rightThe
Entertainment Software Rating Board (
ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that applies and enforces ratings, advertising guidelines, and online privacy principles for computer and video games and other entertainment software in the United States and Canada (officially adopted by individual provinces 2004-2005). It was established in
1994 by the Interactive Digital Software Association (now the Entertainment Software Association). By early
2003, it had rated over 8,000 titles submitted by 350 publishers. Many believe that the ESRB may promote media restriction, while others think that it is necessary for software to have content ratings. The decision to found the ESRB was influenced by the graphic "fatality" killing moves of
Mortal Kombat and other controversial video games depicting violent or sexual situations at the time, and by pressure from the United States government.
Overview
The ESRB applies ratings to games based on their content, similar to the motion picture rating systems used in many countries. Their aim is to aid consumers in determining a game's content and suitability. A game's rating is displayed on its box, the media, in advertisements and on game web sites.
The rating system is voluntary, although senators Joe Lieberman and Hillary Clinton have been pushing for harsher video game regulations, and companies do not have to submit a game for rating before selling it. However, most game publishers in the United States use the system.
The rating has two parts:
rating symbols and
content descriptors. The rating symbols are usually found on the lower right or the lower left hand corner on the front of the box, they suggest what age group the game is best suited for. The content descriptors are found on the back of the box, usually in the lower left or right hand corner, they describe particular content elements that may be of interest or concern.
Ratings
The symbols the ESRB uses are stylized depictions of alphabetical letters meant to convey at a glance a game's suitability. Although they were originally white with a black outline (as seen in the K-A rating logo), the rating letters have been displayed as entirely black letters (in order to be more legible) since the later part of 1999.
Current
Content descriptors
Please note that the content descriptors are not always printed as shown below, they may have additional words added to further clarify the highlighted content such as "
Mild Blood" and "
Mild Suggestive Themes".
Current
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Alcohol Reference — Reference to and/or images of alcoholic beverages.
*
Animated Blood — Discolored and/or unrealistic depictions of blood.
*
Blood — Depictions of blood.
*
Blood and Gore — Depictions of blood or the mutilation of body parts.
*
Cartoon Violence — Violent actions involving cartoon-like or animated situations and characters. May also include violence where a character is unharmed after the action has been inflicted.
*
Comic Mischief — Depictions or dialogue involving slapstick or suggestive humor.
*
Crude Humor — Depictions or dialogue involving vulgar antics, including "bathroom humor".
*
Drug Reference — Reference to and/or images of illegal drugs.
*
Edutainment — Content of product provides user with specific skills development or reinforcement learning within an entertainment setting. Skill development is an integral part of product.
*
Fantasy Violence — Violent actions of a fantasy nature, involving human or non-human characters in situations easily distinguishable from real life.
*
Informational — Overall content of product contains data, facts, resource information, reference materials or instructional text.
*
Intense Violence — Graphic and realistic-looking depictions of physical conflict. May involve extreme and/or realistic blood, gore, weapons, and depictions of human injury and death.
*
Language — Mild to moderate use of profanity.
*
Lyrics — Mild references to profanity, sexuality, violence, alcohol, or drug use in music.
*
Mature Humor — Depictions or dialogue involving "adult" humor, including sexual references.
*
Mild Lyrics — Mild references to profanity, sexuality, violence, alcohol, or drug use in music.
*
Mild Violence — Mild scenes depicting characters in unsafe and/or violent situations.
*
Nudity — Graphic or prolonged depictions of nudity.
*
Partial Nudity — Brief and/or mild depictions of nudity.
*
Real Gambling — Player can gamble, including betting or wagering real cash or currency. (Note: This descriptor only appears on games rated Adults Only)
*
Sexual Themes — Mild to moderate sexual references and/or depictions. May include partial nudity.
*
Sexual Violence — Depictions of rape or other sexual acts.
*
Simulated Gambling — Player can gamble without betting or wagering real cash or currency.
*
Some Adult Assistance May Be Needed — Intended for very young ages, used for games rated Early Childhood.
*
Strong Language — Explicit and/or frequent use of profanity.
*
Strong Lyrics — Explicit and/or frequent references to profanity, sex, violence, alcohol, or drug use in music.
*
Strong Sexual Content — Graphic references to and/or depictions of sexual behavior, possibly including nudity.
*
Suggestive Themes — Mild provocative references or materials.
*
Tobacco Reference — Reference to and/or images of tobacco products.
*
Use of Drugs — The consumption or use of illegal drugs.
*
Use of Alcohol — The consumption of alcoholic beverages.
*
Use of Tobacco — The consumption of tobacco products.
*
Violence — Scenes involving aggressive conflict.
Retired
The following content descriptors have been updated and are no longer used, but they may appear on games published previously.
*
Animated Blood and Gore — Cartoon or pixilated images of blood or the mutilation of body parts.
*
Animated Violence — Cartoon or pixilated scenes depicting animated characters in unsafe and/or violent situations.
*
Gambling — Betting-like behavior.
*
Gaming — Betting-like behavior.
*
Mature Sexual Themes — Provocative material, possibly including partial nudity.
*
Mild Animated Violence — Mild cartoon or pixilated scenes depicting animated characters in unsafe and/or violent situations.
*
Mild Realistic Violence — Mild photographic-like detailed depictions of characters in unsafe and/or violent situations.
*
Reading Skills, Fine Motor Skills, Higher-Level Thinking Skills — These phrases are found only on products rated Early Childhood and indicate whether children's reading, computer, or other skills are used in these titles.
*
Realistic Blood — Photographic-like detailed depictions of blood.
*
Realistic Blood and Gore — Photographic-like detailed depictions of blood or the mutilation of body parts.
*
Realistic Violence — Photographic-like detailed depictions of characters in unsafe and/or violent situations.
Examples
Image:puttputtpepsbirthdaysuprisecase.jpeg|Putt Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise is rated EC (Early Childhood).
Image:Nintendogs-dachshund-na.jpg|Nintendogs is rated E (Everyone).
Image:Super Mario 64 box cover.jpg|Super Mario 64 was rated K-A (Kids to Adults) upon its original release.
Image:daxter with rating.jpg|Daxter is rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older).
Image:Mph cover updated.jpg|Metroid Prime: Hunters is rated T (Teen).
Image:Re4boxart.jpg|Resident Evil 4 is rated M (Mature).
Image:Xchangebox.jpg|X-Change is rated AO (Adults Only).
Image:Metroid Prime 3 Corruption logo.png|Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is currently RP (Rating Pending).
Process
To obtain a rating for a game, a publisher sends the ESRB videotaped footage of the game's most graphic and extreme content. The publisher also fills out a questionnaire describing the game's content.
The ESRB states on its website that three trained raters, working independently, then watch the footage and recommend a rating. If all raters agree on the rating, content descriptors are added and the ESRB notifies the publisher of its decision.
When the game is ready for release, the publisher sends copies of the final version of the game to the ESRB. The game packaging is reviewed, and the ESRB says that its in-house personnel may play the game to ensure that all the information provided during the rating process was complete and accurate. Penalties may apply to the publisher if it is eventually found that the game's content is more extreme than the publisher stated in its application.
The identities of the ESRB raters are kept confidential. Raters are ordinary American citizens who can not have any ties to the computer or video game industry and usually have had some experience with children.
[The video on the ESRB listed under "External links".]Compare with The MPAA film rating system's process.Criticism and controversy
The ESRB has often been accused of not rating games harshly enough for violence. Games such as
Phantasmagoria,
Harvester,
Soldier of Fortune and
Manhunt have shown gruesome violence, yet only got the M rating, which is supposed to be the entertainment software equivalent of the R rating. Many critics have claimed that these games deserve the AO rating. The ESRB has only given out the AO rating for violence for two games:
The Punisher and
Thrill Kill. However,
The Punisher was edited before release in order to qualify for the M category and
Thrill Kill was never released as the publisher was concerned about the content.
[http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-512347.html - ZDNet News - October 15, 1998]Critics have claimed that the ESRB will only rate games AO if they have sexual content in them, regardless of how much violence is present. Twenty two products have been given the AO rating. One was given it for unsimulated online gambling. The rest were given it for "Strong Sexual Content". One of the games with "Strong Sexual Content" also had "Realistic Blood & Gore",
Riana Rouge, and another one had "Violence",
Critical Point.
Critical Point is a hentai game, and
Riana Rouge has Playboy Playmates in softcore sex scenes which leads some critics to believe that these games were rated AO because of sex, not violence. It should be noted that many adult oriented products, including erotica have actually received M ratings.
[Examples: Babes of Summer Jigsaw Puzzles, Beverly Hills Models, Club 21, Club Royal - The Exclusive Striptease Club of the Beyond, Cyber Photographer and Printshop, Fantasy Vixens Jigsaw Puzzles, The Girls of Paradise Cove, The Guy Game, Interactive Mind Teaser, Julie Strain, Leisure Suit Larry series 1-7, Malibu Models, Playboy Screensaver II, Tabloid Beauties, TV's Lifeguard Babes] However, these products are not carried by major retailers (and many are usually grouped with adult products anyway) because of the sexual content.
Also, the ESRB has often been accused of rating games overly harshly compared to video game rating systems in other countries. The differences in ratings reflect differing cultural attitudes and standards towards certain subjects however, games with relatively mild content have appeared to receive higher ratings, according to some. For example, nudity is rare in games rated lower than Mature. As well, many video games are made in
Japan (where they use the CERO rating system) and imported to America. However, when these games are imported, rather than just using the same rating that was given to the game by the CERO raters the ESRB often rates these games much more harshly. Some examples of games that were given a CERO rating that is equivalent to the ESRB's everyone rating, and yet rated much more harshly by the ESRB are:
.hack (teen),
Dragon Quest VIII (teen),
Gradius V (teen),
Metroid Prime (teen), as well as
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and
The Space Adventure which both received a Mature rating by the ESRB.
In November 2005, Senators Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh introduced the Family Entertainment Protection Act, which calls for a federal mandate enforcement of the ESRB ratings system in order to protect children from inappropriate content.
Hidden content
In
2005,
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for Windows was modified by players into allowing one to play an incomplete sex mini-game that Rockstar North decided to leave out of the final game. California assemblyman Leland Yee used the situation to rebuke them both and has cited this as a case of the ESRB not doing its job. U.S. Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Joe Lieberman, a video game censorship advocate, joined in on the disapproval. Rockstar claimed that the code was actually rewritten and that gamers are altering, not just unlocking the game. The PlayStation 2 version of the game is also modifiable with the third-party Action Replay Max device. In light of this, Rockstar conceded that the disputed scene was in the final game on all formats.
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4702737.stm - BBC News - July 21, 2005] The ESRB responded to the controversy by re-evaluating San Andreas' Mature rating and changing it to Adults Only. This would make
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas the most popular and best selling game to receive this rating. Rockstar released a patch that disabled modding on PC versions.
In
2006, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion had its rating changed from Teen to Mature due to "more detailed depictions of blood and gore than were considered in the original rating, as well as the presence of a locked-out art file or 'skin' that, if accessed through a third-party modification to the PC version of the game, allows the user to play with topless versions of female characters." The game's publisher decided to not remaster or rerelease the game to remove the hidden texture, stating that it believed the original rating was the most accurate assessment of what parents should expect from the game, since the texture was intended to be inaccessible to players. However, this texture was actually only used to provide a non-clipping texture for some armor types.
[http://www.esrb.org/about/news/downloads/oblivion_release_5.3.06.pdf - ESRB press release - May 3, 2006 (PDF)] [http://www.gamespot.com/news/6148897.html - GameSpot News - May 3, 2006] [http://www.gamespot.com/news/6148925.html - GameSpot News - May 3, 2006] References
*ESRB's website.
See also
*
Censorship*Censorship in the United States
*Entertainment Software Association
*List of AO rated products
*MPAA film rating system, the U.S. film industry equivalent to ESRB
*PEGI, Pan European Game Information, used in many european countries, not associated with the European Union.
*Recreational Software Advisory Council, a defunct rating system
*TV Parental Guidelines
*Videogame Rating Council, a defunct rating system
National rating systems
*Australia - Office of Film and Literature Classification (Australia)
*
Finland - Valtion elokuvatarkastamo, Finnish Board of Film Classification
*
Germany - Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle
*
Japan - Computer Entertainment Rating Organization
*New Zealand - Office of Film and Literature Classification (New Zealand)
*United Kingdom - British Board of Film Classification
External links
*
The ESRB web site *
The ESRB Game Ratings & Descriptor Guide *
Video from 2004 on the ESRB (Flash required)
*
Do game ratings really do their job? Category:Computer and video game organizations
Category:Computer and video game content ratings systems
Category:Industry trade groups
Category:Media content ratings systems
