Game Industry Derided For Mature Content

Steve Rock writes "To the surprise of no one, game manufacturers and resellers were again taken to task over the production and sales of games containing violent or sexual themes. According to the National Institute on Media and the Family's Ninth Annual Mediawise Video Game Report Card even games with beneficial or neutral content can be harmful to children because of the connection between gameplay and our obesity epidemic. Interestingly, out of fifty surveys mailed out by the Institute to retailers and producers only two were completed and returned. The industry was given a passing grade for the ESRB rating system but the actual enforcement of the system by the retailers was not -- it is worth noting, however, that the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association has stated that self-regulation procedures were scheduled to be implemented by December 2004 and therefore tests of retailer compliance to ESRB ratings was premature."

Comments

Favorite T-Shirt:

[Sunrun]

"Video games don't affect kids. If Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around a darkened room, munching on candy and listening to repetetive music."

Hence, raves. (tongue firmly in cheek)

Seriously, video games are not a gateway to deviant behavior. Just because I play a game in which the object is to evade or elude police and drive in a wreckless fashion doesn't mean I'm any more or less likely to undertake such behavior when driving on the freeway. Presuming that it does also presumes that one has no ability whatsoever to distinguish between fantasy and reality.

That said, mature content is for mature individuals. And while I would have a problem with my child viewing violent or sexually explicit content, I would have more of a problem with the violence and less of a problem with the sexuality.