Rating Game Content Here and Abroad

Gamespy has a piece on the game content rating systems across the globe. The article discusses both the actual systems used and the history of the choices made to shape them. From the article: "But the question now is: are these ratings effective? Most gamers would certainly agree that the ratings are accurate, and the majority of retailers do have rules against the sale of mature-rated games to children ... but it's always disheartening to see a mother buying GTA for her 10-year-old saying 'he'll just play it at his friend's house anyway.'"

Comments

Parental Purchases

[StingRay02]

but it's always disheartening to see a mother buying GTA for her 10-year-old saying 'he'll just play it at his friend's house anyway.

This idea is really starting to annoy me. Having worked in retail, I rarely had anyone purchase GTA for a minor. A simple phrase like "You do know that this game is rated M for extreme violence and sexual content?" worked just about every time. And the only times parents would buy the game for kids is with the line "We've talked about it, and I think he can handle it." I've never, in 3 years, heard "He'll just play it at a friend's."

Re:Parental Purchases

[Red Flayer]

"A simple phrase like "You do know that this game is rated M for extreme violence and sexual content?" worked just about every time."

Did I just hear you discourage someone from spending money in my store?

You're fired.

Seriously though, this is the kind of example that people outside the gaming community need to hear -- that individuals at retail establishments are making an effort to prevent kids from buying age-inappropriate content.

Re:Parental Purchases

[StingRay02]

Did I just hear you discourage someone from spending money in my store?

You're fired.

While I appreciate the humor, it actually works out in the retailers favor to be up front with them. It makes them more likely to come back to me for their kid's next purchase, since they know they can trust me to be honest with them.

And to any customer that asks me why I'd not want to make a $50 sale, I just tell 'em I don't want Jack Thompson suing me. They may not know who he is, but they understand lawsuits.

Re:Parental Purchases

[StingRay02]

I admit, twelve year olds still get their hands on GTA. In fact, once I saw a ten year old trying to buy Conker's Bad Fur Day. The cashier told the kid he had to have his parent buy it for him. The mother was seething when she came back to get it because she just didn't understand why she had to be the one to buy it. The cashier kept telling her it was because the came had incredibly adult content in it. That mother was the only one I've heard use the line "He plays it at his friend's houses." That was just stupid.

I think, though, that there's a big difference between that and parents feeling their kids are mature enough to handle a game. "He knows better" and "he can handle it" are, in my eyes, very different from "he'll just play it anyway." The first two show the parent at least pretends to understand what they're buying and understands they're kid, whereas the latter conveys a total lack of caring.

While I know there are parents out there that don't care, I think that phrase gets brought up in media far too often. It's a lot easier to villify the ratings and the industry by assuming all parents think they have no control.

Yeah, that's kinda irritating.

[Pichu0102]

The same soccer moms that eat every word Jack Thompson's ass spews out are the same ones saying "He'll just play it at a friend's house anyways."
Seriously, I once saw a 9 year old girl trying to get her mother to buy her GTA when I was buying a game, and I was disgusted.
The ratings are there for a reason. If the parents ignore the ratings, they should have no right to complain about their child.
However, if the child finds another way to obtain the game, the seller should be the one under fire, not the producer.
And this is coming from someone who hates most M rated games. I don't like them, but I'll be damned if someone else who is mature enough to play them is forbidden because some 5 year old shot someone after their mother bought GTA for them.

Please.

[trekstar25]

but it's always disheartening to see a mother buying GTA for her 10-year-old saying 'he'll just play it at his friend's house anyway.

You know what? That's not the game industry's problem. The ESRB does an excellent job of telling consumers what to expect from a game. If kids are still playing these games, it's the parents' fault. And TFA agrees:

It seems like no matter how many warnings you slap on the box, there will always be some parents willing to ignore them in order to appease their pleading youngsters. From that point on, the responsibility should lie solely with the parents who purchased the product -- and no amount of legislation upon the game industry can solve the social problem of poor parenting.

Very narrow definition of "abroad"

[KDR_11k]

The article is supposed to talk about the various rating systems out there but in the end it goes into details about the japanese system and describes the US system but when it comes to the rest of the world it's mostly done in two or three sentences. Almost as if they just knew something about the japanese system, wanted to write an article about rating systems and googled for five minutes for some rough information on the rest of the world and decided to describe the US system in detail as a filler (I thought "abroad" in this context means "non-US"?). I mean, hello, you have an entire article about the topic, why not go into details on the separate systems used in Europe or give examples of what games Singapore censores?

By the way, for a self-proclaimed major news site they take rather badly to a slashdotting.