Who would have thought that a public chat channel in a game could expose your kids to discussions about sex, politics and racism. Well, if your teenagers are playing games like World of Warcraft or Aion, chances are they're subject to a regular onslaught of these topics.

And believe you me, some of these discussions deteriorate fast and can get pretty personal. Intricate details of sexual encounters, banter about which basketball team to support and why it's not appropriate to call someone a 'Jew' are some of the topics I've encountered while playing. And that's the mild stuff.

Thankfully, most games allow you to block out a certain chat channel if it's bothering you. You can also turn on filters that filter out inappropriate words. Some games however, won't allow you to block the main public chat channel which is usually where these discussions take place.

If you're not a PC/MMO gamer, you'll most likely be oblivious to this but it can get just as bad in public Xbox Live lobbies between opposing teams. The nice thing about Xbox Live is party mode where you can group with your friends and not have to hear a single bad remark from the other team. I think all games should come with a function like this in MMOs or at least allow gamers to switch off any channel they want. This solution however, can actually create other issues such as having to switch off a legitimate channel like 'Looking For Group' which is used by almost everyone to actually find groups to play with in-game.

But hey, it's not all doom and gloom. On the flip-side, there can be quite a few interesting discussions that occur in the public chat channel (albeit few and far between). It also encourages interaction between the community on a rudimentary level. I'm just not sure a discussion should be allowed to continue when it's obvious it has deteriorated beyond being useful to anyone. And contrary to what some gamers may think, being exposed to the discussion about how 'tankguy26' "hooked up with his girlfriend and her sister on Saturday night" doesn't make the phat lewt drop any faster...

Image courtesy of www.lfgcomic.com.