ESRB and age-based ratings in video games - and other media rating systems

[The Last Stand]

Little Tommy may play the game and see some blood or boobs. Imagine the horror!

Also, morons buy M rated games for their kids all the time despite being warned at Gamestop that it isn't for kids. I've read a few stories about this. Your kid likes the cover art and you don't feel like dealing with a tantrum ten minutes before closing. So you buy an inappropriate game you are warned about. Then you are appalled when said game isn't for children. It's a game right? A toy!

It's no different than when you buy your kid a DVD with an R rating then have a fit because people are naked and being murdered.

We have to think of the children.

Ultimately, the rating system is a suggestion up to the parents and other informed buyers. Be glad it's not law.

 

[Punished “Venom” pH]

Ultimately, the rating system is a suggestion up to the parents and other informed buyers. Be glad it's not law.

Anytime we can prevent state power from encroaching into the media is an inherent good use of time

 

[Heckler1]

The ESRB only exists because parents are too lazy to be involved in their children's pastimes. If you know what your kid is into/playing it won't be an issue. In an era where smut and real violence is everywhere on the internet AND daytime TV, thinking the ESRB does any good is laughable.

 

[Dojima's Dragon]

Something I am surprised no one mentions is how the cod mw trilogy is pegi 16 the same series that had the airport massacre while they were rated m

 

[Marissa Moira]

The ESRB only exists because parents are too lazy to be involved in their children's pastimes. If you know what your kid is into/playing it won't be an issue. In an era where smut and real violence is everywhere on the internet AND daytime TV, thinking the ESRB does any good is laughable.

ESRB is really not for parents, it's so the lawyers don't have an easy in road to sue.

 

[The Last Stand]

As far as I know, DoA: Xtreme Beach Volleyball HAS no nudity.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/561527-dead-or-alive-xtreme-beach-volleyball/44131584

The ESRB does its best to ensure that the rating process is meticulous and thorough. At least three specially trained raters review actual footage from each game submitted to the ESRB. The raters examine the game's most extreme content, evaluate its context and overall intensity, and use their own good judgment to recommend the rating they believe will be most helpful to consumers.

In the case of Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball the raters determined that the M (Mature 17+) rating with content descriptors for Gambling, Mature Sexual Themes, Nudity was most appropriate. According to the publisher’s submission for Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball, a female character jumps from a waterfall nude, her breasts and buttocks are shown. Some swimsuits can be very provocative such as thongs, g-strings. During the exercise mode the female characters will be in vulnerable positions and the player can control which angle to watch. This type of content is likely to have contributed to the rating and content descriptors ultimately assigned by the raters.

So blink (in this case, STARE) and you'll miss it. I hear nudity, I think bare. What false advertising.

 

[Dom Cruise]

View attachment 1997379

As far as I know, DoA: Xtreme Beach Volleyball HAS no nudity.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/561527-dead-or-alive-xtreme-beach-volleyball/44131584

So blink (in this case, STARE) and you'll miss it. I hear nudity, I think bare. What false advertising.

Oh yes, this rating was infamously retarded and helped fuel the rumor that there was a "topless mode" in the game because there certainly wasn't any actual nudity.

You do briefly see Christie's bare behind in the intro, but you saw that in her ending in DOA3 and that only got a Teen rating, her breasts are not shown, you cannot clearly see her nipples.

A person's ass is a grey area when it comes to nudity, wearing a thong is not really considered nudity which is why you can do it on most American beaches or conventions, even a totally bare butt is considered a mild form of nudity if it's really considered nudity at all, generally when people say "nudity" they mean a woman's nipples or vulva or a man's penis, not anyone's bare ass.

So beyond a brief shot of a bare butt, there is no nudity in the game, just women in sometimes skimpy swimwear, but you'd have to be insane to consider swimwear, even if it's a thong, "nudity"

They gave the game a M rating for the same reason Anita later sperged out about sexy women in games and for the same reason Jacko Whacko sperged out about GTA, because for whatever reason people get real uncomfortable about content in games that they wouldn't care about in other media, DOAX was at the end of the day not much racier than an issue of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition but somehow you put that in a video game and people freak out.

 

[The Last Stand]

Before the added descriptor of "Cartoon" or "Fantasy", it was just Violence.

Ex.

Ratchet & Clank (2002) - Rated T for Teen with Mild Violence

Ten years later, that same game is rated E10+ for Comic Mischief, Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes.

Jak and Daxter 1. Now E10+ for Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes. On release, it was E for Everybody with Violence.

Ratings were simpler then. Although, it makes sense that Jak is a T rated franchise now.

 

[The Last Stand]

Imagine needing to re-write a children's video game (rated E for Everyone) from 20 years ago to fit modern sensibilities. lol, lmao even.

Out of curiosity I took a look at the ESRB's ratings for both the original Thousand-Year Door for Gamecube (a) and the upcoming re-make for Switch. (a) The original got away with only "Cartoon Violence" while this remake now has "Mild Fantasy Violence" as well as "Mild Suggestive Themes". It's seriously pathetic that this is where we're at; where parents have to be informed that characters with "exaggerated proportions" are going to make suggestive comments about "giving Mario some sugar". Twenty years ago feels like an alien time, where kids and adults alike weren't nearly as a pussified as they are now.

I'm guessing the ESRB was lax back then. Remember that the ESRB started in 1994. This is common for remakes/remasters/ports that have to be reevaluated for newer releases. I'm curious of what makes the violence in this remake "fantasy" when previous entries have mild CARTOON violence.