Is the ESRB useless?

[salbarragan]

I think when I become a parent, that will matter to me somewhat. I will use it as a guide to help me decide if I should buy a game but I recognize that there are tons of great games that get those more mature ratings that I totally would let my kids play. Besides, the ESRB was made to keep stupid parent groups from trying to do something dumb like try to ban games entirely. It saved the industry when it was still young.

 

[Matu Flp Krwfe]

Nobody takes the ESRB seriously, I can't tell you how many games I've bought without even looking at that stupid rating.

First of all, you can't make a judgement about what everyone else does based on your own personal account without sounding like a presumptuous ass.

The E, T, or M rating are never brought up or pointed out. "Awesome gameplay, great graphics, but it's rated M so screw you if you can't buy it"

Secondly, are you seriously expecting IGN, for instance, to make a serious comment about the content of a game in relation to the demographics that may nor may not be able to handle it based on the particular views of those component individuals and/or their parents?

As much as you might think otherwise, internet critics are not your mother. Their job is not to tell you what you can or cannot play, but to give you a sense of what a game is like, much the same way ESRB does. It lets you know what you can expect from a game so you can go about your puchase, informed and, above all, satisfied that the product you are about to recieve meets the expectations you may have for what type of content is contained within. You may misconstrude that as some sort of ploy to shirk liability, but that is your own, demented, choice, much the same way that it is that 12 year old's parents choice to let him play a mature rated title.

They knew what they were getting their child into with that purchase, which is what the ratings system is there to ensure regardless of how folks like you on the internet try to fallaciously spin it.

 

[AncientYoungSon]

The ESRB protects gamers from a government-run institution that would impose its own values upon games.

A day doesn't pass when we shouldn't thank god (or the flying spaghetti monster) for the ESRB.

 

[shaboinkin]

It lets consumers make informed decisions about what they want to be exposed to.

WAITT!!!!!
Stop, think about what you just wrote. If you're from America, read that sentence, and think.
You should realize something is flawed in that statement lol

 

[Emphraim]

The ESRB protects gamers from a government-run institution that would impose its own values upon games.

A day doesn't pass when we shouldn't thank god (or the flying spaghetti monster) for the ESRB.

This is why it's good to have the useless ESRB. Everyone ignores the ESRB and plays whatever they want and the government has no reason to butt in and try to actually control gaming.

 

[MortisLegio]

yes, they dont do anything except give there opinion.
EXAMPLE
there were two games (both shooters) one was teen the other mature
the teen game had almost naked chicks,and F bombs
the mature game had blood spirt when someone got hit

how is this a fair system

 

[Knonsense]

I've not seen ESRB ratings for any arcade games. I don't think that they do that, probably because arcade games involve more than software.

Anyway, the ESRB, as a private ratings board, keeps the government from having an excuse to devise their own, though I'm not sure that it would be constitutional in the US. This fits my definition of working. After all, we know what it's like in Australia where corrupt, ignorant if not simply stupid politicians won't allow anything over a 15+ rating because "games are for kids."

It's not the job of the ESRB to force parents to do their job. That is called Child Services.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

The ESRB is just fine, and it works well. It's parents that are useless. They complain about violence in games, then they turn around buy their 5-year-old kid Grand Theft Auto. Somebody should smack some sense into them. Or muzzle them, either works.

 

[DoombladeGrimscythe]

honestly its always been up to the buyer to look into the game and decide whether or not purchase the game. The ESRB could be better, but its still atleast notifing people that take the time to look about the conent of the game, and decide what to get for thimself or thier kid. Honelst a lot of the stuff that we see in the games are on tv now, especially with the importing of anime to american shores now, much more violent and damaging programs can get into kids hands, cause cartoons are "for kids". if parents and stores don't bother to make sure that the game is ok to sell to the kid then the fault lies with them, not with the ESRB.

 

[Shepard's Shadow]

The ESRB and MPAA are a cancer to their respective industries. I think they should be gotten rid of entirely. Instead, their should just be stickers that say "This contains material not suited for all audiences", then have a list of the things that it contains, like violence, sex or language. Let the consumer decide if they want to purchase it or not.

 

[Veylon]

No, absolutely not. The purpose of the ESRB is to shield the gaming industry from the heavy hand of government regulation. It is doing that job admirably.

The job of protecting kids from harmful games belongs to the parents.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

there are a handful of parents who pay attention to it. There's just as many if not more who don't

 

[Perwer]

I've always thought of the ESRB as "only there for show". Somewhat of a "flameshield" for the gaming community. When people start complaining about how kids buy violent video games we can point and say: Look, we actually have a rating board called the "Entertainment Software Rating Board" to rate our games according to content. Gamestop can't sell Mature rated games to minors, and I think most parents do actually pay attention. However I think parents should pay more attention to the content itself instead of just looking at the age restriction. Not all kids are the same, and people don't just change into a pre fabricated person when they turn into a certain age (unless they're EMO).

 

[AdambotLive]

It's not useless, the system just doesn't work.

 

[Nmil-ek]

The ratings system fits its purpose just fine its the job of the parents to regulate and research what they want their children watching/playing and the job of store clerks not to sell things without parents consent. Im 20 now far past the point of caring about this subject (lets face it the majority who do care are either underaged or very underaged) however government enforced regulation is not the way to go either, I dont feel like stepping through lines of red tape or being subjected to ID checks for purchasing a game despite ebing well over the reccomended age due to "company policy sir" do you?

Parents need to wise up and check/decide what they want they're kids to see and when its right, though admittedly back when I was a kid we watched/played 18s but back then that was bloody Mortal Kombat, Aliens and Tenchu/the original GTA nowadays its stuff like Manhunt, Hostle and full HD blown out the arse gore and the like.

 

[Twilight_guy]

It's as useful as any other rating system. If you don't pay attention to it, of course it's not going to do anything. If, on the other hand, you understand what it means, then it can help you make informed decisions. It's like the movie rating system, except only a few people pay attention to it.

 

[UnravThreads]

The last I checked, at least in England, games are classified by two organisations. These are the BBFC and the PEGI.

The PEGI rating is a guideline, and gives a somewhat better idea of what's within the game. It's very similar to the ESRB, in that it's simply a guideline.

The BBFC rating is a legally enforced rating, and I believe it's against the law to sell a film/game with one of these ratings to people below the rating (e.g. a 15 year old cannot buy an 18 rated film).

Generally a game with a BBFC rating doesn't have a PEGI rating on the box, due to what I'd guess would be contradiction (BBFC has a 15 rating, PEGI has a 16+) which leads to confusion.

EDIT : Whoops, forgot to add my point. Yes, it's useless if you let it be, as is PEGI. If they legally enforced the ratings then it would probably see more use and have more understanding.

 

[dudeman0001]

I did a report on this once. The ESRB is an effective rating system, however the main problem is that many people don't use it. They either don't understand it or they just ignore it.

It's only useful for the people that use it. So the solution to the problem of young children playing inappropriate games is to encourage more parents to pay attention to it.

Friggin' Nancy Grace with her, loud annoying opinions. That's some pretty unprofessional journalism, it makes her come off as biased (which she probably is) I've never heard of anyone who actually prefers Namcy Grace over the other reporters.

 

[dudeman0001]

Oh ho! A fellow Pivot user! Any user of Pivot is a friend of mine!

As for this, no I don't think the ESRB is useless, it's better to have it than no rating at all. Granted, it's not very well regulated and implicated in certain games (Some games are questionably T and M rated really), but at least it's something to keep the parents from complaining, no matter how useless it actually is. It's as effective as movie ratings and such, it's only there to keep parents informed. At least, that's what they're supposed to do.

Pivot Avatars are for the win, I'm suprised I don't see more of them. Also PivotMasterDX got hacked...again, figured he woulda been more careful after the 1st time. and I have some Pivot videos up if you wanna take a look, I believe theres a link to them on my user page.

As for the ESRB, what I get from your post (and everyone elses) is that it's only useful if the parents are willing to abide by it...so it's pretty much useless.

 

[dudeman0001]

The ESRB is nothing more than the way for game developers to get past the legal border.

Or it could just be a system to inform the consumer about the type of product that they are about to purchase, much like a spec diagram on a pair of headphones.

Then again, that would be a series of paranoid delusions, now would it?

Nobody takes the ESRB seriously, I can't tell you how many games I've bought without even looking at that stupid rating. The E, T, or M rating are never brought up or pointed out. Very few game reviews actually mention, "Awesome gameplay, great graphics, but it's rated M so screw you if you can't buy it"

I actually saw a review just like that once for God of War.