The Video Game ESRB/PETA thread

[lSHaDoW-FoXl]

I'm a Canadian and as I write this I'm at that special age when one begins to look ugly - yet not be able to drink liquor, joy. My insane yet un necessary introduction aside. At the age of eighteen I'm no stranger of being seen as retarded or perhaps as a lesser person by someone slightly older than I. Aahh yes, I remember the 'good old days' when automatically you're homophobic/racist/sexist/ parents were absolutely always right. And well, in a way this is what this thread is about.

By now I can practically see the gears in your head shifting, I can almost see you nodding your head thinking 'Ahh, so this is one of those age descrimination threads?' Well, not quite. It's more like this is one of those perhaps overdone whiney ESRB threads - but seeing that the two things are basically the same I suppose this is really an ESRB/AGE thread.

Yay?

So, already I can hear *or see* the hordes of Escapist members that wish to tear me apart for doing an incredibly overdone thread. Except, I want this to be a step above the other threads that's done this. Afterall if we're going to beat a dead horse lets at least make sure it looks nice. (I can't help but our beloved Yahtzee beat me to this punch line)So please, for the love of contribute something more then 'I'm eighteen so I don't have to worry.'

ESRB. As a child this was one of the very first things about games that I knew. Second to knowing that shooting people in the balls was fun. Here's the twist, I don't actually mind ESRB. The thing that's often over looked is that ESRB is a reccommendation and nothing else. No one that rates the games gives two craps if you're one month younger then eighteen to play 'Generic shooter game.' What they are stating however is 'This game's got blood, dicks and pie. Are you sure you're child is...not old enough, but is he mature enough to play this?'

And these are my thoughts. If mister Dumb. A. Douche is allowed to hunt chickens, snakes, apples, whatever when he has the mental capacity of a mentally handicapped drunken inbred redneck why can't I hunt pixilated people? Well, at first I came up with the theory that -

P eopleforthe
E thical
T reatmentof
A rtificialintelligence

- was behind this, because obviously if there's a problem with me shooting pixilated aliens in the groin *Often by accident mind you!* there must be some protestors behind it. Well,I was wrong and of course it was the government, and I'm not joking either. It seems that in the Free democratic world something as simple as renting a game will be judged by people that know absolutely nothing about actual games. Sounds quite like our politicians in all issues, actually.

Eighteen stickers, now those are the real problems and these are the things that make me actually side with ESRB. It's because of these stickers that I made this thread you're currently being a part of. It seems the government couldn't stand how ESRB was doing there job so they decided to do it for them. And how? Well, apparently by placing a sticker on video games with the number 'EIGHTEEN' on them it automatically makes the game have this bizarre divine power where you can't take it off the rack. Well, not quite. More like you can't get it past the clerk who's apparently a tool because 5/10 chances they'll bow down to the might of the stickers incredible power.

One of the places that started this policy if I'm correct was California by old terminator himself. Because, you know, he totally never starred in any Restricted movies at all. Eventually that policy reached the province I lurk in. For quite awhile I had troubles renting games and I still do. Whether it's a well thought out game with a bit of gore and blood or a game with only gore and blood they're treated the same and apparently they're far worse then a porno film where a girl gets an eye or two ripped out because she finds it erotic.

My personal verdict -

All in all people shouldn't be judged by there age but by they're maturity. ESRB should be the ONLY people in charge of game ratings, parents that know less about games then there son or daughter shouldn't act like they know more about games then said son or daughter, and a game with a bit of blood isn't going to turn anyone into the next Ted Bundy or John Wayne Gayce.

 

[Madshaw]

ah well in the wonderfull world of englandland we all have 18 numbers on our games so we have been living with this ever since carmageddon.

why not get an older friend to buy it for you just like with booze and fags?

and on a more relevant note, how on earth are you supposed to measure someones maturity? "surely the most mature thing to do would be getting a life and going outside and leaving those stupid games alone" (to quote my dad when i bitches this shit to him 4 years ago)

we cant test every single kid on maturity, kids have enough brain power not to fill in the standardised test you give them in a way that reveals their immaturity

age is the only "safe" way to do it, so tough luck, and see if you still give a shit at 18

 

[CoffeeMonkey]

By some obscure coincidence the Western world has decided that the age of 18 is somehow magical, and that when people turn 18 they're suddenly capable of making rational and sensible decisions all by themselves. All governments have responsibility for their respective populations, and because no single institution is capable of monitoring all peoples "maturity" they have to put in some more or less arbitrary definition of "grown up" aka "not harmful to one-self".

I don't quite get the 18-mark however. Psychologically, people with a normal mental development are usually said to be "mentally adult" around the age of 20-21. Based on science the 18-mark seems kind of arbitrary, based more on tradition than what would actually make sense.

The ESRB and the European PEGI rating are in my opinion not bad institutions at all. I'm not going to reflect whether video games are "harmful" to the youth or not, but at least your parents have the best chance to gauge your maturity (even though you may not agree - I know I didn't). And that's kinda the point, I guess. To my understanding, the ESRB was institutionalized because the American government told the industry, that "If you're not going to rate your games, we are". The industry thought it best to have the government mettle as little as possible, and created the ESRB. Now parents, not the government, can decide if the young should be allowed to play this or that game. Not a bad way to do censorship, when censorship is instated.

 

[Veret]

Madshaw's already hit the most important point, but I'll reiterate: There's just no way to accurately measure someone's maturity, but it's easy enough to measure their age and call that close enough. It's imperfect, sure, but it's better than most alternatives I can think of. Besides, there's nothing stopping an adult from picking up the game for you. If you can convince your parents that you're mature enough to play an M-rated game, then you'll be able to play, no matter what the law says.

You also mentioned that you were annoyed with the way clerks "bow down to the sticker"--that is, enforce the ratings system. But what would happen if they didn't? You would be able to get "mature" games for a while, but then anti-videogame activists would point out that any kid really can just walk into a store and pick up GTA. Then they would say that developers shouldn't be allowed to put any mature content in games, because there's really no way of controlling who gets to see it. Once that becomes a law, then any mature content would have to be heavily censored or just blocked completely. And if you think that could never happen, just go ask an Australian gamer.

 

[PDizzle418]

yeah good luck with maturity like Madshaw said

I can assure that I was more mature than most 18 year olds at age 15, can the clerk at the store understand that? no.

Also one of the main reasons those clerks rush to stop you is because they could lose their job if they don't. Quite literally someone told them, we can't let people take these games off the shelf or something. Plus it probably helps cut down on thefts.

The ESRB was created as a self regulatory board to rate game. However I don't believe it's directly related to the government at all, so it's in the hands of the states to add additional requirements onto games.

Also, why did you use the fraction 5/10? what is wrong with 1/2? lol

 

[Burningsok]

hey I can kind of agree with ya, but its no big deal anyways. I'm 17 and when a game has a M rating on it I sometimes have to have a parent or guardian come along so that M rated game I've always wanted.

now for PETA... short rant: Wish they were all dead. Save the animals, now lets all be vegetarians, damn we where created into omnivores; we eat meat and plants. It does this planet no good when we don't fulfill our role as omnivores eating just planets and letting the animal population go out of wack. and the whole save the cows crap is quite stupid. You eat the plants that create the oxygen, so basically its a lost cause when it comes to saving our planet from "Global Warming". PETA makes you feel bad about eating animals and then they slap in the vegetarian shit. It's almost like they are forcing this shit on us. I'm all for the environment, but PETA's shit is just way to much.

 

[ReverendJ]

Once upon a time I was 18. I thought, "What a bunch of jerks! I'm mature enough to handle anything they throw at me!" Then I turned 21, and realized how immature I actually was at 18. More years passed. Now, at 28, I look back upon my previous incarnations and realize what incredibly immature idiots THEY were. Now that I'm a parent, I realize that yes, the guy at the comic book store was right for carding me on that Clerks comic book.

I'm sorry, kids, but the simple fact is that when most humans are below the legal limit, they're easily influenced and prone to making bad decisions. I'm personally of a libertarian bent, and would rather that governments NOT meddle in the lives of their constituents, but on the other hand, my kid, whose media consumption I monitor as any responsible parent should, goes to school with OTHER children whose parents generally aren't so responsible. No kid should have received GTA: San Andreas... but they did. Lots of 'em. So what it comes down to is the old Comics Code Authority gambit- the industry regulates itself, or the Feds will regulate them for us. This is largely WHY we have governments- to make sure that people don't do horribly irresponsible things. Unfortunately, we live in a world where most people can't be bothered to pay too much attention to their kids, and somebody has to.

tl;dr ESRB is needed until people take responsibility for their spawn.

PS PETA sucks, lay off my hamburger. As the man said, "Everything has a soul, even broccoli! You can't win!"

 

[malestrithe]

I am all about the personal choice when it comes to video games and my children, as soon as I have them. That means while I am going to monitor what things my kids watch and listen, I am not going to pitch a fit when another parent does not care enough as I do. Again, in a free society, you need to be tolerant of everything even if you do not agree with it. If the other person is making a mistake, you have to accept that it is his mistake to make and leave it at that. There is no reason to be pissed off about it.

I will allow my kid to play games like Call of Duty because that is not reality. A gun does not fire by pressing the A button. That being said, I am going to take my kids out to the firing range as soon as he is old enough and teach him basic gun etiquette before I let him play CoD. I've fired real guns before and I know the difference.

I really do not mind the ESRB doing this because it is not a government entity. It is the video game industry policing themselves on the threat of government intervention, much like every other ratings thing in this country. MPAA Ratings system is strictly funded by the movie studios, with no government oversight at all. The RIAA did the same thing with music and you can thank Prince for that one. The government does not get involved because of the rating system.

Also, the ESRB

 

[lSHaDoW-FoXl]

yeah good luck with maturity like Madshaw said

Also, why did you use the fraction 5/10? what is wrong with 1/2? lol

I like bigger numbers. 1/2 looks nicer but it doesn't have the same feel as one of my favourite numbers.