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Parents Agree With ESRB Ratings
Gamespot reports that a study funded by the ESRB found that parents generally agree with the ESRB's ratings. From the article: "The study was conducted over 11 days in October, and included more than 400 parents. Each participant was shown footage from eight random games out of a pool of 80 titles rated by the ESRB within the last year. Each parent was asked to rate the game, then told what the actual rating was and asked to rate the rating as 'about right,' 'too strict,' or 'too lenient.'"
Parents who don't involve themselves in their kids lives still attempting to blame society for not raising their kids properly. Lawyers are still fat and happy with irresponsible parents, no plans for change.
"Don't feel bad for me child; I'm the monster that hides under your bed."
Not the solution either.
Seems mostly like people that the ratings are designed for, i.e. the ones that don't care to look into whether a game is appropriate for their kids or not, aren't looking at the ratings anyway.
I was talking to another parent about video games, and they were surprised by all the stuff that was in GTA. I asked them if they knew the game was rated M, and they said they didn't.
It seems to me that my kid looks at the ratings more than I do. He knows if he asks for a game that's rated M he's probably not going to get it.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Wouldn't a more accurate headline read "ESRB say parents agree with them"? Is anybody shocked by this? Seems to be as obvious as Microsoft saying that Windows is better than Linux. Also:
Isn't this entirely dependent upon what footage from the games is shown? And isn't that choice made by the ESRB? So can't they produce whatever conclusions they like? Violent game rated as suitable for children? Show the parents footage from a particularly mundane part of the game.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
But... will that stop them from complaining about all the sex and violence in video games?
I doubt it. They'll still go after the game developers, even though it plainly says "M" on the box... when there's a simple solution: don't buy it for your kid if you think it's too violent. Just because it exists doesn't mean you need to buy it.
In short: Stop blaming others and start taking responsibility as a parent.
Except good parenting will curb those desires and keep them at least within healthy levels.
And I think you will find that most teens (at least that I knew) sexually experimented far less, and intoxicated themselves far less then they wanted to. Due to a combination of non-oblivious parents, laws, girls not experimenting with them, and a sense of responisbility.
Believe it or not, it is harder for a teen to get an R rated movie than a PG 13 one, and harder to get a beer than a coke. It is moving that way with games too.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
Yes, parents are still responsible for reading the game box. But that doesn't negate the need for this kind of study.
The point here is that Jack Thompson and several California congresspeople have been hemming and hawing for the past few months that the ESRB isn't doing its job - basically claiming that, since the board is controlled by the industry, there is incentive for them to put more kid-friendly ratings on mature games. They even proposed creating a government committee to do its job instead, although that part of the law never made it into the final draft.
Now, to you and me, it's blindingly obvious that the ESRB is doing nothing of the sort. Violent titles have a "M" on the box for a reason. But some people don't bother looking at the evidence, or they actually want to believe that all the game companies are evilly trying to corrupt our youth. The ESRB is just trying to dispel the myth that they are intentionally using the wrong ratings. Maybe once that issue is cleared up, our policymakers can get back to debating actual issues instead of wildly gesticulating toward some vague conspiracy theory.