect on the “tender young minds of children and young people”.

The sale of age-rated games to children below that age is strictly prohibited under British law, but Dr Bousted points to the fact that parents often ignore age ratings and allow their children to play inappropriate titles anyway.

“It’s about reminding parents and carers that they have a very real responsibility for their children and that schools can’t do it alone,” she told reporters, adding that game ratings are  “extremely difficult to enforce, just like films, like TV.”

Exactly what kind of measures the ATL would like the government to introduce are not yet clear. Do they want to clamp down on violent games in general, or the parents that allow their children to play them?

In any case, this news once again serves to illustrate the continued moral panic over violent games and their posited effects, which seems unlikely to go away any time soon…