ERSB: love it or hate it?

[Gunmanj]

The ESRB is what put that little M rating on that one game that most soccer moms ignore and then buy little jimmy Grand theft auto San andreas, and then watch jimmy play and then say," OMG, I was not aware that this game had mature content I guess I should Whine and blame other people for my lack of analyzing the game cover of the game I will by for my little kid, I mean, I dont want to take the blame for my bad mistake. I have a swell idea, lets boycott adult games that were meant for adults and have our only arguement be that devolpers should stop adding this stuff so that we parents dont have to feel responsible for letting our kids play it." I respect the ESRB, but I also loathe it, " Oh look, a head flew off, thats nice... OMG a virtual nipple!! Run Kids, run from natures intentions!!" I understand if its a wrong way to portray sex, however, like grand theft auto, but if its moral then dont judge ESRB, but it seems that the ESRB is run by soccer moms most of the time. Its the Parents responsibility , not the media's.

 

[Stammer]

I find the ESRB ratings are a good way to judge what the game's content will be like. I don't take it word-for-word, but I use it as a scale. If it has "M", of course young people will play it. Just have to be prepared for the content inside.

I like the ESRB, but I don't follow them exactly.

 

[Mistah Kurtz]

The ESRB is what put that little M rating on that one game that most soccer moms ignore and then buy little jimmy Grand theft auto San andreas, and then watch jimmy play and then say," OMG, I was not aware that this game had mature content I guess I should Whine and blame other people for my lack of analyzing the game cover of the game I will by for my little kid, I mean, I dont want to take the blame for my bad mistake. I have a swell idea, lets boycott adult games that were meant for adults and have our only arguement be that devolpers should stop adding this stuff so that we parents dont have to feel responsible for letting our kids play it." I respect the ESRB, but I also loathe it, " Oh look, a head flew off, thats nice... OMG a virtual nipple!! Run Kids, run from natures intentions!!" I understand if its a wrong way to portray sex, however, like grand theft auto, but if its moral then dont judge ESRB, but it seems that the ESRB is run by soccer moms most of the time. Its the Parents responsibility , not the media's.

What are you trying to say? Stick to one idea per paragraph, are you trying to say that the ESRB is great because it's a way to shut up the whining parents, or that it's bad because it's "run by soccer moms most of the time". Then you said it's the parents responsibility, not the media's. The media is what is MAKING the game, and the esrb is a WATCHDOG group, not 'the media'. I'm not sure, but I don't think that it's "run by soccer moms most of the time" either, and without the ESRB how are those whining parents supposed to "analyze the cover"? There's nothing about the box on conkers bad fur day that immediately suggests that it's going to be the vile (and awesome) game that it is. The ESRB is what helps parents make good choices about what their kids are allowed to play - grand theft auto, condemned 2, manhunt, etc, are NOT for kids.

The only thing I fault the ESRB for is for their A rating - like the MPAA's NC-17 rating, it's a restrictive rating which guarentees your product will be a commercial failure, as most stores refuse to sell them. While stores have a right to sell whatever they want, this system creates a situation in which both game developers and filmmakers are at the mercy of a group of anonymous parents and concerned citizens from which there is no recourse other than appeasement. Many great films (and games) have either commercially failed due to this system or their creators were forced to compromise their artistic vision in order to make sure they didn't offend anyone - and that's never cool.

 

[Gunmanj]

I see what you are saying, I did say a lot, I did not want to create multiple forums, What I was saying about the media is that a lot of the time, I see shows trying to say, dont let your kid get this game, such as the fox network MAss effect incident. and when I say that the ESRB seems to be run by soccer moms, I mean that usually, the ESRB will try their best to censor what the parents want censored, if someone sends in an e-mail saying that they want sex to be better censored in games, they will feel that they really have to do that because they really want parents to use their system, so they are going to try as hard as they can to censor more, to have the parent happy and not have to worry about what their children are playing. I like what the ESRB is trying to do, I just think that they should try harder to judge a game such as actually playing it and not watching a game trailer, which doesnt always have the games full content, which means that they are just going to have to deal with more problems when they miss something for not playing the game and having a parent complain when they see something not appropriate that was in-game and not in the trailer, they would be a much better group if they just tried a little harder. I definitly appreciate what they are trying to do. which is to make it easier for the parent to decide what is appropriate for their kids and what is not.

 

[Gahars]

The ESRB is pretty good.

Granted, it needs work and improvement, but it gets the job done well enough.

 

[ElephantGuts]

I think the ESRB does a pretty good job. It's ratings seem fair, and it does its job well. If moms are buying their kids games they shouldn't be, that's their fault and their problem. ESRB gives the rating and tells people that kids shouldn't play the game, if moms are gonna be buying their kids the game anyway its not the ESRB's fault.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

The ESRB does the best job it can and I feel that they rate very fairly. It really isn't their fault parents don't pay attention to ratings. They're certainly better than the "mysterious" film ratings board in the US, which apparently is pretty shadowy.

 

[Squarewave]

The ESRB has too much power, or rather people care too much about the ESRB.

The ESRB by it self is fine, its meant for parents that want to monitor what their kid plays and it does a reasonably good job of it.

The problem with it, is that the system revolves around the "think of the children" mindset and has gained enough political and religious power to stop stores from selling unrated games or games rated AO. This effect transfers to console manufactures so they refuse to license games that are not rated/ AO games

 

[Gooble]

Their ratings all seem fine to me, but most of the time neither myself nor my parents pay any attention to it, more the big red 12/15/18 rating on the front of the box. Though mind you I've never got games that my parents shouldn't have allowed me to play, until recently by I'm 17 (close enough to 18 )

 

[SargentToughie]

I suppose it gets the job done, but I serously belive that there needs to be a rating between T and M, the PG 13 of the American gaming industry

 

[Littaly]

I'm a little skeptical to the way Americans censor nudity or sex but barley raise an eyebrow towards extreme violence, but then again I'm Swedish so maybe i got it wrong. ERSB does what it's supposed to and in most cases it is right, especially since most parents are not into gaming themselves (making it different from movies).

 

[stompy]

I'm alright with the ESRB. They seem to rate fairly (most of the time), and they seem to please everyone. I suppose they have room for improvement, but it's a good rating system.

 

[mathias53]

I have no complaints

 

[Scolar Visari]

The ESRB does a decent enough job even if they don't always rate the games as fairly as they should. You could probably attribute the ESRB's censoring of content that doesn?t need to be censored to media pressure. We all know games still aren't that widely accepted and are still thought of as something for children. Therefore when the media catches wind of any mature elements we get a shitstorm like the Mass Effect one and the ESRB has to run damage control. Things like the Mass Effect scare make it look like the ESRB isn't doing its job which then leads to all sorts laws and investigations and other sorts of crap that make their jobs harder.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

i say drop the ESRB and make the industry go toe to toe with the Government against Federal Regulation. then when the smoke clears and the constitution is upheld it will open up the flood gates for major companies to market questionable titles right into the skulls and brains of our children...

forcing parents to be parents or suffer having a deranged kid.

 

[Logan Westbrook]

I think the ESRB are in a difficult position. The seem besieged on all sides by groups with incompatible agendas. What really worries me about the ESRB is that they set the tone for the rest of the world as developers get more cautious about what content they put in.

 

[Gunmanj]

I'm a little skeptical to the way Americans censor nudity or sex but barley raise an eyebrow towards extreme violence, but then again I'm Swedish so maybe i got it wrong. ERSB does what it's supposed to and in most cases it is right, especially since most parents are not into gaming themselves (making it different from movies).

ya, parental priorities suck here in the US