Poll: A New Ratings System

[XSA37]

Recently, the ESRB and other Regional ratings boards have come under a lot of heat both from outside press agencies and by the gaming community itself. People are accusing the agencies of slapping a random letter or age on the front of the game and leaving it up to the parents to decide what to buy their kids.

So here is what I propose; we should stop putting letters or ages on the front of games. Instead the sticker on the bottom of the Game's cover should list what is in the game. (And yes, I know that what a game has is listed on the back, but how many people have actually seen a parent look at that list when purchasing a game.) This way, maybe parents would actually chance a look both at a bigger sticker and at what a game really features before letting their children purchase a game inappropriate for their age level.

Finally, when it comes to allowing people to purchase a game, employees of the game selling company should be alerted, either by the computer software that they use to ring up the games, or by being told, as to what games they should card for. I think that by implementing this system we can do a few things. We can:

-- Stop from having complaints about 12 Year Olds ruining online multiplayer
-- Stop the news media/politicians from blaming violent videogames on murders and other crimes committed by people with obvious underlying psychological issues

I do know, however, that nothing anybody does can help the problem go away forever, but maybe we can try to make a difference.

 

[Pandalisk]

a parent doesnt need a bigger sticker, they need to get some responsibility, the ERSB have a fine rating system already to be honest, Its being flamed by the media and the like because it is an extention of gaming, and lord knows gaming is satanic.

and your second point cant be implemented, i bought games underaged all the time, the guy even knew my age, my family buys alcohol underaged too, so really you cant garentee it will work, but it would be good to shove it in the face the media that there was a system in place to stop it and the store failed to uphold it, but thats hurting us anyway if its a store like Game.

what needs to happen is people need to mellow the fuck out about these things and parents need to take control more.

 

[XSA37]

I agree that parents need to take more responsibility, but I think that the only way we can do this is to get them to actually look at a game. Seriously, I can't count the times that my mom bought me a game without even looking at the rating.

 

[VeX1le]

3rd esrb/rating thread ive seen well anyway is it the childs fault? no they just want to play games the parents just dont give a damn and buy it. and there are only so few children that will not fucking shout in the mic. oh and if the new system is inplanted what about the old games? will they change all the ratings of every single copy of say Halo 3? and what about te games already bought

 

[QuirkyTambourine]

I'd like to see a sensible, objective, honest breakdown of a game's content.

Like GTAIII for example "Sure it's violent as all get out, and there's a lot of mature themes, but it's not any worse than most rated R movies, let your kids play this if you think they're mature enough for an exceptionally violent movie. Otherwise, perhaps you want to shelve this for a few years"

That's what I'd like to see, an honest breakdown of the game's content so PARENTS can decide.

 

[XSA37]

I'd like to see a sensible, objective, honest breakdown of a game's content.

Like GTAIII for example "Sure it's violent as all get out, and there's a lot of mature themes, but it's not any worse than most rated R movies, let your kids play this if you think they're mature enough for an exceptionally violent movie. Otherwise, perhaps you want to shelve this for a few years"

That's what I'd like to see, an honest breakdown of the game's content so PARENTS can decide.

The only place you would get that is in a Review. No game company is going to risk sales by slapping that on the front of their box, and I don't think the ESRB would get that specific.

Edit: I would like to see that though. It would make for a bit more information.

 

[QuirkyTambourine]

I'd like to see a sensible, objective, honest breakdown of a game's content.

Like GTAIII for example "Sure it's violent as all get out, and there's a lot of mature themes, but it's not any worse than most rated R movies, let your kids play this if you think they're mature enough for an exceptionally violent movie. Otherwise, perhaps you want to shelve this for a few years"

That's what I'd like to see, an honest breakdown of the game's content so PARENTS can decide.

The only place you would get that is in a Review. No game company is going to risk sales by slapping that on the front of their box, and I don't think the ESRB would get that specific.

Edit: I would like to see that though. It would make for a bit more information.

Oh I know that, its a hypothetical idea under ideal conditions in my mind.

I hate rating systems, but there's no good substitution that I can think of though.

 

[JackAttack2100]

I agree the rating system is broken but there a few reasons not to list what?s in the game. First the average mom looking at a game for a thirteen year old kid will see phrases like mild violence and go oh this is no good for little Timmy. Mild violence can be in an E rated game that she normally would have bought if all she saw was the friendly everyone sticker. My point- expanding to this extend would hurt the market.

In other words people can be pretty foolish and streamlining the process with simple letters helps people pick what they actually want. True it?s not working right now but that?s just because the classification needs to be expanded with more capital letters.

I agree with you that in a land where people make since, just saying what?s in the game would be smart. However as a gamer in a society where thousands of people starve every day and politicians can?t shut up about how games are ruining children, I have a hard time thinking people would act responsibly with such labeling.

 

[not a zaar]

No, the rating system works, in that everybody over the age of 17 doesn't give a shit about the ratings. If you can't afford you buy your own games/consoles then tough shit little boy/girl, deal with the mess. Gaming has grown up.

 

[Toastngravy]

Gaming and movies are rather...different in their rating choices. While some things in M games you'll find that and more in a PG-13 film it's mostly because you have are actually taking part in those actions instead of just watching it occur. It's sort of the "innocent" card so to speak.

There's a rather decent difference than having a young child watch someone be shot and have them actually be able to shoot someone themselves.

Look at my game collection. Every game I own other than one is rated M. Am I some kind of sick bugger who likes to watch blood splatter everywhere? Well yes but I don't get hard one for it. The games I play just have that rating. Just coincidences if anything.

The rating system is rather fine as it is. While I can't say I agree with it because I'd be talking out of my behind if I did. But looking at the standpoint of "watching it happen" or "making it happen" the rating system works.

 

[BolognaBaloney]

This is the third of these to pop up recently.

 

[Emphraim]

There is nothing wrong with the rating system. If parents don't feel like actually looking at what their children play, it's their fault. Besides, who actually follows the rating system?

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

If a parent wont look at the little sticker, they wont look at a bigger sticker. The rating system works perfecly as long as you actually use it.