KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — When Aaron Hamel moved to Knoxville, Tenn., last spring, he figured he'd never leave.

A 45-year-old nurse originally from Ontario, Hamel had lived in seven U.S. states before deciding to lay stakes in this urbane but slow-paced outpost of the south.

Knoxville offered just the right mix of city life and country charm, friends told reporters after Hamel's untimely death this summer. It was the ideal place, they said, for Hamel to fulfill his dream of living life in a log cabin surrounded by the attractions of city life.

The dream remained just that. In June, two teen-age boys shot Hamel while he drove through Knoxville. The boys, aged 16 and 14, later told investigators they had decided to shoot randomly at cars in imitation of a video game called “Grand Theft Auto.” The two boys were sentenced in August after pleading guilty to reckless homicide, endan-germent and assault.

For years, video games have been one of the most popular Christmas gifts for children and teen-agers. Yet many of today's parents would likely be shocked by the very games they're buying, particularly those parents who haven't looked at content since the advent of “Super Mario Brothers.” Games such as “Grand Theft Auto” and “Manhunt” are not only more realistic than yesterday's games but also increasingly violent.

In “Grand Theft Auto,” players direct an ex-convict through the streets of Miami in search of stolen drug money. As the character encounters police officers and gangsters, the game urges players to “kill the Cubans” and “kill the Haitians.”

Aaron Hamel's family has brought a $246 million lawsuit against the game's manufacturer, Rockstar Games Inc.. And later this month, the Haitian Centers Council in New York plans a public protest in front of Rockstar's Manhattan headquarters.

Rockstar did not return Register calls for comment but said in an earlier statement designed to quell the concerns of Haitian Americans: “There was no intention to offend any ethnic group.”

Such reassurances are not enough for the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, a New York-based coalition of 275 faith-based institutional investors.

The center recently issued a letter to 10 game retailers and manufacturers asking them to step up efforts at keeping children away from particularly violent games.

Coalition members, who hold investment assets exceeding $110 billion, are threatening to use their power as shareholders to pressure negligent companies into changing their policies.

Raising Awareness

The campaign is designed to raise awareness among parents, who can't keep up with game content, said project director Gary Brouse. He said manufacturers should do more to inform adults about what a game involves and that retailers should train employees to enforce the video industry's rating system.

An industry-run rating organization known as the Entertainment Software Rating Board assigns content descriptions to video games according to a five-tier system that ranges from EC (Early Childhood) to AO (Adults Only). An AO marking is an indication that a game's content is not appropriate for children under 17.

Ratings are printed on video game packages and in ads. Ratings may also be obtained from www.esrb.org.

But ratings are only as effective as the people who enforce them, Brouse said. And companies that manufacture and sell graphic games, he said, should label products more clearly and make their sale to minors more difficult.

“We're not satisfied with the way the industry is monitoring itself,” Brouse said. “There is not enough to protect children or parents. It's just hard for them to keep up. We think the industry that's producing these games should make it as simple as possible for people to tell what they're buying.”

Some industry representatives argue that the responsibility lies with parents.

Cathy Hess, a spokeswoman for Circuit City, the Richmond, Va.-based retailer, noted that the ratings system is voluntary. Still, she said Circuit City trains employees to ask children who are under 17 and unaccompanied by a parent to produce picture identification before purchasing games rated M for mature.

Hess said Circuit City adopted its enforcement policy in an effort to “support,” not “take the place of,” parents and that the company relies on the “best judgment” of salespeople. She said the company posts its policy in each of its stores and issues monthly reminders to employees about their duties under the policy.

“Circuit City strongly supports the voluntary rating system for entertainment products,” Hess said.

“But parents have the authority and primary responsibility to decide what games are appropriate for their children.”

Cathy Rowan, a corporate responsibility consultant for coalition member Trinity Health, the Michigan-based Catholic hospital network, said such disclosures about policy are a first step in an effort to change what she described as “the culture of violence” that is part cause, part result of video games such as “Grand Theft Auto.” Rowan said Trinity Health has put a priority on the issues not only as a matter of cultural concern but also of public health.

“It's a problem for Trinity Health,” Rowan said, “because out active shareholders, pediatricians and other doctors, see the effects of violence in their emergency rooms every day. Violence done by children and violence done against children. It's a public-health issue.”

Brian McGuire writes from Albany, New York.