ESRB Now Auto-Rates All Downloadable Games By Computer

[JDKJ]

So effectively developers are rating their own games?

WTF??

It's been like that for a while. Just like the the MPAA works with the movie studios to ensure that their films avoid the kiss-of-death "R" rating.

Weird the opposite is true with games.

Kinda.

The M-rating literally translates to an R-rating but all the biggest selling games seem to actively target an M-rating unless they are going for an ultra-casual audience.

It's shame that movies pander so much to PG-13 but it was inevitable considering all 25-40 year olds got home theatre systems and the tweens and young families began flocking to the cinema.

I hate going to the cinema now, not because films are generally crap but because everywhere I see nothing but roving gaggles of young teens and families with younger kids. And of course they are all as noisy, obnoxious and smelly as hell. That and the TINY SEATS! I'm only 6'2" and I have to always stretch my legs into the aisles or practically pull my knees to to my chest. These seats are kids sized.

Though this is in the UK. We even have a new rating pandering to PG-13, called 12-A (must be 12+ or accompanied by parent) and I find hardly any of my favourite films have come out in the past 10 years, and most of those are not from the Hollywood style movie system but more obscure DVD imports.

Cinema has not grown up with me.

Video game however I think have matured with me. Not sure how to argue for that.

I think the ESRB "AO" rating is more aking to the MPAA's "R" rating. Perhaps not in terms of age in a straight up comparison but in terms of the effect on the products profitability. Get an "R" rating from the MPAA and you lose the kiddie market. Get an "AO" rating from the ESRB and no major retailer will carry your game and you lose the Target-Best Buy-WalMart market. But I could be wrong. The intricacies of marketing games ain't my forte. Women in need of good lovin' is my forte. : P

M is equvilant to R

There is a rating NC-17 that is the kiss of death for movies

I can't dispute that. Whaddo I know? All the movies I ever rent are found in that lil' room in the back behind the beaded curtain. : P

just sorta found it odd how you think R movies never get seen
90% of what movie bob reviews is rated R

That wasn't what I was saying. What I was saying is that the more audience-inclusive PG-rating is much more desirable to the movie studios than an R-rating. An R-rating makes it difficult for the movie to do well at the box office. It may not be a real "kiss of death" but it ain't what the studios like to see. It's not unheard of that a studio will re-edit a movie in order to get a PG-rating from the MPAA if they got an ""R" the first time around. The bulk of the movie-going demographic (just like the record-buying demographic) is centered around teens and tends to fall off quickly once you hit the twenty-somethings. In fact, of the Top Ten grossers in 2010, more than half of them were kiddie-animation movies like Shrek Forever After, How to Train Your Dragon, and Despicable Me or guaranteed kid-pleasers like Harry Potter and the Whatever We're Up to Now. That's where the money is: with the kiddies. Not with the R-rated movies. In fact, of the Top Ten, only two were rated "R": Alice in Wonderland and Inception. And even Alice in Wonderland has a lotta "kid appeal."

 

[Frizzle]

So this is what I read: The ESRB is doing electronic and automatic ratings because it's cheaper than hiring more people to check games, and they can't check the games with their current staffing. But after the game comes out, we're gonna have someone check it anyway.

So we're in essence wasting *more* money to develop a survey that is just, in essence, a way to let more time pass before someone checks it like they already do.

Love government.

 

[JDKJ]

So this is what I read: The ESRB is doing electronic and automatic ratings because it's cheaper than hiring more people to check games, and they can't check the games with their current staffing. But after the game comes out, we're gonna have someone check it anyway.

So we're in essence wasting *more* money to develop a survey that is just, in essence, a way to let more time pass before someone checks it like they already do.

Love government.

In a weird way, you make a good a point: if the ESRB is gonna check out the game once it's been released to make sure that the developer didn't lie to them, then they should just not rely on the truth of what the developer tells and do their check in the front end of the process. The process is kinda ass-backwards.

FYI, the ESRB is a private entity. It's in no way government-based.

 

[direkiller]

So this is what I read: The ESRB is doing electronic and automatic ratings because it's cheaper than hiring more people to check games, and they can't check the games with their current staffing. But after the game comes out, we're gonna have someone check it anyway.

So we're in essence wasting *more* money to develop a survey that is just, in essence, a way to let more time pass before someone checks it like they already do.

Love government.

In a weird way, you make a good a point: if the ESRB is gonna check out the game once it's been released to make sure that the developer didn't lie to them, then they should just not rely on the truth of what the developer tells and do their check in the front end of the process. The process is kinda ass-backwards.

FYI, the ESRB is a private entity. It's in no way government-based.

i imagine there going to check it if they get some sort of complaint about it. If theirs no issue with it they will leave it where it is

 

[Frizzle]

So this is what I read: The ESRB is doing electronic and automatic ratings because it's cheaper than hiring more people to check games, and they can't check the games with their current staffing. But after the game comes out, we're gonna have someone check it anyway.

So we're in essence wasting *more* money to develop a survey that is just, in essence, a way to let more time pass before someone checks it like they already do.

Love government.

In a weird way, you make a good a point: if the ESRB is gonna check out the game once it's been released to make sure that the developer didn't lie to them, then they should just not rely on the truth of what the developer tells and do their check in the front end of the process. The process is kinda ass-backwards.

FYI, the ESRB is a private entity. It's in no way government-based.

i imagine there going to check it if they get some sort of complaint about it. If theirs no issue with it they will leave it where it is

From the article: "The new plan calls for an ESRB employee to check a game after it's publicly available to ensure that the publisher was forthright with its survey submission."

If the intent is to wait until someone complains, then that's different, but I'm only going by what I'm reading here.

JDKJ: Apologies. I wasn't aware the ESRB was private. Even so, this makes less sense from a business standpoint unless they're just gonna wait for a complaint like Direkiller said.

 

[JDKJ]

So this is what I read: The ESRB is doing electronic and automatic ratings because it's cheaper than hiring more people to check games, and they can't check the games with their current staffing. But after the game comes out, we're gonna have someone check it anyway.

So we're in essence wasting *more* money to develop a survey that is just, in essence, a way to let more time pass before someone checks it like they already do.

Love government.

In a weird way, you make a good a point: if the ESRB is gonna check out the game once it's been released to make sure that the developer didn't lie to them, then they should just not rely on the truth of what the developer tells and do their check in the front end of the process. The process is kinda ass-backwards.

FYI, the ESRB is a private entity. It's in no way government-based.

i imagine there going to check it if they get some sort of complaint about it. If theirs no issue with it they will leave it where it is

According to the article, the "plan calls for an ESRB employee to check a game after it's publicly available to ensure that the publisher was forthright with its survey submission." It doesn't sound as if they do it rare cases but, rather, in every case. Which, if so, makes no sense whatsoever. Unless the sense lies in not making the publisher have to wait for a review before they can release.

EDIT: ninja'd

 

[A Tasty Burger]

I haven't looked at a video game rating to decide whether or not I could play it since I was 12. This isn't a big deal at all.

 

[fulano]

Anyone know if the questionaire is floating around the interwebs somewhere? I wanna know if it is something broad, or if it includes something specific for a game about cockroach rape while swimming in a puddle of mustard.

Just saying, you never know what kind if weird things people concoct...

 

[Chris646]

It's fine by me. The ESRB is stupid a lot, so this could be good.