Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Teen Video Games with deceiving ratings
I read this article twice from the Associated Press, because buried in it was something startling to me, besides the point of the article. Quoting the article:
What bothered me is that in a study of 396 games rated "T" for teen, 94 percent or 373 games had a "Violence" label. Ninety-four percent? Are parents being duped into thinking that because a game is for teenagers that it is within their standards? And as the headline above stated, many of the games underestimate or underplay the amount of violence, sex, profanity or abusive behaviors (such as drug or alcohol use.)
What's needed is an overhaul of the rating system, the article points out. But the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) claims that their rating criteria is "overwhelmingly" agreed to by parents.
Are these the same parents that advise the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board? You know, the one where you take your child to a PG movie and they hear the "F" word or see part of a naked breast (oh great, now Google will send hundreds of people here to see one.) I'm disgusted. And I am accused of being overprotective. Yeah.
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| Many teen-rated video games contain content that is not listed on the label, including sexual themes, alcohol and profanity, a study found. Given the results, parents should be aware that popular T-rated video games might include a wide range of unexpected content that could have a negative influence on their children, said Harvard University researchers Kevin Haninger and Kimberly Thompson. |
What bothered me is that in a study of 396 games rated "T" for teen, 94 percent or 373 games had a "Violence" label. Ninety-four percent? Are parents being duped into thinking that because a game is for teenagers that it is within their standards? And as the headline above stated, many of the games underestimate or underplay the amount of violence, sex, profanity or abusive behaviors (such as drug or alcohol use.)
What's needed is an overhaul of the rating system, the article points out. But the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) claims that their rating criteria is "overwhelmingly" agreed to by parents.
Are these the same parents that advise the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board? You know, the one where you take your child to a PG movie and they hear the "F" word or see part of a naked breast (oh great, now Google will send hundreds of people here to see one.) I'm disgusted. And I am accused of being overprotective. Yeah.
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