In a story first reported by GamePolitics last week, the National Institute on Media & the Family rather surprisingly used the word "devastating" to describe the effects of video games on children.

The wording was included in a press release designed to re-cap NIMF's National Summit on Video Games, Youth & Public Policy, held October 20-21 in Minnesota. GP questioned the term when we reported it. NIMF has now re-issued the press release, sans devastation.

Here's the sentence in question from the original:

Medical and health experts and organizations agreed to a joint statement regarding the devastating effects of video games on children and youth.

And here's the revised version:

Before adjourning, the summit’s academic, medical and health experts and organizations agreed to a joint statement regarding the effects of violent video games on children and youth.

Scribe Aaron Stanton, who attended the summit, has a well-deserved rant about this over at GamesFirst, including news that almost all of the summit experts he spoke to disagreed with the use of "devastating" to describe the effects of video games on children.

GP: This gaffe is primarily "devastating" to NIMF's credibility. And it's not the first time the organization has gone off the deep end in regard to games.

Readers may recall that last year's Annual Video Game Report Card fretted about - of all things - cannibalism in video games, based on the silliest of evidence.

NIMF is obviously a major player in this arena. However, if the organization expects to continue to be taken seriously going forward, it needs to do its homework and get a better grasp on games and game culture.