I work at the customer service desk at a large electronic retailers, and from time to time I get a parent who is trying to return a game they had bought their children because “it should have been higher rated.” Every single one of these games are M-Rated, and I point that out to them, but they still believe it should have been higher. This usually happens when their child has been playing something like Call of Duty: Black Ops (which is M-Rated) and makes the parent believe that something like the Resident Evil series will be just as “harmless.” I end up making them angry because I cannot return opened video games due to copyright reasons (just as I cannot return opened movies, CDs, or software), and many times they end up blaming us.

It is my full belief that parents are responsible for their children and anything their children watches or plays, and I don’t believe that underage children should be playing any M-Rated game, even if it seems as harmless as Fable III. There are always reasons that these are mature rated, whether it is for language, violence, or sexual themes (or simply sex itself). When I see a parent buying Halo Reach, I always recommend that, if they are determined to buy it, he or she should at least mute others in the multi-player mode and not allow his or her child to talk during it. Many times the parents just brush my comment off, but I have seen and heard way too many underage children emulating other, older players.

I decided to take a look at current ratings at the ESRB website, and spoke briefly on the phone with one of its employees about its ratings and the process. Should we make a new rating on video games?

There are currently six video game ratings, not including RP (rating pending) as shown below. Each one of these will commonly have a small list of why the game is rated as such with short and sweet descriptions such as “Violence” or “Sexual Themes” on video game cases and the disc itself.

Taken from ESRB

Notice that there is an AO rating (Adults Only), but looking at a quick list of games that are currently AO, there are only a whopping 24 games, almost all of which are essentially pornographic games. There are several games that used to be AO, but after patches or changes to the game, were reduced down to M. Several of these games can still be played uncut with mods, but that’s it.

I called ESRB and spoke briefly with one of the representatives to see if there had ever been consideration to add another category of ratings, maybe something between M and AO to distinguish games like Halo: Reach from Resident Evil. There was no consideration of adding another one, but they do rate games in the best interest of underage teens and children and make sure to always put why the game is rated as such.

The ESRB have included several cool features on the site though to help parents and others choose games based on the maturity level.

Newer games now have a quick synopsis of the plot and features that make the game rated as such. Unfortunately, when I searched for Gears of War, there was no such synopsis, but there was on Fable III. They began including this a couple years ago, according to the ESRB rep.

They now have a mobile phone app with which you can take a picture of the video game cover, and it will conjure this synopsis, rating, and other information about the video game. I think that is a fantastic feature for parents or adults trying to buy video games for kids, as it only takes a second to figure out whether or not it is worth getting.

For example, I searched for Fable III, and the following was the summary of the game and the rating:

In this role-playing adventure game, players take on the role of a young prince or princess in the fantasy kingdom of Albion. While partaking in quests to gain experience and skills, players affect their moral standing by choosing to do good deeds or bad ones, thereby “leveling up” their customized character in divergent ways. Many quests require the use of magic, weapons, and hand-to-hand combat to defeat enemy soldiers and creatures. Blood spray is depicted when enemies are slashed and shot during battle, and in slow-motion finishing moves. Players can consume alcohol and obtain a drunken state, resulting in a screen-blurring effect and dialogue that is distorted/altered. Players can choose to engage in sexual relations (some unprotected) with males, females, or groups of characters. Although sex acts are not shown, sexual moaning sounds are heard in the background. Sexual statistics are kept by the game, including the number of sexual encounters, the highest number of group sex partners, and a list of STDs each player has contracted. The words “sh*t,” “b*tch,” and “a*s” can be heard in dialogue.

Although Fable III is a fantastic game, if I were a parent, the above description would be enough to deter me from buying the game for my child.

Again though, the average parent does not know about this yet, and many parents don’t use it as they should (or else I wouldn’t have parents trying to return M-Rated video games). I still believe that it is the parents’ responsibilities to research video games before they buy them for their children, but when I talked to the ESRB rep, he said that he got mail that went both ways. Some people love the system while others think that it should be changed. For example, my suggestion was to make an M 18+ rating, as they have made an E 10+. What do you think? Should there be an additional rating level?

The mobile app in use:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRskKtq9NyA&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

All information from ESRB.