Recent content by Sara Grimes

Mine's just a picture of me :)

Very thoughtful analysis MovieBob! As a longtime fan of vampire fiction, I thought for sure that I'd get into the series along with everyone else. I'm usually a very generous reader/viewer and can get a kick out of a very broad range of media, both thematically and quality-wise. After reading...

The current trends really do seem to be driven by shifting norms in parenting, along with ever mounting (and arguably quite distorted) fears about abductions, accidents, bullies, etc. A big part of the problem is definitely about the allocation of space and the lack of "playable" spaces. And...

The Hidden Playground When you're a kid, there's nothing quite like playing outside. Yet kids today have fewer opportunities to engage in unsupervised outdoor play than ever before. Sara Grimes looks at how games can encourage kids to experiment and explore - both in game worlds and outside...

I ran out of time to read through the last batch of comments - but want to thank you all again for making this such a heated and informed debate. I also wanted to point those of you who offered up some 'solutions' during our initial exchange to a blog post i wrote about the article and...

While you're very right that self-regulatory is not the equivalent of governmental regulation, there is nothing about the term itself that necessarily implies the later. I'm certainly not convinced that the term "regulator" can't apply to self-regulatory boards and industry self-regulation, nor...

Cut and paste from http://www.esrb.org/ratings/faq.jsp#1 What is the ESRB? The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a non-profit, self-regulatory body established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), formerly known as the Interactive Digital Software Association...

So clever. What would you think if the system also enabled users to actively submit their content for some sort of peer-reviewed or moderator rating? For instance, if you think your game level should be rated E, you could flag it so that it gets some special (or more immediate) attention -...

Fair enough - but is that really what's happening here? In terms of the 3 points you've listed... 1) ok, but how does this provide evidence to refute the proposition that as an increasing number of games feature content that is not rated, and as an increasing proportion of individual game...

Hmmm - are you gleaning this from the forum posts, or from the article? Because my article merely addresses the ways in which the ESRB has elected to respond or not respond to new developments in game design and game culture, and the future relevance of its existing ratings system... I am...

The ESRB does claim to require COPPA compliance (that rule about collecting or displaying personal info of people younger than 13), but it's not clear how this factors into their E and E10 ratings. Actually, VanityGirl, I think that this is what a lot of online games have decided to...

Also thinking along those lines (reviewing moderation) - this type of discussion wades a bit too far into speculation for what i had in mind for this article, but i am well aware that outlining solutions is much more helpful than providing criticism alone. but I suppose the point of the article...

So true. What do you think of the possibility of reviewing the moderation and screening systems? If not the ever changing content, then what about the mechanisms in place to filter out certain words, actions, content forms, etc. I haven't spent much time thinking through the solutions...a major...

@karkashan i'm of the mind that kids shouldn't be banned from online experiences just because they need some extra protection and consideration. there are already a large number of developers putting considerable effort into making their online interactions kid-safe... it might not always be...

@Virgil I completely and utterly agree - had I more space in the article the mobile game/direct download issues and the indie game issues would have appeared alongside the others. The indie games industry is a particularly excellent example of what can happen in a post-ESRB landscape. For years...