ESRB Defends Dead Island Logo Decision

[Irony's Acolyte]

Eh, I'm not too upset by this request. It does make sense that the game would be seen by alot more people then those who play it and wouldn't sit well with some of them. Plus, it's just the box-art, they aren't changing the game itself, so it's really not that big of a deal.

 

[LadyMint]

As much as the ESRB makes me roll my eyes most of the time, this time I think what they're doing is reasonable. They're just changing the box art, the original logo will still be in the game once you take it home and turn it on.

 

[Jaded Scribe]

Ok, I think this is blown a little out of proportion.

They are changing nothing about the game, just the box art. To be fair, as mentioned in the article, the box is seen by people of all ages whether they buy the game or not.

Seeing a hanging body could be upsetting for any number of reasons (cultural implications, suicide of a loved one, etc).

A small change to the box art, and players of the game still get everything they were expecting in the game itself (including the original logo), but people who don't want to see that kind of thing (or young children) aren't hit with it when they're browsing games.

 

[max3000]

...gone mad. Sigh.

Let's deal with this outrageous disgusting profanity next:
http://www.featurepics.com/FI/Thumb300/20100405/Hangman-Help-1503719.jpg

I mean, someone might get seriously offended, even internally injured.

[http://img146.imageshack.us/i/hangmanhelp1503719.jpg/]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us [http://imageshack.us]

Also yes, I registered just to post that.

 

[Stevepinto3]

It's true, a man hanging from a tree would be very offensive and disturbing. The silhouette of a reanimated corpse feasting on the flesh of the living is much more wholesome.

Sorry, just had to say it.

 

[Palwador]

I wonder what kind of people that is censoring these things. In my eyes these things like the hanging body, and missing fingers are not offending anyone.

I think they just do it to annoy. it feels that way, atleast...

 

[McNinja]

If it's displayed publicly then it should be changed if they feel it's for the better. There's nothing wrong with that. The logo is still in the game itself, everybody is happy in this situation.

I dislike seeing public box art that has some graphic content on it, I feel it gets out of hand at times, there are plenty of other ways to sell your game. They've done the right thing with this game.

This.

There's difference between changing box art and changing in-game content. One is fine, the other is not.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Dear ESRB,

You are rapidly becoming a contender to PETA in the contest for "Stupidest company to be involved in games". If you do not want this shameful title, than please stop this idiocy now.

Thank You.

 

[Something Amyss]

For the land of the free, you guys sure do have some odd fine print when it comes to these things.

They're free to publish it how they please. The eSRB is not a government agency, nor do they actually mandate these changes.

 

[BX3]

Well, the censor is understandable. Hell, i support it. I'm not giving the game may business, but that doesn't mean the company should be hosed for the potential s--t storm that the logo could cause with people whose minds seem to be fixated on the past. We gamers have enough PR problems.

What does bugs me is the lack of consistency. As stated, Indigo Prophecy, L4D and Dead Space were all visually graphic and nothing negative came of those. Also I don't want to hear about "girth and width" pills on the radio when I'm riding in the car in the middle of the day with my parents, dammit! (Yeah, I know the ESRB have nothing to do with that, but it's always been my belief that companies' censorship policies should atleast try to pay attention to eachother, otherwise the censor makes no sense.).

 

[jawakiller]

For the land of the free, you guys sure do have some odd fine print when it comes to these things.

Haha, no kidding. I don't get what the big deal is? Its not outrageously violent, hell I could draw a better picture than that. But when they said the original L4D2 game cover had a two digit hand I was like >.< WTF?! That would have been frickin awesome. Censorship sucks.

 

[Ickabod]

Let the ESRB do their job and support them. If we don't then the government will step in saying that the ESRB isn't doing their jobs, and then comes the censorship.

 

[Quazimofo]

Dead Space has a cut off arm floating in space. People didn't seem to complain then

on the box its busting out of the ship.
i kinda see the reason behind this though. since its true that many more than the people who will buy the game will see the box art, so i can understand how they don't want the box art to be THAT graphic, and considering the change is minor, and the in game logo will be the same, i dont see any real reason why this is a particularly bad thing.
not to mention america has an iffy past with people hanging from trees, not trying to be racist im just saying. i live in america and my dad's side of the family is black, and we learn much about this in us history classes so yeah, not a racist, but some people will remember that shit, and take offense, and sue, because thats how america works.

 

[Thyunda]

I dunno, I liked the old box art. It was different. More powerful than a zombie. Dead man hanging from a tree - that's a powerful image. Has a haunting feel about it. Definitely give the game a different feel, a kind of emotional horror tone.

A zombie shambling forward? Wow. So original. I have never seen a game with zombies shambling forward before. Just that one little change remodels the entire feel of the logo from 'tragic horror' to 'zombie-fest'

 

[lord.jeff]

As I said in the other thread:

THE ESRB HAS 0 LEGAL POWER OVER GAMES!

What "guidelines" are they talking about? I have NEVER once heard of them, has anybody else? No?

I want to see the damned microscopic particles of these mythical "industry guidelines"

From the site:

In fulfilling a key aspect of the self-regulatory mission of the ESRB, the Advertising Review Council (?ARC?) is responsible for the implementation, administration, and enforcement of advertising guidelines adopted by the interactive entertainment software industry. The following ARC Principles and Guidelines for Responsible Advertising Practices (the ?Principles and Guidelines?) apply to all ?qualifying advertising? for games rated by the ESRB, and all publishers utilizing ESRB ratings are legally bound to comply with the guidelines and to ensure compliance by their co-publishers, licensee, agents and/or other third parties authorized in connection with the development, creation, distribution or placement of qualifying advertising. Failure to comply with ARC requirements can result in points, corrective actions, and monetary fines.

Link:

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/principles_guidelines.jsp



The rules been around for awhile, it's just being enforced now. Probably because if games put on a nice front, saying look we care about the children, games well get less crap from congress and then can get away with more in games, which is far more important then some changes to box art that can just get put on the manuals cover instead.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

As I said in the other thread:

THE ESRB HAS 0 LEGAL POWER OVER GAMES!

What "guidelines" are they talking about? I have NEVER once heard of them, has anybody else? No?

I want to see the damned microscopic particles of these mythical "industry guidelines"

From the site:

In fulfilling a key aspect of the self-regulatory mission of the ESRB, the Advertising Review Council (?ARC?) is responsible for the implementation, administration, and enforcement of advertising guidelines adopted by the interactive entertainment software industry. The following ARC Principles and Guidelines for Responsible Advertising Practices (the ?Principles and Guidelines?) apply to all ?qualifying advertising? for games rated by the ESRB, and all publishers utilizing ESRB ratings are legally bound to comply with the guidelines and to ensure compliance by their co-publishers, licensee, agents and/or other third parties authorized in connection with the development, creation, distribution or placement of qualifying advertising. Failure to comply with ARC requirements can result in points, corrective actions, and monetary fines.

Link:

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/principles_guidelines.jsp



The rules been around for awhile, it's just being enforced now. Probably because if games put on a nice front, saying look we care about the children, games well get less crap from congress and then can get away with more in games, which is far more important then some changes to box art that can just get put on the manuals cover instead.

Well:

What would happen if the dev team just said "no"?

Unlike in ausstriala, a game is not banned if it doesn't get rated, because the esrb is legally required to rate all games, not the other way around where all games are legally required to have ratings.

All it says is "points, corrective actions, and monetary fines".

I have no clue what points mean, monetary fines still don't ensure a dev complies, and what is the ESRB gonna do if they don't allow corrective actions to be taken?

 

[emeraldrafael]

I wonder if the term "lynching" and reference to the south and how black people were lynched back when it was the cool thing to do.