Racist abuse is being disseminated in games chatrooms on the internet, and games manufacturers have been slow to tackle it, writes Richard Barry.

Computer games will no doubt be a major stocking filler this year as 21st century children satiate their appetite for state-of-the-art entertainment. But, once connected to the internet, some games may give parents more to worry about than mere gore.

Children connected to the internet via their PCs or consoles may be exposed to racist abuse and harassment and, it seems, the games manufacturers are either unwilling or unable to do much about it.

Once connected to the online "lobbies" or "chatrooms" - virtual rooms where players meet and chat - children may well find themselves among racists who are able to disseminate racism freely.

One games company, Sega, which published a multi-award-winning product, Rome: Total War - Barbarian Invasion, had to close its chat function completely because the company failed to implement any measures to counter the problem.

Players with names such as "KILL_ALL_BLACKS" or "KIKE_Killa" posted racist abuse in the lobbies and set up competitions clearly aimed at abusing non-whites.

Asked for comment, the company conceded that when the game was created, a "lack of resources" meant the software lacked the functionality to deal with abusive material.

Even after disabling the chat functionality, players can still log on to the game using racist monickers. Because there are no moderators - people employed to monitor abuse and harassment - the problem persists.

Sega concedes that, because of its technical oversight, it is powerless to deal with the problem effectively. Asked if it would be willing to employ moderators to monitor content in its games lobbies, Sega said: "We will not rule out the possibility of using moderators but these decisions will be taken as a result of our evaluations of our options over the coming months."

Niall Crowley, chief executive of the Equality Authority, argues that it is not just the companies that need to act. "It is important that we support younger people to make positive choices and encourage a strong consciousness and understanding of racism."

Crowley says that, as well as the chat functionality, publishers need to look at the content of the games themselves. "We should be studying both the content and the impact of these games and how white people and people from other ethnic groups are portrayed and how stereotypes are reinforced."

Crowley believes standards need to be established if users are to be adequately protected. "Many internet-based games have strict rules on what can be said on them and players who abuse those rules are turfed off the servers. I think this should be a standard and enforced as such.

"Online games are a crucial media and it's important in any communications medium that steps are taking to prevent racist experience. It's hugely damaging to our society."

Microsoft, which publishes the game Age of Empires, uses automated bots and moderators to deal with the problem and insists it is "doing everything" in its power to stamp it out. However, a quick glance at the Age of Empire lobbies revealed games were still being hosted with names like "No_Jews" and "No_Niggas".

Groups of players who form "clans" have even declared themselves "Christian only" and ban Muslims and other religious groups from playing with them.

A Microsoft spokesperson said the company had banned several players for racist abuse "as well as just generally being a negative influence in our online population".

Debi, a gamer in her 30s who has been playing online for more than a decade, says racism is part of an unfortunate trend in online gaming.

"Name calling, including homophobic or otherwise derogatory behaviour, is pretty common. You will always find racists and bigots in games . . . all you can really do is ignore these people," she says.

Ireland has an internet hotline where child pornography and paedophilia can be reported but Philip Watt, director of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI), believes users should be made just as aware of racism.

"We spend a lot of time focusing on child pornography and paedophilia online and I think we should be just as active as a society in stamping out racism. If we allow this to go on, it becomes a permanent point of incitement. The danger is that it becomes the acceptable norm, which it isn't."

Asked if games companies are doing enough with the resources generated from games to tackle the issue, Watt is unequivocal: "I don't think they are. Whoever the company is, they should take more responsibility. In terms of technological advancement, they should be updating the technology to take racism into account and deal with it effectively."

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) was responsible for introducing age ratings in Britain back in 1994 - a system since taken up by Europe as the Pan European Game Information or PEGI system. Last week it launched www.askaboutgames.com, which provides guidelines on the concerns many parents have about games.

Roger Bennet, director general of the ELSPA, told The Irish Times that "while instances of antisocial or irresponsible behaviour in online gaming are in the minority, the industry does take public concerns very seriously. We are in the process of developing a set of guidelines for publishers of online games, working closely with the European Commission and based on the existing age ratings system used on computer and console video games."

Parents who witness racism in games can report incidents to the Internet Advisory Board - www.hotline.ie - or send an e-mail to report@hotline.ie.