What are ESRB Ratings?

What is the ESRB Rating?

ESRB ( also called the ESRB Rating ) stands for Entertainment Software Rating Board. Currently there are seven ESRB org ratings which consist of the following: EC (Early Childhood), E (Everyone), E10+ (Everyone 10 and older), T (Teen), M (Mature), AO (Adults Only), and RP (Rating Pending). The ESRB org is a non-for-profit organization formed in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association. They independently assign ratings to computer and video games according to content and they enforce industry adopted advertising guidelines. The organization also helps to ensure that online privacy practices are done in a responsible way within the interactive entertainment software industry. The ratings of the ESRB org can be found online at http://www.esrb.org.

What Do the Ratings Mean?

EC (Early Childhood) is an ESRB game rating assigned to any software or game that is targeted towards children ages 3 and older. It also means that no inappropriate content is present in the software or the game.

E (Everyone) is an ESRB game rating used for children aged 6 and older. The content in this game is minimal or mild violence and any inappropriate language is scarce.

E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) is an ESRB game rating used for ages 10 and older as suggested however, the content may contain more violence and mild or suggestive themes.

T (Teen) is an ESRB game rating used for ages 13 and older. Content in this category contains any combination of violence, suggestive themes, blood, simulated gambling, and some crude humor.

M (Mature) is an ESRB game rating for persons 17 and older due to the intense violence, blood and gore, strong language, and sexual content that may be present.

AO (Adults Only) is a an ESRB game rating used for titles that are appropriate for persons aged 18 and older. The content of these titles include but aren?™t limited too graphic sexual content and, most times, nudity and longer scenes of graphic violence.

RP (Rating Pending) is an ESRB game rating for titles that havent received a final rating from ESRB.org

How Am I Supposed to Use These Ratings?

Lets face it, today children are more on top of the different video games and software that is scheduled to be released. They know when and where the products will be way before parents released, sometimes even know that the game exists. Most children approach the parents or grandparents with game requests due to the fact that most children do not earn their own money. Parents and grandparents can then check the game with the ESRB online to see if it is appropriate for their child or grandchild. If it isn?™t appropriate then the parent and/or grandparent should use the opportunity to explain to the child the importance of playing games that are designed for them and only them according to their age range. The website has a list of most of the games and allows parents or grandparents to choose games based upon their rating. The website also allows the parents or grandparents to look up a specific game to check the rating of it.

Why are the Government and Gaming Community Becoming More Concerned?

Would you let your children watch a movie that was rated R? Do you know what the content of every new movie contains? Can you tell if a movie is appropriate for your kids without looking at it's rating? The same answers apply to games. Todays games are as real and as graphic as movies. Modern technology has allowed them to create super realistic graphics which means that many have the same violence and language that a Rated R movie might have. Even more important, games have a much greater immersion than most movies and last much longer ( generally about 10-20 hours ) Each time you play a game, the experience is different, so a Parent can never know the complete game. Similar to using movie ratings, an ESRB rating is vital to keeping violent and innappropriate content away from young children.

Todays games are much more advanced then games from about 20 or more years ago. Back then the games were one dimensional and werent as complex or involved as the ones from today. Better graphics, better design, and more powerful computers can actually bring these games to life. One concern is that some children who arent ready for certain types of graphical games can try to imitate these games in real life and cause great harm to themselves and/or others. While this is a genuine concern, games can have other effects. Innappropriate games teach children bad language, and bad habits. Along with the violence comes swearing, sexual situations, sometimes nudity, and swearing. The chances that your child will act out the violence from the games is probably statistically very low, but the games can have other subtler effects on thier behavior. This is why the ESRB rating is important.

Cant the Parents Just Take Responsibility for their Children and Monitor the Games?

It would be easy to say that parents can monitor their own children but if that were the case then there would be little or no crime among the youth and we know this is not the case. Parents can make sure they dont purchase the inappropriate types of games for their children however if a child wants the game then they will find a way to get it behind their parents backs. Also, as mentioned earlier, the parent can only see so much of the game as the child plays it; especially since the game takes a lot longer to play. The parent may only be exposed to the little part of a game that may be appropriate for their child but not the full content of it. Parents can only do what they can but with the help of the ESRB.org ratings and hopefully the retail stores, they can minimize the risk of an inappropriate game ending up with their child.

Will the ESRB Rating Always Tell if a Game is Safe?

The answer is no. The ESRB Rating is based on the content that was included in the original product that was made by the game developer. But unlike movies, the experiences people have while gaming can sometimes go beyond the content the game developer intended. One example of this is on-line gaming where a group of people get together and play the game over the web. The game developer cannot anticipate the kinds of languages or the conversations that will take place between several teen gamers. A second example is the various patches and updates that are available on the web. Some are made by the game developer. These are usually safe. But there are 3rd party developers that also make patches and software that can change the original game in any imaginable way. This might lead to games that had an ESRB rating from ESRB org that is appropriate for kids being altered to have some of the features of a much more violent or inappropriate game. So the ESRB Rating is important and should be considered in purchasing games for kidds, but you may also want to monitor their gaming and discuss your expectations for their behavior regarding these issues.