Episode V - The ESRB Strikes Back

[fitbabits]

Next Generation (http://www.next-gen.biz) has published an interview with ESRB (http://www.esrb.org) president Patricia Vance about how the board handles criticism and competition, and how it's working with publishers, retail and the media.

You can read the whole interview by clicking here (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1479&Itemid=2).

Next Generation: Why is the Entertainment Software Ratings Board under constant fire?

Patricia Vance: "There are people who just don't believe in self regulation. They don't believe that an industry can regulate itself, even though there are plenty of examples of successful regulatory bodies out there, including the film business.

"But consumers aren't the ones complaining. Parents with kids between the ages of 13 and 17 as well as parents with kids between the ages of three and 14 heavily rely on the ratings and find them to be effective. We have plenty of research to show that.

"There is nothing broken in the ratings system. It works well both in providing consumers with information on which to base an educated purchase decision. It also enforces numerous guidelines that the industry has adopted and when we believe that our guidelines have been violated we follow enforcement and corrective actions along the lines of what we did this summer with Hot Coffee and Grand Theft Auto.

"Then, there are some people who have ulterior motives whether they be political or business motives like in the case of PSV, which is a for-profit entity which would like to create a business based on ratings services."
File this one under 'beating a dead horse'!

[NoName]

File this one under 'beating a dead horse'!
*Goes to the closet to get his bat* Wow we kill a lot of horses around here...

More on topic: I like the ESRB rating our games, mostly because I think someone else doing it could do a lot worse. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

[fitbabits]

*Goes to the closet to get his bat* Wow we kill a lot of horses around here...

More on topic: I like the ESRB rating our games, mostly because I think someone else doing it could do a lot worse. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
Ah, but we don't actually kill the horses to begin with - we just beat them afterwards! :)

I take your point about the ESRB - better then than the Federal (or State) governments. Still, though, I believe the industry itself needs to work more on ratings awareness in the public eye and less on controversial content.

[agentgray]

Yes, it's just like where I work. Beating a dead horse does cause it to move. They've been doing it for 50 years.

We're actually hitting bone now....but hey, look! It's moving!

[bean19]

I'm always excited when someone speaks about this and they are quoting facts rather than making hyperbole or serving their special interests. I wish this story would get run by mainstream media though.

[BigJonno]

I'm guessing that the problem in the US is the same as the problem here; a lot of parents are ignorant of the ratings system and videogames in general. The ESRB, the retailers and the publishers all need to raise awareness of how it all works as there is still a large percentage of the population that believe that videogames are inherently for children and wouldn't even question their kid's choice of game.

[Dabombpizza]

A lot of parents are ignorant of their children...

[fitbabits]

A lot of parents are ignorant of their children...
If you mean that parents are not invested enough in making decisions on which games are appropriate for their children, I agree completely.

[Spoon]

I think Patricia Vance should be cleaning a house, or baking pie, would you not all agree?

[Dabombpizza]

If you mean that parents are not invested enough in making decisions on which games are appropriate for their children, I agree completely.

I mean there are a lot of parents in this country that are not fully aware that they have children, let alone invest time into making decisions. Let the schools and television raise them, but sue them when discipline is involved.

The amount of crap that we allow our children to consume is by far amazing.

[MosBen]

The industry is certainly doing a better job with the ratings than they have in the past, but there's still room to improve, especially in enforcement. Also, I think they need to seriously reconsider the disparity in the way sex is treated vs violence in their standards. Otherwise, the ratings are a pretty useful tool for parents, or those that simply don't want to see some kind of content.

[see colon]

i'm a parent and a gamer. i'm also an avid movie fan. i can say without a doubt that i prefer the rating system for games to that of movies. it makes more sense. it tells you why a game is rated in terms that are easy to understand, and are clearly defined from title to title. if a game have blood and gore it says "blood and gore". not "non-stop creature action violence". what the hell does that mean?

[PantherModern]

I don't know about the enforcement issue. I have worked at Wal-Mart and Gamestop, and both places were dead serious about supporting the ratings systems. At Wal_Mart you had to take a little computerized test and pass it if you worked in electronics that covered the specifics of the rules and the fines associated. Gamestop was even more invested in the policy. I think it really comes down to the person selling the game, and no law is going to be able to regulate that, I am afraid. I took the ratings system seriously in my time, and refused to sell any game to a minor that was not suitable based on the rating (despite their heated protests). Some people who work retail jobs are morons. It's unfortunate, but true. All a company can do is attempt to educate its employees. A law will not make them do it. It will simply throw them in jail for not doing it, which in this case is utterly stupid.

[bean19]

If you mean that parents are not invested enough in making decisions on which games are appropriate for their children, I agree completely.

I used to think this too after I heard from my mother (a school teacher) that the majority of her 3rd grade class (8 to 9 year olds) had played violent video games like GTA and half of them played them regularly.

Then one of my friends did a study on this as she is studying to become a teacher. She sent home a questionnaire with all of the children in the 4th grade at an elementary school and of the 138 students, only 63 of them had Mature games in their home. Of those with mature games, only 10 of the children were allowed to play the games themselves although most had been allowed to be in the room while they were played, and all 63 of them purchased the game for teenage children or adults living in the household.

Of course, this result was sent by parents to a school and thus it probably paints a prettier picture than reality. However, I think we can make some pretty good conclusions from this survey.

1. Parents tend to run the gambit of responsibility as you might expect, but most of them actually use the ESRB ratings when making purchases for their children and the number of kids playing Mature games is exaggerated.

2. Parents do buy Mature games for Teen children at about the same rate that parents allow their teen children to see R-rated movies.

3. Younger children get exposure to adult materials through older siblings. The sky is still blue and the grass is still green. (quoting someone in an earlier thread).

This is collaborated by annecdotal evidence I've gotten from friends who work at game stores. They indicate that parents of young children are pretty good about limiting their exposure to Mature games and that most parents limit their teenage children's games on a game-by-game basis. There are exceptions, particularly among people with different cultural backgrounds, but most parents ARE responsible and USE the ESRB ratings.

The problem is that THERE ISN'T A PROBLEM!!! This is a media red herring and political scapegoat and always has been.