Comment Maybe games should use the movie ratings system? (Score 2, Interesting) 116
I sometimes wonder if the games industry should just use the same ratings system as the movies, possibly migrating some of the ESRB subcategories useful for describing game content.
Not only are many people apparently under-educated about the meaning of the ESRB ratings - I mean, just look at all the stories about kids playing GTA and parents who let them - but having a separate ratings system makes it impossible to have apples-to-apples comparisons between these two types of media which makes it easy for people to misrepresent the situation. The fact is, these games aren't for kids that's for sure but they aren't any worse than R-rated movies. That they are called "MA" is perhaps the source of the confusion - they may simply not know what that really means. Using the same ratings system seems like it would at least simplify the arguments people seem to want to have about all this.
Not only are many people apparently under-educated about the meaning of the ESRB ratings - I mean, just look at all the stories about kids playing GTA and parents who let them - but having a separate ratings system makes it impossible to have apples-to-apples comparisons between these two types of media which makes it easy for people to misrepresent the situation. The fact is, these games aren't for kids that's for sure but they aren't any worse than R-rated movies. That they are called "MA" is perhaps the source of the confusion - they may simply not know what that really means. Using the same ratings system seems like it would at least simplify the arguments people seem to want to have about all this.
