[casual_games] Slow death for the current generation of casualgames? (Bugs, Parental Controls & Game Explorer)

[Allen Partridge]

I had the same reaction Adam,

 

The ESRB cost of evaluation is significant for a small indie startup and I'm
not sure it's relevant in Casual Games. The reason we generally don't see
the ESRB rating I suppose for the caz games is because the market itself
keeps out inappropriate content. I wonder if either the IGDA CG Sig or
others might appeal to the ESRB for a special rate for Casual Games that do
not pose any real problem - sort of an expedited review. Even so it's an
imposing problem.

 

Last I checked the ESRB uses a fining system to maintain honesty in
submissions. If for any reason they find a problem companies are subject to
what I would call enormous fines - (I'm sure some wouldn't find them that
big but 25,000$ I believe is the base fine for a misrepresented game (just
memory there don't take my word for it.) So the liability for an indie like
my own which has yet to do anything but loose money is significant and
further reduces the likelihood that folks evolve new companies.

 

Another possibility is to develop a CGRB - perhaps working with an
independent University based center like the Applied Media and Simulation
Games Center - or even a consortium of such centers to create a less
expensive ratings system that could then be integrated into the parental
control system. After all, instances of violent or adult content in casual
games are pretty low - are they not? Perhaps it would not even be a ratings
system, just an authentication system - * Endorsed by the Casual Games
Review Board, this content is certified safe and appropriate for players of
all ages. That sort of thing. Maybe even a model where distributors /
portals apply for a license to authenticate and certify, and then they get a
bug to add to the software that gets embedded into the DRM and authenticates
the software for Vista and other Parental approval systems.

 

--Allen

 

  _____  

From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
On Behalf Of Adam Martin
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 7:19 AM
To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
Subject: Re: [casual_games] Slow death for the current generation of
casualgames? (Bugs, Parental Controls & Game Explorer)

 

 

On 18/12/06, Dave Selle <Dave.Selle at wildtangent.com> wrote: 

==Parental Controls & Vista==

Vista comes with a robust set of Parental controls based on games' ESRB
ratings. And as we all know, relatively few casual games currently are ESRB
rated because few developers have seen the ROI for the cost and effort of
going through the submission process. Vista will certainly change this
equation, especially for new games. 

 

Out of interest, do you know what shoestring-budget indie developers
supposed to do about this, for instance teams doing first games, hobbyists,
etc? It would be a great shame if the minimum barriers for development,
which are currently extremely low (free IDEs, compilers, very cheap art
packages, hosting space, etc) suddenly jumped up and made it hard for
succesive generations of developers to make their own games, learn, etc. 

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