ESRB at it's worst...

[Kadoodle]

What's wrong with informing parents of a game's content? I for one support the ESRB. Being that I'm older than 18, I couldn't give two shits what they rate games. Not like they keep them from coming out.

the thing is, they give misleading information to overprotective parents. They make a game seem like a threat to their child, regardless of the reality.

 

[Kadoodle]

Mass Effect... You'll see more adult content in a childrens book.

I would think it was all the combat and mature story themes that pushed it to an M-rating.

Anyways, I don't understand the OP here. The ESRB is the single most successful ratings system out there, and I can think of maybe a handful of games that were rated harsher than they deserved. Reading the detailed descriptions for each game, it's blatantly obvious to me that the ESRB knows what the hell its talking about and is staffed by people who actually give a damn.

Never mistake success for quality.

 

[Kadoodle]

....what?

MW2 featured tons of scenes that made it deserving of its rating, being burned alive is a fine example, impaling a mans eye with a knife is another. EDIT: ah yes, and the mowing down of Civilians in an airport, Ho Ho Ho, how could i forget that scene of sunshine and rainbows?

You want a proper example for the ESRB's occasional fuck ups? Borderlands, but even that has a man being killed and spining upside down from his ceiling fan so even then i can see why it gained its 18 rating. I have no problem with the ESRB, its a fine rating system under pressure from a cultural enviroment that has yet to accept gaming totally as simply entertainment.

i would rather the ESRB come down hard on the ratings than allow little timmy to buy a violent game that brings yet more flak on the gaming industry because the violent video game was a 15 instead of an 18.

You are right about the airport level. I overlooked that part. But being burned alive...or killin a guy with a knife through the eye as you are in a last stand? those two could be featured in a pg-13 movie.

 

[mParadox]

which means that the ratings of movies are becoming lenient so that the movies can target a larger audience. You can't compare the two mediums. ESRB is great at what it does. And it ain't ESRB's fault that parents buy such games for their 12 year old kids. Parents are to blame. =S

violence is the natural order of life? That is not a good excuse. Just b/c it is doesn't mean that kids should be exposed to it.

 

[Kadoodle]

It doesn't necessarily mean that movies are more lenient. it could mean that games are more stringent. Movies are already as broad as they are going to be, and videogames are still expanding, yet ESRB seems to hold things back by freaking parents out. The problem is that the ratings system is too vague, and can be misleading.

 

[mParadox]

Look at the fact that you are the player therefore it is, for intents and purposes, you who is killing and murdering the NPC's.

In games, you more or less control the outcome but in movies, it is already set and well, that can be easily censored.

A person is very much aware of what he/she is doing in a game and in some cases, they actually come to believe that they can do what they do in games in real life.

Except people also tend to forget that there is no reset button. =/

 

[Kadoodle]

Look at the fact that you are the player therefore it is, for intents and purposes, you who is killing and murdering the NPC's.

In games, you more or less control the outcome but in movies, it is already set and well, that can be easily censored.

A person is very much aware of what he/she is doing in a game and in some cases, they actually come to believe that they can do what they do in games in real life.

Except people also tend to forget that there is no reset button. =/

This happens quite infrequently. Everyone got all obsessed over the case about the guy who went and shot some cops because of GTA 3, but not much else has happened. Besides, if the idiots go get themselves killed over a game, then i guess its survival of the fittest, no?. I'd also like to say that many games are linear. You control what happens, but the ending remains the same. So they can be very much like movies.

 

[mParadox]

Ah but that makes parents complain doesn't it? And under the pressure ESRB has to comply.

And yes, games do have the same endings but b4 the ending, i.e. the entire game, you can shoot whatever wherever.

 

[Bravo315]

They gave Halo 2 on the PC a "sexual content/partial nudity" warning.

Why did they give it this warning? Because of Cortana. Yes, that is the only reason. At least for the partial nudity part. The sexual content may be referencing the part of the multiplayer where you hump corpses.

I have no idea if this has anything to do with it, but in an early version, if a ".ass" custom map file had an error, there was a popup of a guy from Bungie mooning which caused some delays in the game.