Video Game Ratings, Part 1

I title it part one because I am figuring there is going to be a sequel. (And it won’t be as good as the original but it will be a cash cow…but I digress.)

With all the healthy questions flying around – like should Christians play M rated video games – I figured it’s time I walked through my thoughts. I am in the odd position of being an adult – shocker, I realize to some of you – yet, love video games. I hang with students who compromise 99% of the target audience of video games.

For starters – the rating system on the front of video games was started by an organization called the ESRB (http://www.esrb.org/). That stands for Entertainment Software Ratings Board. Sounds official, doesn’t it? Well, it sort of is and it sort of isn’t.

Their FAQ site is here: http://www.esrb.org/esrbratings_faqs.asp
Great info there – I want to highlight a couple of things.

1. They’ve only been around since 1994. Pretty young organization, still figuring some stuff out but overall doing a pretty good job. It is an INDUSTRY BASED Association. That means it exists for the benefit of the gaming industry. It exists to help its members make money. Check out the ESA website for more details: http://www.theesa.com/programs.html

2. Video Games are NOT required by their industry nor the government to have a rating. It is a guideline that came about to help the gaming industries’ huge PR problem in the late ’80′s and early 90′s. Games were getting sold and Junior would get home with it, play it for an hour and something would happen that freaked Mom or Dad out. The result was – no more buying games from that company. Plus, outraged moms on television complaining about games wasn’t helping sales out. The gaming industry knows that 83% of all games are bought by Mom and Dad. It’s good customer service from the gaming industry.

3. Having said all of that – they have no authority on the retail level. Wal-mart or Best Buy can legally sell any video game to anybody who has means to pay for it. The Corporate Suits will tell you that they don’t do that – they honor the rating system. The reality is – well, let’s say the video game industry is on a serious upswing – doing over 30 billion dollars of business last year and projected to do more this year. Independent researchers, such as Media Wise reports differently. http://www.mediafamily.org/research/report_vgrc_2004.shtml

4. Not everyone is as pleased as punch with the ESRB – see above link, but overall, I think they do an okay job. I think as far communicating the possible questionable content of games – they do fine. I think their rating system needs a little tweaking, but nothing major.

So to put a fine point on the ratings question – legally – it isn’t a law/legal issue. It’s not like the sale of alcohol or tobacco. It’s a service provided by the industry to help their customers make an informed purchased. To a larger extent – it’s doing that. It’s not perfect, but it is a good starting place.

Back to The Halo Rants.