Against the Stereotype

In local news: as usual people break the rules, so gaming gets attacked

Now many of you are aware of the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board). However, here is an explanation of what it is for those of you that do not know, courtsey of their home site.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory body for the interactive entertainment software industry established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), formerly the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA). ESRB independently applies and enforces ratings, advertising guidelines, and online privacy principles adopted by the computer and video game industry.

If you click on the link there, there was also a great post from the president of the ESA. I will post that later after I tell you about how this ESRB rating has stirred up a bit of contraversy here at home.

Now, I was flipping through the channels, when I came across the San Diego Insider program. I saw that the reporter was in front of a local Gamestop. Having worked for them previously, as well as my now husband, we decided to watch. They were talking about the ESRB rating system a little bit.

Games are rated as follows:

(Of the 1,036 game ratings assigned by the ESRB in 2004):

54% received an E (Everyone) rating
33% received a T (Teen) rating
12% received an M (Mature) rating
<1% received an EC (Early Childhood) rating
<1% received an AO (Adults Only) rating

Now, for a further look at what those ratings mean, and how they are decided, you can go to their site and have a look. I just didn't want to copy and paste all that info here. Plus, it is something that you probably should look at.

So, in order to buy in the store games that have the M rating, you are supposed to be 17 yrs old. For AO, you must be 18.

This is what what was being focused on in the coverage. There is a group of kids in the El Cajon Youth Coalition that were shown playing the game Narc (a rated M game produced by Midway). The game depicts drug use, and is violent. Hense, why it is rated M. Kids were voicing that the game is not something that they think kids should be able to play, etc, as they feel "it may give the wrong impression to today's youth and make them want to do the things that they are seeing." (Yes. Sigh. I know, how many times have we heard that before...)

So, they wanted to see if they would be able to purchase the game somewhere. They did a sting operation with one of the kids from this organization. Of course, the iddiot in the Gamestop (the manager of all people) sold it to the kid. The reporter went into Gamestop and spoke to the person that sold it to the kid. Of course, since he was working and as such, representing the company, he declined to do any comment, but refunded the money for the sale. I wonder if that guy is still working for the company. Who knows.

The reporter went on to say that they are hopeing to get games like this banned from shelves, citeing the usual "bad influence" yadda yadda yadda.

The rating system is there for a reason. All games have to be rated as the industry's form of self governing. People fail to realize, that the market for the video game industry far surpasses just kids. Many adults and people in their mid twenties make up a huge part of the playerbase.

Hopefully adults will take more time into paying attention to what exactly their kids are doing. They need to sit with their kids and educate them more, and complain less. They need to stop blameing these industries for their faults.

I leave you with the following quote taken from the ESA website by their President, Douglass Lowenstein:

Statement from the ESA on its California Lawsuit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Dan Hewitt
202-223-2400
dhewitt@theESA.com

Washington, DC – (October 17, 2005) – In response to California's new unconstitutional video game law, the Entertainment Software Association's (ESA) President, Douglas Lowenstein, issued the following statement :

“Today the ESA filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose seeking to strike down California’s new ban on the sale of certain video games to minors. We believe this bill will meet the same fate as virtually identical statutes that federal courts have routinely struck down in recent years.

“It is not up to any industry or the government to set standards for what kids can see or do; that is the role of parents. Additionally, everyone involved with this misguided law has known from the start that it is an unconstitutional infringement on the First Amendment freedoms of those who create and sell video games.

“So, once again, we urge all people of good will involved in this to come together to work on cooperative, legal ways to help parents make the right choices about the entertainment their kids consume. We all know that parents are not well served by the time and money spent on court battles and legal fees. Rather, they would be far better off if government and industry worked together to educate them about video game ratings, and other tools to help them make informed purchasing decisions for their families.”

(some information is here courtesy of the following websites: ESRB and the ESA)

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