Mobile Industry Rolls Out Game Rating System

alphadogg writes "Mobile telecom trade group CTIA and the Entertainment Software Rating Board will roll out a rating system for mobile applications similar to ratings on other electronic games, the groups announced Tuesday. Six mobile application storefronts will support the rating system and will roll out the ratings in the coming months, CTIA said. AT&T, Microsoft, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless are the founding members of the rating system." An opinion piece at Gamasutra points out that this initiative falls a bit flat without Apple or Google on board, since iOS and Android are so vital to the current mobile gaming industry. "In the long run, the ESRB/CTIA announcement could be another sign of shifting power in the gaming industry. Normally, the ESRB gets what it wants. But it has no leverage against Apple and Google."

Comments

Summary of the Ratings...

[ExploHD]

"It's as addictive as Angry Birds"
"It'll pass the time like Bubble Breaker"
"As fun as Snake"
"Sorry, you can't delete the Demo"

Because this system isn't working

[Zaldarr]

http://xkcd.com/937/

And then mobile gaming ground to a halt.

[Pichu0102]

Eventually people are going to want phone makers to make Ratings mandatory to get sold on app stores, and once that happens, you can say goodbye to cheap mobile games, or mobile games in general. Fees and having to wait for your game to be reviewed when hundreds of new games pop up in the review queue daily will bring mobile gaming to its knees.

Re:And then mobile gaming ground to a halt.

[LordLucless]

Eventually people are going to want phone makers to make Ratings mandatory to get sold on app stores

Except the phone makers don't have much leverage themselves (with Android). It's Google's system, and it's not like the phone makers are valued clients on fat contracts. Google can afford refuse them. With iPhone, it's even less likely, given that Apple has never given a stuff what anyone thinks.

Of course, with Android, even that doesn't matter, since the Android Marketplace is just one purveyor of apps among many - albeit, the default one.

Short a legal requirement forcing them to do so, I doubt Google or Apple are going to voluntarily start requiring ratings. It's a losing move for whoever does it first, for the reasons you pointed out.

Re:Doesn't Apple already have a rating system?

[Theophany]

Yep, and just like that 'mature content for persons over 17' warning, an ESRB warning will also be ignored by app purchasers.

The whole idea seems daft seeing as it cannot realistically be policed. The only example of policing consumer ages I've ever seen is a few sites that require consumers to send in a photocopy/email/fax of ID to confirm their age when buying alcohol online. I hardly think Google or Apple will decide they need to do this because somebody is trying to purchase Infinity Blade II or similar.

And, without forgetting the obvious example, there is Steam. Steam give such a massive shit about selling 18 rated games to minors. So much so that you have to enter your DOB before you can view an age restricted game; I'm sure age ratings were done with an honour system in mind. The local video game stores always assumed the fake beard I wore when trying to purchase Duke Nukem back in the day was real and definitely didn't ask me for ID.

Misleading Title

[Keyboarder]

The title should have been "ESRB Rolls Out Game Rating System For Mobile, Is Completely Ignored By Mobile Industry". Seriously! Neither Apple nor Google intend to support this thing, so it's pretty much dead in the water. This is before even considering the damage it would do to mobile gaming. I guess it wouldn't be the first /. title to be off.

Re:Misleading Title

[bberens]

Never underestimate the power of "THINK OF THE CHILDREN" marketing. It will take a while, maybe even a couple years, but a lobbyist and/or marketing firm will find some kid who played a violent video game and shoots up a school or sees porn or something and the media will get involved, there will be a Congressional hearing, and Apple/Google will cave.

Couldn't they just use the same ESRB system?

[game kid]

If this is just an application of the same ESRB ratings to mobile games (which is suggested with "The CTIA Mobile Application Rating System with ESRB will utilize the well-known and trusted age rating icons that ESRB assigns to computer and video games to provide parents and consumers reliable information about the age-appropriateness of applications." in the press release), then this doesn't warrant a story, as smartphones and their ilk are computers (however hobbled by their small form and bad service providers).

If they'll instead use a new set of rating categories or descriptors, then it's wasted effort, as they could've just applied the ESRB ones to these games since they're becoming more and more like computer and console games (partly because, well, smartphones are computers). In this case, it not only doesn't warrant a story but does warrant a point-and-laugh for the repetitive noobs they are.

Also, slapping A Capitalized Slogan(R) in front of your name more than once per page, as if to be part of it, is highly loathsome and annoying; and I want to physically harm whoever made "onboard" a verb.

Rating != ESRB rating

[tepples]

But "9+" isn't an ESRB rating and thus doesn't imply that the publisher paid the ESRB's fee, which can run into the hundreds of USD or thousands of USD.