EZK is correct. There is a defiant the lack of consistancy. A report card gives a grade for every subject covered (ie class taken) yet these report cards have little in common. What exactly are they trying to say? If I were a normal consumer (ie not a gamer) these reports would not help me much if at all.

Why are grades for retailers, consumers, and the ESRB thrown together? Those are three independent* groups and should be evaluated separately.

While we're at it, what in the world is this supposed to mean--seriously? I mean, it's cute and all, the report card format, and related to schoolchildren, I get that, but the thing is--grading scales vary. A C in my high school meant something entirely different from a C in my college (pretty crappy v. pretty decent).

One might note that the ESRB's ratings are defined, consistent, and--given basic knowledge of the English language--self-explanatory. If the ESRB, whose job is to rate games as they are presented to them, gets a C+, then what's NIMF's grade?

*Unless your Thompson, then we're all rocketeering to get you disbarred. :]

Again, influenced by Politics, who do you think is going to tote this around saying the gaming industry needs to be regulated? I mean come on!

Atleast they graded "Parental Involvement" somewhat correctly.

They Forgot one part of the report card:

NIMF involvement beyond being an absolute douchebag of an group: F

NIMF credibility: F and digging

How come the report card and rating system changed substantially from the 2 previous years examples? And How is the ESRB getting a C+ they only do positive things. They do exactly what they are created to do and how are game retailers failing? Lame. I have a gut feeling that though they say these are all based on actual evidence, it is far from the truth.

Simon, the M vs. AO rating is NOT the ESRB's problem; it's a problem of the media, the retailers, and the console manufacturers. If the ESRB were to review a game that, by its content, deserved an AO...and then give it an M rating simply because they didn't wish to "effectively ban" it...THEN they would be failing in their responsibility to the public.

The problem is the stigma of AO games built up by the media and supported by retailers and console manufacturers.

Parents definitely need to do their own homework.

NIMF is too biased, really. What do they want, a huge red sticker on the front saying "Do Not Buy This For Children"? At least with games it's easy to see the rating, unlike with movies.


@ Jabrwock:

Exactly. If you show a parent the 2007 report card, they'll be somewhat confused. Show them the other two and they'll be horribly confused.

@ Baine:
Why won't the politicians use the government data? Oh right, it doesn't say "ESRB is bad"

How inconsistent these report cards are. I guess they just love giving out Fs and saying that they don't think the people of America aren't up to their high and mighty moral standards. Yutzes.

This reportcard deserves and incomplete for how they actually got to these grades. If only the world worked like this. Seriously, how much time do you think the Senate spent mulling over this (my guess is 30 seconds). The stupidity of it all when theres hundreds of more important things to spend time on. Wonder if Tipper Gore is out there patting herself on the back. If anyone actually reads this from the Senate here is my message

"Get your head out of you know where and go do some real work, theres thousands of people a day dying due to your obscene government, maybe if you spend your moments dealing with that instead of effing video games America might be a bit less hated globally"

These arbitrary numbers are useless on the whole. I agree with jesus here. Based on what would give them the desired public response, they will doll out the grades accordingly.

I think the parental category should get an "F", but that would never happen because the parents are their constituents. No political figure would put the blame on the parents. It's suicide. Better to blame the retailers. If parents actually go out and make informed decisions about what their kids play, all of this mess would go away.

Here's something that brought a smile to my face *because* of this report card: Channel 8 News in Dallas just ran a story on the NIMF report card. I had a bad feeling about it until the 60 second piece ran. The focus of the report was the "C" that parents got for monitering what their children play and buy. They also talked about rental retailers getting an "F," but the focus was mostly on parents.

Between that and the Dallas Morning news running the article about the Gerstmann firing, it kind of makes me think Dallas is okay for games.

Hey Nimf, I got a report card for you as well. It's only two words, guess which ones.

@ Sean:

Let's not stoop to a Jack Thompson low.


I'm going to go on the opposite side of the fence this time and back the NIMF. There's no reason to insult them, nor is there a reason to oppose their little "report card".
We've all got opinions and the NIMF does, too.
So they can keep their grades, I'll keep my peace of mind, and we'll all be super-duper happy. Besides, it's not like...
Anyone...
Well...
Unless I've been living under a rock for the past few years...
I've never even heard of the NIMF up until now...
So...
It's not like anyone will really listen to these peeps.
Unless they really are (hope HTML works?) big and powerful...
I should get out more, I guess. O.o

NIMF's report card:

Scaremongering: B- (would have been A+ but due to lack of originality in the rant on MH, NIMF was graded down)
Consitency: F
Education: D
and finally:
Relevance/Media exposure: F

NIMF has trouble paying attention to whats happening and is more often chatting with other disruptives. NIMF needs to try harder...etc.

@Gray17

The whole things looks pretty arbitrary to me. Not only do the headers change, but the actually grades bounce around for no apparent reason. Are the grades based purely on knee jerks or something?

The article forgot to mention something...namely, why anyone should care about their opinion.

@ Terrible Tom

The ESRB is FOR parents. The ratings system doesn't apply to anyone over 18 (AO limit), so the target group for the ESRB is parents buying their children games. In that regard, I see no problems. They have the rating on almost every game out there; it's clear, consistent, and accurately rated (it's not the ESRB's job to slog through a game's source code looking for potential hacks).
The only problem is that some games that probably should get AO get pushed into M, as AO is a death-knell for a game.

B rating here for me on the ESRB.

Arcades are a dieing breed so theres lil reason to rate them,Rental is still alive somewhat,and I have seen a few not let kids rent M rated games but most do not care.

heres my take on their scoring
---------------------------------------------
Parental Involvement: D
Face it parents are the main problem they are the ones giving kids the money/games and not parenting them on how to use it.
--------------------------------------------
Ratings Education: B
Other than pouring more add dollars and sublimail messaging theres not much more one can do.
--------------------------------------------
Retailers’ Policies: B
Most have reasonable policies,instead of firing them they should be hit with a 100$ fine per game pay it keep working problem solved and done that would grab more attention than simply being fired.
--------------------------------------------
National Retailers: C
This can be confusing but they merely added big box stores and everyone else that sells games but then again the Dollar store is not even going to blink at you when you buy anything,they will be happy you bought it, I also don't see drug stores stopping people from buying games movies...
Also pawnshops don't really card either...
--------------------------------------------
Game Specialty Stores: B
Improving and gettign with the times..or being pushed out of bushiness...either way....
--------------------------------------------
Game Rental Shops: D-
Blockbuster can card for movies but as the quality of the rental industry drops the whole thing gets sloppy.
--------------------------------------------
Video Game Industry: C+
They are acaulty trying to improve ratings enforcement much like the MAA did 10-20 years ago before they stopped giving a damn.
--------------------------------------------
ESRB Ratings: C-

Face it with Games being treated as a unmature non adult medium it will never grow above a C, let games have their 18+ then polices can be shaped around that,hell adding a 15M level would even be more helpful!

I think ratings education should have got an A. I don't think the grade should suffer on account of people being lazy and ignorant. We live in the Internet era, all the information is out there, people just need to spend 30 minutes one night educating themselves and their children.
I also think the Video Game Industry grade should have been higher (A-B range). A lot happened this year in terms of releases, and it seems like economically and socially the gaming world has grown.
ESRB should have been an A too. They have a reliable system in place for rating games and I think that's where their responsibilities should remain.