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How the ESRB Rates Games
Ant writes "Joystiq mentioned a short Slate story on how the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) reviews and rates games. (Seen on Blue's News.)"
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Not based on content added/unlocked by modders of course!
No violence, swearing: For all
Violence, no blood, no swearing: 12
Violence with blood & swearing: 15
Extreme violence with blood & swearing: 18
Boobies: OH MY GOD 25 AT LEAST WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN??????
A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron Boiling.
[Thunder. Enter the three Witches.]
FIRST WITCH.
Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
SECOND WITCH.
Thrice; and once the hedge-pig whin'd.
THIRD WITCH.
Harpier cries:--"tis time, 'tis time.
FIRST WITCH.
Round about the caldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.--
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!
ALL.
Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and caldron, bubble.
And we all agree, rate this one E for Everybody!
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
This truly shows how the world has changed... but in a strange way. I'm sure everyone knows National Lampoons 'Vacation.' The movie was rated PG if I remember correctly. today, we are in a more liberal world with "sex, drugs and rock and roll" being more excepted... yet some video game ratings are getting people upset.
arl with a k - a blog of mine.
From the article
But by speaking with the raters in person, a company's representatives might learn, for example, that a particular character is probably a bit too busty for an "E."
Heck, a lot of the people on the street are a bit too busty for an E, so I guess we won't be seeing models like them in video games eh? This censorship must stop! We must stand up for the rights of well endowed computer generated game characters! Next they'll be picking on the over or underweight. Where will it end?
Okay, okay, it's a slow day...
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
Since when are bigger breasts considered to be offensive? Kids aren't supposed to know that some women have larger breasts than others? Are we really corrupting a kid's mind when he sees a sexy woman (not naked, not scantily clothed, just busty) in a game?
Same reason walmart won't stock music with a parental advisory sticker, doesn't sell Playboy at the magazine rack, doesn't carry NC-17 movies, etc.
Their corporate policy is to not stock things of poor moral value, and for the most part, it is pretty much limited to the previously mentioned items.
5 moderation levels saying which age is appropriate.
1. Is there sex (S) in it? If yes, 18+
2. Is there excisive violance (V) and S in it, well, 18+, V only no S 12+
3. Is there S,V and bad language (L) in it, 18+, L only is 6+
4. Is it all in another language than dutch (so subtitle bad language only): All ages.
5. Is it done by a famous actor/singer/director, then it must be art, so 12+ whatever happens (for example Spielbergs movie "Schindlers list", rated 12+)
In other words: How fine is the line which is being drawn?
What not mentioned factors in the article will take care that something can be broadcasted at prime time anyway?
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
You can buy games with an M rating at 17. You can buy games with an Adult Only rating at 18. Evidently, that one year that spans the junior and senior years of high school makes all the difference in the world...
I had always assumed it was in some kind of formula based on kick-backs and relation of the producers to the members of the board.
Philosophy.
I'm not saying that all Americans are uptight. However there is a certain skewed view of sexuality versus violence in America. GTA SA gets a M rating for shooting police officers but some think it should be rated OA because of sex? How can sex be more offensive than violence?
UNIX/Linux Consulting
Newsflash: When you own a corporation, you have a right to censor whatever you want inside the building. In other words, it's absolutely ridiculous to say that with disgust as if Wal*Mart is obligated to sell you anything.
...If the game industry did the honourable thing and gave a fair share of their profits to the hard-working, democratically elected politicians. In fact, not only would this not be a problem, but if they all did a quick whip-around, they could out-bribe Wal-Mart and get legislation in place to force those shelves to be full of AO-rated violent sex-fests. Heck, get EA Montreal to send down some of that primo mary jane they've been bogarting and Bam! - a new war is started in some piss-pot hellhole and EA has exclusive rights to all games based on the conflict.
Or, alternatively, someone could actually use their fucking mind in all of this and get a decent, well-enforced rating system in place so the vile opportunists that are advancing on this industry will get nothing out of their perverted actions.
This comment was formatted for readability, but I forgot the line break tags
So this a Slashdot article, linking to a Blue's News article, linking to a Joystiq article linking to a Slate article about the ESRB? Wow, it's like the internet version of telephone...
In defense of the ESRB it should be pointed out that the violence and criminal activity in GTA is quite cartoonish and stylized, and given the overall feel of the game (the exaggerated car crashes, the tounge-in-cheek storylines, the the fact that the main character cannot die, hijacking firetrucks and earning money by putting out burning cars and pedestrians, skydiving out of moving jetliners, etc), not meant to be taken seriously, and thus, cannot be seen as detrimental to sensitive minds.
Sex, on the other hand, even cartoonish, unrealistic sex, is, for whatever reason, still sex, and remains a hot-button (giggle) issue.
This is a general theme in human culture. Stylized violence has always been more mainstream than sex (check out old Samurai movies and TV shows - lots of violence, not much sex; Indian action movies - lots of gunfights and fistfights, no sex; cowboy movies, the Iliad, Norse sagas, violence yes, sex, hardly... the list goes on and on).
"Wal-Mart has Low Prices but high Morale standards; they are based out of Arkansas for Sam's sake."
You forgot low business ethics. The employee wages, and tactics against employee rights is far more offensive to me than violence, naughty words, and nudity.
Is there perhaps a (B) rating for Bukkake?
How about (IB) for "inadvertent bukkake"? -- that is, stuff that looks pornographic, but is innocent?
I just wish someone big (e.g. Rockstar Games) would go unrated on their next big hit, thereby making the ESRB superfluous. They'd have to decide to either be cowed or be irrelevant.
If a kid has access to a computer, he's got access to porn. ESRB ratings don't help one bit.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
Hillary comes home early from a hard days work. Bill is sitting naked on the living room floor, with PS2 game controler in one hand, and his [your name for shlong here] in the other
Hillary - Oh Bill, not again! WTF???
Bill - Oh uhh, baby it's not what it seems.
Hillary - Bill, you promised this wouldn't happen again. Where is she?
Bill - No, no, baby look. It's called a "video game" and you play it with this "video controler". Look baby, I got a thing called a "mod" and now I can have sex with girls, and I don't have to cheat on my wife!
Hillary - Well, let me see it.
---Hillary takes controller from Bill---
Hillary - Oh wow Bill, that is neat.
That's just the begining baby, look here, there's a secret code I can put in., U,D
---Bill grabs the controler back and taps in the following...---
L1,L1,L2,R1,X,TRIANGLE,L,U,R,D,L
The game pauses for a moment, then BOINK! A cigar appears in hand.
Hillary - What's that for?
Bill - Here baby, watch this....
Time is comparison of movement to other movement.
Violent video games (or god forbid sexually explicit video games) and dodgeball are the biggest problems facing the American youth of today, and both should be banned immediately.
Won't someone think of the children. Thank god for Hillary.
Laugh
You don't make the poor richer by making the rich poorer. - Winston Churchill
Then I realized it was just another mindless henai game. Blech. I guess I should have expected as much.
If only 18 games have been rated AO, that must mean that the vast majority of the hentai games made are never submitted. Which makes sense.
Ultimately, I think the AO designation isn't so scary in that sex is going to corrupt my children more than games where you can kill cops, it's that the game is likely to just be just plain bad, with `have sex!' being the attaction, and actual gameplay being an afterthought. (Though LSL:MCL isn't a great game, it's somewhat entertaining. Which is unusual for it's rating.)
Oh, now I get it. The latest Leisure Suit Larry must have two versions -- the standard `M' rated version, and the `Uncut and Uncensored' version, which is rated `AO' and probably removes the [censored] marks from the `M' version. Not sure why seeing Larry's schlong makes it adults only, but that's the ratings for you. [I must have seen the `M' version, though I've heard there's a patch for that ...]
I recall pulling out Virtual Valerie 2 at parties for shock value, but back then it was novel. Now it's just boring.
As for `Hot coffee', it actually fits into the GTA game. Yes, it's really poorly simulated sex (I've seen the movie of it) but it does make sense that the hero of the game might have a girlfriend, and might get to have sex with her. (It would make more sense if he at least pulled his pants down, however.)
It's pretty sad that this `easter egg' (one that can't even be accessed without jumping through some serious hoops) has upset all these people so much, so much more than things like getting points for beating a hooker and taking your money back after paying her ...
Actually, I think American lip-service to prudery is good thing. Sex leads to more people, violence leads to less people. (Unless it's violent sex. )
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
How about we put the burden of raising children on the parents who chose to had them. How about instead of futilely trying to childproof the world we let people decide for themselves and their own children what's appropriate.
If a kid has $50 bucks to blow on the new hotness their either have their parents permission (ill considered as it may be), too much for an allowance, gainful employment, or an entry level position in a criminal enterprise. None of these is the problem of developers or retailers.
Besides, none of the GTA games come close to the sex and violence of the bible. Babykilling and incest? Check. I want to see Rockstar do a Bible game like GTA, where you can wander around brutally killing and raping anything.
Typical. You mention factual statements and you get nailed as flamebait because it goes against the liberal /. groupthink. You should know better than to insult two prominent libs here.
... well, perhaps "on top of", "sex", and "Ashcroft" is not the best one-sentence combination to use, considering that he couldn't deal with a nude breast on a freakin' statue.
For those mods who clearly don't have a f*cking clue, Hillary (clearly not a conservative) is actively pursuing the current GTA3 situation and Tipper was one of the main activists who was responsible for the Senate hearings regarding language/violence/drugs in music several years back. I also need to remind the mods that the initial politician who raised a stink in order to impress his constituents is a democrat from California. So - karma be damned - will the GP and the idiot mod who nailed the parent with -1 Flamebait kindly get your heads out of your asses and tell me once again where conservatives are causing the problem with the GTA3 issue?
Whereas the republican side of the isle is known for their own bits of censorship, particularly where issues of morality come into play, the current GTA3 rigamarole has not been started and is not currently a molehill being made into a mountain by republicans or conservatives.
Now, if that moron John Ashcroft was still in office, then you liberal, knee-jerk reactionaries might have cause to bitch about conservatives. Ashcroft would have been on top of the sex issue like
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
So if Rockstar is responsible for content they removed which got revealed later (If you can't access it legally it's been removed from the game pretty much), why arn't they recalling all Disney DVDs like the adventurers which contain 1 cel which is pornogrphic.
Surely if they're going to flip out about a game made for mature people (18+ in the UK) seeing some woman on a poster with her tits out is MUCH worse because it's labeled PG. Little kids will never notice it just as most people would never have known of the mod if all this press didn't come out about it.
I finished GTA:SA last night and all I can think is "So the corrupt politicans want to hide the story of a corrupt cop getting his ass handed to him" when it comes to all this pointless censorship.
I like muppets.
if you take a step further by allowing corporations and businesses to censor certain products
It isn't something you "allow". The Constitution doesn't give you the right to *force* others to sell things they don't want to sell. If that bothers you then you can always start your own business to sell these things (and perhaps make a mint in the process).
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
So basically ESRB was completely vulnerable to gaming their particular system. Things have apparently changed and become much more thorough now, but theoretically if you sabotaged your own game so it wouldn't run, you could get them to assign you almost any rating you wanted just by answering their questions the right way. (Obviously getting an M game assigned a rating of E would be pushing your luck, but you might get it down from an M to a T.
-- Old Man Kensey
With respect to the overall topic, your statement is fair. I still consider that to be the same lines as the democrat from California -- Yees, I believe. "Let's make it look like I'm offended so that I can curry favor with the constituents."
/.
Still doesn't change the fact that the inital GTA stink was started by not one but two democrats and that the GGP is a knee-jerk reactionary who looks for any excuse (informed or otherwise) to slam conservatives.
Oh, well. Another day on
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Wow! If only parents took enough interest in their children to actually pay attention to what they are buying or playing at any given time, we wouldn't even need asn ESRB! Always trust your kids, and always check up on them!
erin go bragh!
In other words, it's absolutely ridiculous to say that with disgust as if Wal*Mart is obligated to sell you anything.
You're right. But if its such a problem for a game not to be sold by Wal-Mart, why the fuck do you let them get such a monopoly? Boycott them, downsize the lot.
"The more prohibitions there are, The poorer the people will be" -- Lao Tse
Right on. If you feel that way, you shouldn't shop there. Personally I'd rather pay higher prices at Target than Wal-Mart because a) the Targets in my area are well maintained, not dirty pits like the local Wal-Marts; b) Target pays health benefits, so I don't have to subsize worker visits to the ER with my tax dollars; c) Target has much cooler ads and merchandise, and you can occaisionally find something there that wasn't manufactured in China. I know, it's rare, but it happens.
Dude, I think I can see my house from here.
... a Oujia board?
A guy walks into a bar... well, I forgot the joke, but the punchline is that he's an alcoholic.
Ok I'll take a crack at this one.
First and foremost: this is purely an issue governed by religion, I think we can all agree about that. Religion has driven the whole "sex is evil" mindset for centuries upon centuries.
Next, and this is crucial: religion is about power. Control of the people. Note that sex within marriage (read as: within the confines of a relationship sactioned by aforementioned religion, and I'm not just picking on Christianity here) is not sinful so long as the purpose of sex is procreation (the expansion of the religion's population). Only sex outside of marriage is evil, because this results in babies who might grow up free, outside the indoctrination rituals and practices of the religion.
Violence is only sinful if it is, again, without the sanction of the religion. If you are committing acts of violence in the name of the church (or whatever god the church is about), you're lionzed.
Thus we have today's typical religious culture: don't have sex unless you're approved to do so by your church.
It's not a lie. It's the truth with lossy compression.