Kids love you. Kids look up to you. You can influence them positively--or wreck them emotionally.

The games industry has a problem with supply imbalances. For example, it's still quite difficult to buy a Nintendo Switch, and may the good Lord help you if you're in the market for an NES Classic Edition.

Controversy, though? Controversy is plentiful 'round these parts.

The latest storm of sound and fury involves Playtonic's upcoming 3D platformer, Yooka-Laylee. One of the game's garbled voices (if you played even one Rare platformer on the N64, you know the kind of vocal gobbledygook I'm talking about) was supplied by YouTuber JonTron. When JonTron made his views on immigrants clear via social media in the middle of the month, the odious performance led Playtonic to drop his voice contribution like a red-hot Jiggy.

"We recently became aware of comments made by voice artist JonTron after development on Yooka-Laylee had been completed," Playtonic told GamesIndustry.biz. "JonTron is a talented video presenter who we were initially, two years ago, happy to include as a voice contributor in our game. However, in light of his recent personal viewpoints we have made the decision to remove JonTron's inclusion in the game via a forthcoming content update."

The statement from Playtonic goes on to emphasize JonTron's views don't reflect their own, and that the studio "deeply regret[s] any implied association that could make players feel anything but 100% comfortable in our game worlds, or distract from the incredible goodwill and love shown by our fans and Kickstarter backers."

This latest hoopla, in addition to the controversy that erupted when millionaire YouTuber Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg used Fiverr.com to commission two people to hold up a sign stating "Death to All Jews," is personally sobering. JonTron's rants and PewDiePie's exploitation are gross in any context, but a couple of weeks ago I learned my eight-year-old niece is getting big into Minecraft, ROBLOX, Five Nights at Freddy's, and, by extension, she's watching a lot of YouTubers stream those games.

If this image was part of an art show, that art show would be called "Siiiiiigh."

My niece is patchwork quilt given human form (and bound together with fluffy scraps of adorability, but I'm biased). She's a Canadian-Trinidadian Irish-Hungarian Jew (whew). She's been made aware of her Jewish heritage, and it's celebrated.

So how long does she have until she hears her first oven "joke" during a stream, or receives her first dose of hilarious comedy via some remark about dead / gassed Jews? How's an eight-year-old supposed to understand that a 25+-year-old YouTuber—an adult, a person she's supposed to look up to and respect—is "just kidding" when they use the death and suffering of her direct ancestors as a casual remark meant to get a smattering of laughter during the slow parts of a Minecraft stream?

My concern isn't unique, obviously. Prominent YouTubers and game streamers fall back on off-color remarks and racial stereotypes all the time. It's a very easy way to keep the attention of a preteen viewer base that's very big on bucking authority, whether they do so by giggling at jokes about farts and poop, or grinning open-mouthed at the scandalous suggestion that "Hitler did nothing wrong." Sadly, these poisonous jokes and opinions are already affect young viewers caught in the blast radius.

People defend the antics of PewDiePie and his ilk by bringing up other shock comedians, like George Carlin and Howard Stern. Thing is, shock comedians usually have adult audiences. To re-iterate a point made by games writer Jim Sterling earlier this week, they don't hold sway over millions of ten-year-olds who may have into the fray in the first place because they just wanted to watch someone play through Kim Kardashian: Hollywood.

Accurate life cycle of a popular YouTuber.

I have strong feelings about the cultural tug-of-war between Boomers and Millennials, so I don't like to say things like "In MY day—" (besides, the effect only works if you own a pipe to puff with supreme irritation, and I don't). But I can't help but think about how I started to fall in love with video games when I was around my niece's age—around the same time the NES started becoming a fixture in North American living rooms. Back then, if you didn't own a game or system, you had to peer over the shoulder of a friend who did. Our "YouTube" was shop windows, whereon we pressed our noses and looked longingly at Super Mario Bros' attract mode.

Now, though? Any kid who wants to know anything about any game simply needs to hit up YouTube. There, they might find a benign trailer, or a developer interview. They might find a playthrough orchestrated by a cheerful person who's aware of their audience. Or they might find the gameplay footage interlaced with sour comedy involving remarks about black people and watermelon. Like that proverbial box of chocolates, you never really know what you're gonna get.

This isn't a call to police YouTube (though I haven't lost any sleep over JonTron and PewDiePie's scraped knees). This isn't a piece meant to spark a discussion about free speech versus consequences: Mike already tackled that subject in his elegant, even-handed way last month. Rather, it's a request—all right, maybe a plea—for YouTubers and streamers to remember they command the adoration of impressionable young people.

If you're over the age of 25, you are a wizened senpai to the average 8-year-old, and the things you do and say make a notable impact. Please don't forget that.