Welcome to all of you who might be lost in the maze of FPS, RTS, RPG’s and MMO’s and are confused by your children’s references to WOW, MoH, CoD or GTA.
This is the first in a series of blogs to introduce parents to the complex and sometimes confusing world of videogames and help them make informed decisions as they try to navigate through the daunting choices of titles. I will address concerns about the kind of content children could be exposed to and explain the resources and tools available to evaluate the age appropriateness of a given title and restrict certain online interactions.
But allow me to introduce myself. Besides being a gamer and writer, I am also a videogame producer. I worked on various PC and console titles ranging from simple puzzle games to licensed sports and role-playing games. Some of my shipped titles include Neverwinter Nights 2, Mission Impossible: Operation Surma, Tetris, Need For Speed: Nitro X, and Surviving High School (DSiWare). Each of these games had a specific audience we were targeting which meant that the gameplay, level of difficulty and art style had to be designed accordingly. Surviving High School for example was a casual adventure game set, you guessed it, in the High School environment and aimed at young adults. Players had to make dialogue choices as they navigated through their schoolday and complete various challenges.
Neverwinter Nights 2 on the other hand was a complex role-playing game aimed at a more mature, hardcore audience.
As a producer one of my many tasks was to ensure that the style and gameplay would appeal to our target audience but also that the content would fit the requirements for the appropriate ESRB rating. The ESRB and its rating system will be the topic of my first blog.
Upcoming topics will include:
- Online gameplay and social gaming
- Parental controls
- Mobile games
- Privacy concerns
- Foreign rating systems
- Videogame addiction
- Can games actually be good for your kids?
- New trends
- Answers to the most common questions
I will also talk about current and upcoming consoles, handheld devices and accessories, provide a glossary of the most common gaming terms and discuss some of the hot new releases your children might be excited about. So how bad are videogames and what should parents be aware of?
We’ve all heard horror stories about games filled with blood, sex and violence where players get rewarded for killing cops, running over pedestrians, stealing cars and blowing up buildings. Game ads and trailers seem plastered with “sexy” female characters and guys showing off their big guns. Titles like Doom, Grand Theft Auto, Gods of War, Dante’s Inferno, Dead Space, Assassin's Creed and many others only reinforce the image of videogames as tools of violence and destruction.
Understandably parents often worry about the kind of content their children might be exposed to when playing games. The reality though is that games vary widely in genre and content and that many of them are perfectly suitable for children. The question is how do you distinguish the ones that are, versus the ones that aren’t and where to start.
For console and PC titles released in North America the answer is: start with the ESRB rating.
So what is the ESRB and what does its rating mean?
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization founded in 1994 to assign age and content ratings for games. Their rating system is similar to the Motion Picture Association (MPAA) rating system as it calls out potentially offensive, sexual or violent content inappropriate for younger audiences.
With the growing popularity of titles like Mortal Kombat (players could finish opponents by ripping off their heads) or Doom (a dark first person shooter with plenty of blood and gore), came an onslaught of negative press against the videogame industry and a call for some sort of industry regulation. The ESRB(formerly Interactive Digital Software Association) was created to introduce a rating system that would allow parents to evaluate the age appropriateness of a given title. Although voluntary most games are submitted for this rating since chains like Walmart won’t carry them without it.
The ESRB rating includes two parts:
1. The rating symbol. Currently there are six rating symbols ranging from early childhood (ages 3 and up) to Adults only (18 and over). Here’s the list along with their description.
EARLY CHILDHOOD
Titles rated EC (Early Childhood) have content that may be suitable for ages 3 and older. Contains no material that parents would find inappropriate.
EVERYONE
Titles rated E (Everyone) have content that may be suitable for ages 6 and older. Titles in this category may contain minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language.
EVERYONE 10+
Titles rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) have content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older. Titles in this category may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes.
TEEN
Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language.
MATURE
Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.
ADULTS ONLY
Titles rated AO (Adults Only) have content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.
RATING PENDING
Titles listed as RP (Rating Pending) have been submitted to the ESRB and are awaiting final rating. (This symbol appears only in advertising prior to a game's release.)
2. The content descriptor found on the back of the box. The descriptor gives more specific information about a game’s content. The ESRB evaluates six areas:
- Sexual content or references
- Violence
- Gambling
- Dialogue and lyrics
- Humor
Depending on the severity and the context of these instances the ratings board might assign one of the following descriptors:
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 situations and characters. May 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
Fantasy Violence - Violent actions of a fantasy nature, involving human or non-human characters in situations easily distinguishable from real life
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
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
Sexual Content - Non-explicit depictions of sexual behavior, possibly including partial nudity
Sexual Themes - References to sex or sexuality
Sexual Violence - Depictions of rape or other violent sexual acts
Simulated Gambling - Player can gamble without betting or wagering real cash or currency
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 - Explicit and/or frequent 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. May contain bloodless dismemberment
Violent References - References to violent acts
How accurate and reliable are the ratings and descriptors? Due to the very strict submission process the ratings give a strong indication as to the kind of content included in a game. Publishers who do not report all pertinent content run the risk of getting fined and having to recall all products and reprint all boxes and marketing materials with the updated rating. A very costly process that they will not willingly undergo. Has this ever happened? The answer is yes. The most famous case is the “hot coffee” incident surrounding Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. The title included a minigame (a short game within the main game) that portrayed a sexual encounter between the main character and his girlfriend. Although this minigame had been deactivated for the original version the later released hot coffee PC mod (a modified addition to the main game) allowed players to access the hidden minigame. The name of the mod was derived from the girlfriend’s invitation to come up and have some coffee, a euphemism for having sex. Console players then found ways to “hack” their consoles to access the hidden minigame. The ensuing controversy caused the game to be pulled from the shelves and re-rated as Mature. The developer later re-released the game with all the assets from the minigame removed and the original rating restored.
The good news is that such incidents are extremely rare. To put things into perspective, even Disney had inappropriate content snuck into their movies. Think of The Rescuers where during a scene depicting the two mice flying through the city in a sardine box a topless woman could be seen in one of the passing windows. Since the image was only embedded in two frames it could not be viewed without stopping the tape but Disney recalled the title shortly after the incident was made public.
As strict as the ESRB submission process is not everything falls into clear black and white categories and ratings and descriptors, although extremely helpful can still leave you wondering how bad a certain shooter, role-playing or adventure game really is. There are a few options to get more information about a specific title. The first one is to check the ESRB site at http://www.esrb.org/index-js.jspfor a more detailed description. Here’s an example for Mass Effect 2, a popular game rated Mature.
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| BioWare's "Mass Effect 2" |
Rating: Mature
Content descriptors: Blood, Drug Reference, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
Rating Summary:
In this action role-playing game, players' objective is to defeat an alien enemy that is silently abducting entire human colonies. Players must assemble a team of henchmen, command a space ship, and travel to distant planets across a futuristic galaxy. At its core, the game involves a combination of conversation/interaction with characters, and ground-based (i.e., "run-and-gun") space battle: Players use assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, and pistols to kill humans, robots, and aliens in the frenetic third-person firefights. Some enemies emit large splashes of blood when shot (particularly with "head shots"); several enemies lie stagnant in pools of blood—factors for the Mature rating. Henchmen are able to freeze and shatter enemies, engage in melee attacks, set robots on fire, and use telekinesis to disable aliens. A handful of cutscenes depict dramatic interrogations in which human characters are threatened, punched, kicked, and shot (in the leg) by alien creatures. The game contains themes of illicit drug use, addiction, and trafficking—often focal points to the branching storylines; for example, "Morinth likes dancing while on a drug called Hallex," "Narcotics flooded my veins when I attacked," and "The asari injecting so many drugs into me was terrifying." During the course of the game, players may enter a bar where alien pole dancing exists (choreography highlighted on big-screen monitors) or hear suggestive comments such as "krogan sexual deviants enjoy salarian flexibility" and "if this is just about sex, maybe you should just f**king say so." [Italics added] Players can also choose to have "romantic encounters" with the alien/human henchmen characters; this involves watching a guided cutscene in which two characters flirt, kiss, and/or embrace: clothed alien/human characters may prop a partner on top of a space console, clear away the clutter from a bed-slab, unzip a future-blouse, or just talk it out. Though an alien/human may gyrate her hips while on top (fleeting—one-to-two seconds), actual sex is never depicted—the camera cuts away to space furniture and ceilings.
Here’s the description for Tetris PSP, an E-rated game I worked on:
Rating: Everyone
Content descriptors: No Descriptors
Rating summary:
This is a puzzle game in which players arrange falling block shapes to pack them into contiguous horizontal rows. Players compete against themselves or others to earn points based on how many perfect rows of shapes they are able to clear.
If you would like to get additional information about a game youtube is a good source to view actual gameplay. Fans will often post footage of their favorite games to either brag about their performance, share strategies or give a review. Just type in Mass Effect 2 for example and you’ll get a variety of hits with game excerpts and examples of the brief sexual encounters mentioned in the ESRB description.
As helpful as the ratings and other resources are be aware though that the ratings do not apply to potential online experiences.
More about online gameplay in my blog next week. In the meantime, feel free to contact me with your questions at dorianrichard@gmail.com.
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