Does The ESRB Smell Something Funny?

I hear a lot of people comparing games to movies. The production values for HD games more than match their film counterparts. We are seeing an increasingly diverse array of content presented to players similar to the genre options available to movie goers. But one of the most subtle and strange ways that games appear to be mimicking motion pictures would be the slippery slope that comes along with rating systems, specifically rating content for young adults.

It's easy to say that games like Resident Evil 5 or films like the Saw series feature content that kids shouldn't be exposed to, but what about the stories and experiences that don't quite fit the E or M, or PG and R ratings? It appears that both forms of media have always had a spot of trouble with their T/PG-13 ratings. Recently John Davison over at What They Play ran an interesting article on freshly rated "Teen" games and the frequency of how often they use my favorite curse word (hint: rhymes with "fit"). Davison's article notes that players have heard of a lot of things hitting the fan recently with many T-rated titles dropping the S-bomb more frequently than ever before. Going straight to the source, John Davison asked ESRB president Patricia Vance her thoughts...

"Assigning ratings to language in video games is less straight-forward than many people may realize," said ESRB president Patricia Vance. "Some words can offend more than others, while some words can offend some but not others. For that matter, every game is unique, and each rating we assign takes numerous factors into account. That being said, how we evaluate language when assigning ratings has remained relatively consistent over the years, with factors like frequency and intensity having always been particularly relevant. And, as our standard definition for the Teen rating category states, 'infrequent use of strong language' has always been permitted. In fact, if you do a search on our website, 90 Teen-rated games have been assigned the descriptor "Strong Language" to date."

While I myself have noticed that we've been seeing more "strong language" in T-rated games recently, I think the ESRB has been a pretty good job with giving games the ratings they deserve. There have been a few hick-ups here and there, but no system is perfect. But in my opinion when it comes to accurately identifying possibly objectionable content for parents, the ESRB ratings system outshines the MPAA with more descriptive warnings. This brought me back to thinking about how people talk about the games industry mimicking the film industry. But maybe it's time that the MPAA reevaluate their processes to match the ESRB's? Even though they've only been around since 1994, they've already handled much more complex issues than those movie guys without becoming a major thorn in the side of most game developers.

What do you think? How has the ESRB been doing for you? Does the presence of more sh- er... "stuff" bother you? Or are people just being too sensitive?

[Teen Ratings and the S-word] What They Play