The ESRB Gets An 'F'

GamePolitics reports on a failing grade given to the ESRB by the National Institute on Media and the Family. The report card did not look good for the ratings board, which almost immediately fired back at the organization. From that article: "The reality is that publishers understand that retailers largely choose not to stock AO-rated games, and so in the interests of producing marketable games, publishers will oftentimes revise and resubmit a game that was initially assigned an AO by raters in an effort to produce an M-rated game. When this happens, the process starts again from the beginning, and each new version of a game is reviewed independently. The call to issue more AO ratings has little to do with rating accuracy, and more to do with NIMF's real agenda, which is to destroy the commercial viability of games it deems objectionable. Unlike NIMF, ESRB's job is to be a neutral rater, not a censor."

Comments

I "hate" Christians...

[dada21]

...who spend their time on this garbage. I am a Christian myself. I know the NIMF isn't an openly religiously motivated group, but I see how churches support them.

[open rant]
These ratings are no replacement for parenting. Instead of wasting time complaining, work a few more hours a week and donate the money to your church marketing fund.

Stop trying to make non-Christians become like you by using the force of government or nanny groups. Instead, work within your group of Christians to help keep those kids moral and loved and ethical. Christian kids are the worst because their parents are blind to reality.

I hate my label as I'd never tell a non-Christian to stop swearing or stop drinking or stop screwing around or stop watching porn. I'd never use government or a nanny group to further a Christian agenda.

My job as the Bible mandates is to enforce responsibility in my brothers and sisters in Christ, and be a model for non-believers. I can not control a non-believer and using Caesar to do so is wrong.

Your job as a parent is to be involved 100% in your child's life. If you want a good Christian child, be a good Christian parent. Try to live sin free, and stop forcing your child to be perfect if you are not perfect yourself.

Mediawise in general

[Red Flayer]

I just gotta say, Mediawise's slogan ain't so bad:

"There's only one way to really know what video games your kids are playing
Be MediaWise®.
Watch what your kids watch. "

I don't understand... common sense?

Also, Mediawise's parent organiztion is the one that took extra pains to distance themselves from Jack, for the tactics he uses.

Interesting

[$RANDOMLUSER]

It says the board of the "National Institute on Media and the Family" is: David Walsh, Ph.D.; Douglas Gentile, Ph.D.; (his wife) Erin Walsh; Nat Bennett; Brad Robideau; (his daughter) Monica Walsh, MA; Sarah Strickland, David McFadden.

What are the odds?

Three ways that the government does it

[tepples]

It's only censorship when the government does it.

When

1. the municipal government's zoning board denies the right to use land for a video game store that sells AO games,
2. the government denies the right to advertise that a publisher publishes or that a store sells AO games (as happens widely in Europe), or
3. the government's patent office denies the right to make a console specifically for AO games,

then "the government does it". Now what point are you going to make in order to avoid the term "censorship"?

Re:Sheesh!

[AllahsAvatar]

Yes they did look at games.

FTFA: To illustrate the degree to which video games have become more violent, more sexual, and more crude we compared six M-rated games representative of those featured in report cards during the late 1990s to six M-rated games from 2004.

With such a large sample size, I can see how they have conclusive proof that the ESRB is not doing their job.