ESRB Adds New 'Tween' Rating

The Entertainment Software Rating Board announced yesterday that it was adding a new category to the entertainment software rating format. The new "E10+" "would mark games that might contain moderate amounts of cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes." This puts the category between "E" and "T", and allows for racing games with violent crashes and superhero violence.

Comments

Re:Excellent.

[gameboyhippo]

I don't think parents are overprotected; I think they are being cautious. Of course I would rather see a more complex rating system for movies and games. Basically it could have on the front of the box something like this:

l **
i *
v *
e
s ***

That is v is violence, s is sexual themes, l is language, e is for evil or demonic themes, and i is illegal or harmful behavior. Then underneath it could highlight some of the things parents should be cautious about in the movie or game.

Thus we can take a game such as Zelda.
l
i
v **
e *
s
Contains Mild Fantasy Violence
Contains Ghosts

Parents can then judge right away whether the want that game. Just as another example we can take Sonic Adventure 2: Battle
l *
i *
v **
e *
s *
Contains Mild Lyrics
Contains Resisting Authorities
Contains Fantasy Violence
Contains Sports like Violence
Contains Mild Romantic Themes

If we used a rating system like that, parents could more easily pick out the right movie/games for thier kids based upon their moral values of what kids should be exposed to.

Re:Excellent.

[realityfighter]

I overheard this conversation in my local Target while I was trying to find something to spend a gift card on.

Girl: Um....What about this one?
Mother: Diabolo? Isn't that a devil game? Why don't you get a book with your money instead? All these games are too violent.
Girl: But I want a game! Oh, I like this one, mommy! (Picking up a copy of Roller Coaster Tycoon.)
Mother: (sarcastic) Are you sure? But you don't kill anybody in this one. (Puts RCT back on the shelf, picks up a copy of Spider-Man 2.) How about this one? You can kill this guy on the box here.

Similarly, when my boyfriend showed his mother the gameplay in Animal Crossing, she said, "I bet nobody really plays this game. It doesn't have any shooting." It's a sad thing when the parents are so convinced that video games are bad, they go after the violent games because they can't think of games having any other appeal. Geesh.