Age ratings

[Dom Camus]

The purpose of the ESRB is to attempt to avoid the creation of a government-run ratings body which would be even more ignorant and likely engage in the kind of de-facto censorship seen in Germany and Australia.

If rating systems have a useful role to fill - which they potentially do in terms of informing would-be purchasers what kind of content to expect - they certainly aren't filling it at the moment. Ratings obsess over utterly pointless factors like blood and exposed breasts which really aren't going to have the slightest effect. At the same time games are full of ambient sexism, racism, size prejudice, political content and all sorts of similar things which ratings completely ignore but which are far more likely to actually have some impact.

 

[ultimasupersaiyan]

I live in Australia and I find the OFLC who rate the games here to be idiots! Now I'm 23 and I play almost any game that I see on the shelves and some games aren't rated properly! Sonic Unleased has a G rating which is for everyone yet it's violent enough to warent a PG in my opinion, yet Sonic The Hedgehog got a PG and wasn't as violent in comparison. Another example of the OFLC's stupidity is they banned Silent Hill: Homecoming and thats nothing compared to both Left 4 Dead and Dead Space! I honestly think that no game should ever be banned, just put in the back room of a store until someone proves their age (with a birth certificate or 100 points of I.D). Also if it is considered too extreme for even adults why don't they fine these companies that make them? If I was a game rater I would fine a company if I ever found a game too extreme for any audience(which I never will!). Ratings are there to help parents choose games for children yes, BUT I say that parents need to play these games before they let there kids play them! My mother who is now 51 played the games she bought for me and my siblings (back when I was around 6 til I got my own income) before she gave them to us to make sure it was appropriate for our age because she knew that she could return it if it was bad for us and she is a GOOD parent who CARES about what her children were exposed too, plus she hates the news because it's bad for kids to watch for the most part. This is why I also suggested (and got ignored) that any place that sells games should give out free demo discs of games to parents to try these games out.

 

[Dys]

In general, yes.
Your average 12 or 13 year old should not be playing an ERSB M rated game alone. The majority of them simply are not mature enough. While many parents may overestimate their childs maturity, it should still be the parents decision to act based on the ratings, as they are ultimately recommendations. People under the listed age should not be allowed to purchase/rent the game in question.

That said the rating system is a little problem, and I pretty much agree with Dom Camus saying they largely miss the point in terms of the content they rate harshly, but it does put some of the responsibility back on the parents. It should never have been shifted to begin with.