Lieberman Pleased With Video Game Ratings

Babbster writes "GamesAreFun.com is reporting that Senators Joseph Lieberman and Herb Kohl are pleased with the ESRB ratings system for video games and specifically praise the changes being made to ESRB labels effective September 15th. A lot must have changed at the ESRB in the last seven months since both these men wanted congressional hearings on video game ratings."

Comments

Uh Oh....

[Delifisek]

First educate people, then rate programs or films.

I believe rating system does not solve problem. I just another goverment cartel to control someting.

Everyting is up to you. If sometings go wrong don't blame ratings, games, films etc.

This is the way ...

[PaulK]

it should be.

In order to limit legislation for which only those lobbyists with deep pockets can provide direction, we must police ourselves.

Anytime a politician can form an astroturf campaign out of something like this, we all lose; the effects of legislation always exceed its initial bounds.

This could, on the other hand, be parlayed into a first ammendment case.

Re:Useless ratings?

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

Unfortunately, in today's society these ratings aren't used nearly as often as they should be. The idea of a ratings system which quickly lets parents know that something is not appropriate for their child is a great one. As far as the implementation goes, and this is more so with movies, the raters can be a little quirky. But anyway, the real problem lies in parents who take little to no interest in what their children are doing. The ratings should be used in conjunction with just checking a game out yourself to determine if the game is acceptable. Many parents do neither. I don't mean to bemoan the downfall of Western Civilization but it's troubling to see how many parents deal with their children in public and also how often I see kids out on school nights in public places misbehaving and getting into trouble. I'm sure that over half of most parents do a good job but I honestly am concerned for the future. Parents just aren't parenting anymore. The ratings system is a good tool for parents but I think the sad fact is that it's not used by many.

As far as dealers and endusers go, I don't think ratings come into play heavily. There's no video game rating similar to NC-17, which is the kiss of death and most dealers wouldn't show at their cineplex so it's not so much an issue. And as a buyer of video games, I don't consider the ratings (I'm well above age to buy anything) but instead read reviews and take a look at how enjoyable the game is.

What changed was...

[Garg]

A lot must have changed at the ESRB in the last seven months since both these men wanted congressional hearings on video game ratings.

You mean, "A lot of money must have changed hands".

Garg

Re:If they like it, then things are bad

[gerbache]

The ESRB is perfectly beneficial for people who want to think for themselves, especially people like parents. There's nothing in the ESRB ratings that prevent games from being made; it's just a way to restrict access to those who really shouldn't be playing them in the first place and to let parents know what their kids are doing. Movies have been doing this for years, yet I've seen plenty of movies that push the limits of taste in their pursuit for freedom of expression

It's not like the ESRB is limiting the games that can be published; they're just trying to tell parents and retailers what the content of the game is to prevent kids from playing who shouldn't be exposed to the games. Besides that, if a parent, who should know their children well enough to be able to tell whether they're mature enough to play, can decide to buy the game for the kids, but the ratings in theory should prevent the kids from buying the games without their parents knowing about it. This -is- a good thing, because it allows a method for the industry to show that they are not all about warping kids and making them shoot everyone in sight with a shotgun.