[casual_games] ESRB Need Not Apply

[Adam Martin]

That seems to work for very simple games. But...one of the outcomes
that so many people in the games industry are striiving for with the
crusade for "better stories" etc in games is that games cannot be
classified so easily.

To appropriate an oft-used example: would the theoretical parent
really wish to ban Macbeth, King Lear, and Hamlet from their children?
All these are on the UK curriculum from the age of 13, and are often
taught before that.

Forgive the flawed analogy, but the essence of it is that people
really tend to be concerned with "essence", and in that sense I
personally applaud the ESRB's setup. They take the approach of NOT
using a detailed hard-and-fast checklist that would assuage lobbyists
but inescapably and deleteriously block the artistic side of game
design.

I am definitely not in favour of censoring *nothing*, but censorship
is extremely difficult and not the 'easy' logical process which it is
often painted as. It cannot be, because it is a judgement on
interpretive media which - to date - no-one has invented a
prescriptive all-encompassing analytical system for.

PS please forgive the shorthand (ab)use of term 'censorship' and
spelling errors. typing on a two inch keyboard :(.

Adam
On 22/12/06, Audry Taylor <talshannon at hotmail.com> wrote:

> The discussion about ESRB ratings is an interesting one to me, because our

> company has been planning to use our own rating system for our games.

> Because we have a very specific target audience (teenage girls +

> twentysomethings), we wanted to design a system that would be easy for them

> and their parents to grasp.  Rather than creating a game and then rating the

> content, we plan to rate the game at conception and allow the restrictions

> of that rating to influence the content of the game.  That way our audience

> will always know what's in one of our games simply by glancing at which

> rating symbol we gave it.  Our ratings will be age-based (for all ages,

> teens in general, older teens only, and even adults only for women over 21).

>   and there will only be 4 of them.  I won't go into the design of the

> ratings or the names we're giving them, but they are designed to clearly

> communicate what kind of profanity, sexuality, violence, and storytelling is

> included for each age range.

>

> Obviously, Vista will not be configured to accept our ratings.  I doubt that

> MS will be willing to alter Vista so that developers can add their own

> ratings systems (as that would open the floodgates for thousands of

> variations), so my company will have to consider alternatives for getting

> our games into game explorer.   Using ESRB for a second set of ratings that

> simply allow the user to install a game without warnings is one option,

> albeit expensive because of our development model (which is neither like a

> casual developer nor a traditional developer).

>

> I consider it important to look at everything from the consumer's p.o.v.,

> not from the developer's.  What is going to be easiest for them?  What will

> be clearest?  What will allow them the most freedom while providing the

> greatest level of security and comfort?

>

> I would have opted for an O/S that asked a user during install if they

> wished to set up a section just for games/music/movies et al.  If they

> clicked "yes" they could either customize each section to suit their needs

> or leave them with default settings.  This would accomodate users under 30

> (and sometimes over) who are very computer-saavy and would like to be able

> to customize how their computer functions, just like they customize their

> email, their home pages, their music software, their myspace site, etc.

>

> Vista could allow game companies to develop their own in-house ratings based

> on a "master checklist" used by Vista.  Each game, when installed, could

> submit a checklist of items to let Vista know which "master rating" their

> game falls under.  Vista could then display two ratings for the user:  game

> company rating and master rating.  The master ratings would be created by

> the user themselves using an easy checklist to determine what THEY think is

> appropriate for teens, kids, adults.  So the master rating would be THEIRS

> and they would know whether or not a game suits their particular standards.

> This would eliminate the need for the ESRB entirely and put the power (as

> well as the responsibility) for ratings into the hands of the consumer.

>

> For example:

>

> A game company makes END OF THE WORLD: THE DESTROYER, a game in which the

> player uses the power of flowers to save the planet from a robot programmed

> to destroy it.  The game has rainbow explosions, automated seed shooting

> weapons, enemy-neutralizing love hugs, and a kissing scene at the end.

>

> The company rates their game as being "G" for a general audience.  The game

> company also takes the "Master Checklist" and puts an "X" next to all

> content that exists in the game (and in this example, a "--" would mean the

> content did not exist in the game).

>

> -- Profanity

> X Violence without blood or human/animal injury.

> -- Violence with blood and/or aimed towards humans/animals.

> -- Extreme graphic violence depicting death, abuse, and/or internal organs.

> X Romantic content limited to hand-holding, a kiss, or a hug.

> -- Graphic sexual content depicting nudity and mature sexual relations.

>

> Joe buys this game for his teenage daughter.  Joe has set up the computer to

> allow his daughter to play "Teen" games.  Under the "Teen" rating, he has

> put an X next to everything he thinks is appropriate for his daughter to be

> exposed to:

>

> X Profanity

> X Violence without blood or human/animal injury.

> -- Violence with blood and/or aimed towards humans/animals.

> -- Extreme graphic violence depicting death, abuse, and/or internal organs.

> X Romantic content limited to hand-holding, a kiss, or a hug.

> -- Graphic sexual content depicting nudity and mature sexual relations.

>

> Joe also has a 7 year old son.  He has chosen the "G" rating for his son,

> which has the following items X'd off:

>

> -- Profanity

> -- Violence without blood or human/animal injury.

> -- Violence with blood and/or aimed towards humans/animals.

> -- Extreme graphic violence depicting death, abuse, and/or internal organs.

> -- Romantic content limited to hand-holding, a kiss, or a hug.

> -- Graphic sexual content depicting nudity and mature sexual relations.

>

> As you can see, Joe's computer will automatically fit END OF THE WORLD: THE

> DESTROYER into the "Teen" category so his daughter can play it, but block it

> from being played by his son, who is in the "G" category.  Next to the

> Master rating of "Teen" chosen by Joe, the computer will also list the game

> company's original rating of "G" so that Joe now knows this game company

> gives a softer rating than he does.  Now Joe doesn't have to worry about

> whether or not *you* would let his 7 year old play the game, because he can

> set up the ratings system himself.

>

> I would kill for a ratings system like this.  Consumers would quickly learn

> that our company's ratings are designed to take mass market concerns into

> consideration while also providing them with the security of knowing they

> could overrule content they dislike.  If they found that our ratings were

> dishonest (that we were not checking off certain items on the list), they

> could take matters into their own hands and block content from our game

> company, pressuring us to be accurate in how we rate our games on the

> ratings list.

>

> Putting the power in the hands of the consumer works for Wiki, Youtube, and

> a million other services.  Why not the gaming industry, too?

>

> Audry Taylor

> Creative Director

> Go! Comi

> http://www.gocomi.com

>

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