esrb-rating posts

The Entertainment Software Ratings Board's system to rate PC and video games has had its share of both praise and critisism over the years. Now the family gaming themed site What They Play is looking into what they see as a trend to put more adult content into games with the ESRB's "T" rating.

Specifically the article looks into the fact that in many "T" rated games the word "sh*t" is used more and more by game characters. Recent games cited as using the world include Wheelman, Mirror's Edge, Tom Clancy's HAWX and Tom Clancy''s EndWar. They also point out that in some of those games, the ESRB doesn't use the "Strong Language" description when it talks about the content of these games.

ESRB President Patricia Vance commented on this trend, saying, "There's no question that the average parent is sensitive to the language to which their children are exposed, just as they are to sexual or violent content. That's why one of our 'language' content descriptors will always be assigned to a T-rated game that contains profanity." It should also be noted that world "sh*t" has been used more and more in not just games but in movies and even on basic cable and broadcast television (remember that classic South Park episode?)

Earlier this week we reported that the House of Representatives in the Utah State Legislature had voted overwhelmingly to pass a bill that would allow game retailers to be sued by parents. The idea is that retailers who promote the fact they have game ratings enforcement systems for selling games to minors could be sued if they are found to violate their own policies.

Now one section of the game industry is fighting against the proposed law. The Entertainment Software Rating Board has issued an open letter to Utah's parents urging them to fight the bill's passage. Our sister site Joystiq reports that ESRB president Patricia Vance states the bill, if signed into law, " . . . would effectively penalize responsible retailers that have policies, and provide safe harbor for retailers that refuse to adopt a responsible policy in the first place. That is downright senseless."

Vance also says that a recent survey of Utah retailers show they enforce the sales of games with "M" rated content 94 percent of the time,". . . .without any laws or requirements that they do so." The bill now heads to the Utah State Senate for a vote in that legislative body.

The Entertainment Software Ratings Board is expanding how much information they give about the content of each game they rate for release in the US. Today the ESRB announced that in addition to the ratings themselves and brief content descriptions on a game's packaging, all games from July 1, 2008 will also have more detailed content descriptions listed on their web site at esrb.org.

You can see an example of such content summaries above, taken from the ESRB web site for the upcoming Eidos game Battlestations Pacific where it mentions things like images of "pin up models in lingerie and bikinis" showing up in the game. These summaries will also be used in the ESRB's PC widget program and on their newly launched mobile phone web site m.esrb.org. This new addition has received praise from former critics of the ESRB including US Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Joe Lieberman who stated, 'I applaud the ESRB for taking this proactive step to inform video game consumers."