What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:57 pm

superangelo128

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And if you want to make any changes to the system, what would they be?

Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Sun Apr 27, 2008 10:11 pm

fox334

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First of all, they should have some gamers on the board and actually PLAY THE GAMES. I also believe it wouldn't be a bad idea that they posted a small review of the games on the internet detailing the reasons of the ranting.

Oh, and this is what I would use for age ratings:
4 and over (and actually USE IT on games other that ultra kidy games, a bit like they do it in Europe whit the 3+ rating).
7 and over (mixture of the E and E10+)
12 and over (mixture of the E10+ and T)
16 and over (for violent games that aren't ultra-violent, like Halo, for example)
18 and over (not an equivalent to the AO ranting, but the equivalent of a R-rated movie or the current M, for games like GTA)
NC 18 (equivalent of the NC 17 movie ranting, or the curent AO rating)

One of the problem I have whit the current rating system is the lack of a intermediate rating between T and M.
Oh, and scrap the letters and use numbers so parents that don't know anything about video-games won't have any excuse for not understanding the rating system...

Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:21 am

Gozu

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it's a GREAT system that unfortunately gets a lot of flak because parents are too damn lazy to research what their children do on their own. ESRB ratings are almost always accurate, and are there so parents CAN determine what their children should and should not play. i know that my parents did when i was a kid.

Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:35 am

Velotican

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fox334 wrote:

Oh, and this is what I would use for age ratings:
4 and over (and actually USE IT on games other that ultra kidy games, a bit like they do it in Europe whit the 3+ rating).
7 and over (mixture of the E and E10+)
12 and over (mixture of the E10+ and T)
16 and over (for violent games that aren't ultra-violent, like Halo, for example)
18 and over (not an equivalent to the AO ranting, but the equivalent of a R-rated movie or the current M, for games like GTA)
NC 18 (equivalent of the NC 17 movie ranting, or the curent AO rating)

One of the problem I have whit the current rating system is the lack of a intermediate rating between T and M.
Oh, and scrap the letters and use numbers so parents that don't know anything about video-games won't have any excuse for not understanding the rating system...

I find this funny, because you've pretty much described the PEGI System used in Europe.

My only complaint is the rather pointless controversy and restrictions around the AO rating, however I would need to know more about the M rating and how they are distinguished from one another before commenting in any detail.

Does we even do these things anymore?

Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Mon Apr 28, 2008 5:01 am

Judgemaster64

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I don't really care for the system. Though I do feel like AO rating is a little harsh. I mean where can you even get one? It should be called B for Banned.

Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:26 am

cocomonk22

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I agree with fox334; there needs to be an intermediate rating between T and M due to the variance among such games at that rating.. Some M rated games if they were movies would be divided into PG-13 and R, so for the same reason the PG-13 rating was added, another rating should be added between T and M.

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Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Mon Apr 28, 2008 4:58 pm

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I think they're kinda weird...
I saw that F.E.A.R. had a rating for drugs. Ok, I am aware of the glowing, blue and green neddles but compared to other games that's nothing.
I mean, Bioshock is practically based on drugs. And even though the game has got the worlds longest explanation of these drugs, I can't seem to find a drug rating on the box.
At least not on my copy. On my copy there's ratings for violence, strong language and gambling.
Gambling of all things! Gambling, but not drugs.

I don't get it. :sadshoe:

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Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:14 am

winged cloud

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I find it retarted! They give the simplest games m or t when they dont derserve it. I believe they need to throw out there current system, remake it. teen to mature is such a big stretch that needs something in the middle.

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Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Tue Apr 29, 2008 2:04 pm

Deltron

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It has to seriously be revamped. It's the same as the movie ratings, both seriously need to be retooled, because both systems are far too inconsistent...and I wouldn't be surprised if the ESRB used similar tactics as the MPAA to rate their movies (see the "This Film Has Not Been Rated" documentary for reference). I'd be interested to see what goes into rating as game as well, as they showed in the movie documentary.

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Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:27 pm

Pandan

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winged cloud wrote:

I find it retarted! They give the simplest games m or t when they dont derserve it. I believe they need to throw out there current system, remake it. teen to mature is such a big stretch that needs something in the middle.

Agreed.
Also, some games are 'underrated'.
Like Psychonauts. Yeah, so you play as a 10 year old boy with psychic powers in a really cute, colorfull world with extremely huggable characters.
But did they actually play the game or did they just look at the box cover?

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Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:10 pm

vhunter13

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Judgemaster64 wrote:

I don't really care for the system. Though I do feel like AO rating is a little harsh. I mean where can you even get one? It should be called B for Banned.

Yeah, I think this rating shouldn't exist cause they just ban the games, But the shops than ban them many times sell things like guns or porn movies too, plus they don't sell M ones to kids without parents permission,so why AO?
Ad halo doesn't deserve M rating

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Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:04 am

Xero Wright

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They need to hire gamers.

And they do play the games a little, because that's where the GTA: San Andreas "minigame scandal" happened - Rockstar actually hid it from them to get it in as an M rating when it had a full sex game in it. They just don't play it enough - a game needs to be played ALL THE WAY THROUGH for a full rating to go into effect. I mean, IGN and others get to play the full games before we do, so why can't they hold them back one week to get a full-fledged review?

It's just not right.

And yeah, Halo doesn't have as much blood as Quake or Doom. It should be between T and M.

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Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:55 am

Pi3

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I have Age of Empires II here now. It has the Teen rating on it. No explanation.
(On the back it has a sticker with GENERAL (8 years & over) Low level animated violence from the Australian Office of film an literature classification... Wait, this game isn't a film or a book!!)

Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Wed Apr 30, 2008 4:30 pm

vhunter13

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If they see swords is T if there is a drop of blood M
If there is guns its M and a drop of blood AO
and the minigame scandal was ESRB faul not rockstar

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Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Wed Apr 30, 2008 4:50 pm

johnny rainbow

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I find the ESRB ratings to ironically make more sense than the MPAA ratings, but ultimately even more useless.

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Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:16 pm

Xero Wright

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vhunter13 wrote:

If they see swords is T if there is a drop of blood M
If there is guns its M and a drop of blood AO
and the minigame scandal was ESRB faul not rockstar

Maple Story was rated for a young audience and it had swords.

Though swords + light blood = T, Heavy blood = M

Guns and blood != AO. GTA, please.

And, it was Rockstar's foul, because they INTENTIONALLY hid the game to avoid the AO rating. Which San Andreas got on one of the systems.

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Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Thu May 01, 2008 1:04 am

Miles Edgeworth

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Xero Wright wrote:

They need to hire gamers.

And they do play the games a little, because that's where the GTA: San Andreas "minigame scandal" happened - Rockstar actually hid it from them to get it in as an M rating when it had a full sex game in it. They just don't play it enough - a game needs to be played ALL THE WAY THROUGH for a full rating to go into effect. I mean, IGN and others get to play the full games before we do, so why can't they hold them back one week to get a full-fledged review?

It's just not right.

And yeah, Halo doesn't have as much blood as Quake or Doom. It should be between T and M.

Hot Coffee is a hack, you can't access it without hacking the system.

Some of the ratings on games are just plain insane.
Hmm, lets see, Oblivion. M rating. Schmexual themes. I never ran into that.
Use of alchohol. No. No alcohol. Just plain empty mugs people drink from. REFERENCES to alcohol. For all we know, they can be drinking liquefied steel.
Language. I don't seem to remember any harsh language.
Blood and gore. I'll give them that.
Violence. That too.

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Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Thu May 01, 2008 2:32 am

Xero Wright

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Enough violence, blood and gore CAN warrant an M rating, but I'm not far enough into the game to say that it has enough to warrant such.

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Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Thu May 01, 2008 3:40 am

Anders

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Miles Edgeworth is right about the whole "hot coffee" incident. People are talking crap about the ESRB and Rockstar both because Rockstar "hid" the sex minigame and because the ESRB supposedly didn't play through enough to notice it. The point is, though, that the minigame was never intended to be played in the first place. Yeah, Rockstar didn't wipe the code from the game, but anybody that was playing the game normally was never going to come across that content. The main character wears pants the whole time and the so-called nudity is not even as graphic as the M-rated God of War. I don't think that the addition of Hot Coffee in the main game should've bumped the rating from M to AO if the implied sex and excessive adult themes already in the game didn't do the job.

I agree with the need for raters to actually play the games, and that at least some of the raters should be familiar game-players. The experience that actual gamers bring to the table would be helpful, I think, because they're more aware of the kinds of products out in the rest of the marketplace.

When it comes to actual ratings, I think the letters aren't as important as the content descriptors and informing the consumers. Everybody looks for different things in a game, be it coarse language, varying levels of violence, sexual innuendo, etc etc etc. Saying "oh, this game is rated T" doesn't really accomplish much anymore, because that game could be a T for any number of reasons. All it can really do is give you a very basic recommendation of what you might expect as you research the game more. No matter what sort of letter or number grades you come up with for games, it won't make any difference if the people worried about their kids aren't giving a shit when it comes to staying informed.

Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Thu May 01, 2008 9:54 pm

PrinceDaniel07

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The rating system is quite silly at times. Halo games getting rated M... that is just silly. Also, they re-rate games because you can program it to view offensive content that was originally not shown to the player. Excuse me, but what about "GAME MAY CHANGE WHEN PLAYING ONLINE" type warnings?

Pandan wrote:

winged cloud wrote:

I find it retarted! They give the simplest games m or t when they dont derserve it. I believe they need to throw out there current system, remake it. teen to mature is such a big stretch that needs something in the middle.

Agreed.
Also, some games are 'underrated'.
Like Psychonauts. Yeah, so you play as a 10 year old boy with psychic powers in a really cute, colorfull world with extremely huggable characters.
But did they actually play the game or did they just look at the box cover?

Are you trying to say the game should be rated M? I believe it was already rated Teen.

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Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Thu May 01, 2008 10:30 pm

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I personally think the ERSB is pretty good. They try their hardest and without them we couldn't use the excuse to the soccermoms that when they try to protest a game rated 'M' because their kid can get a hold on it- that the game said freaking 'M' and they shouldn't buy little five-year-old Timmy a game where zombies eat their freaking head off. I admit that sometimes they don't know what their talking about, (Metal Gear Solid should have at least been a Teen game series) but overall, they MOSTLy know what they are talking about.

Re: What is your opinion on the ESRB?

Fri May 02, 2008 12:01 am

Miles Edgeworth

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Wocky Kitaki wrote:

I personally think the ERSB is pretty good. They try their hardest and without them we couldn't use the excuse to the soccermoms that when they try to protest a game rated 'M' because their kid can get a hold on it- that the game said freaking 'M' and they shouldn't buy little five-year-old Timmy a game where zombies eat their freaking head off. I admit that sometimes they don't know what their talking about, (Metal Gear Solid should have at least been a Teen game series) but overall, they MOSTLy know what they are talking about.

That is correct. We do not want a 5 year old playing GTA. They're pretty young and very impressionable. Around preschool age they want to act like adults and junk, so they might just come to school with a gun they found in daddy's attic.

But some games are badly mis-rated.

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