December 5, 2007
For years, Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA) has been a critic of video game violence.Now Baca has been joined by fellow Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA, seen at left) in a call for greater openness in the game industry's rating process.
As reported by GameSpot, Baca and Wolf have drafted a letter to ESRB president Patricia Vance in which the pair request that the rating board make content videos submitted by game publishers available online for public review. The videos in question are part of the ESRB rating process and are supposed to include the strongest content found in a given game.
From the Congressmen's letter to Vance:
Parents must have access to consistent, accurate, and objective information about video game content so they are able to choose games that are right for their children. By posting clips of T-rated games and above, parents and consumers will be better informed of the content of the games.
A joint statement from Baca and Wolf said:
We believe that posting comprehensive clips of T-rated games and higher online is advantageous for both consumers and the ESRB. The public will be more accurately informed of the substance of games before making purchasing decisions, and the rating process of the ESRB will be brought to light and given more credibility.
Comments
Lawyers have to take a test to get a license.
Doctors have to take a test to get a license.
Even drivers have to take a test to get a license.
So should politiicans.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Baca and Wolf are quite the morons...
Oh...wait...if everyone decides to do the same, you say? Naaah, developers aren't in it for the money, they'd love to do it completely free of charge because they love their jobs so much, right? /sarcasm
The ESRB should just reply by sending them the url to Gametrailers...
The publishers aren't going to like having the full content of the game on public display some time before the game's release either.
Back to the real world
How many parents can actually be bothered to do so, especially when they can't be bothered to check the rating on the box.
Christ on a bike, it makes you want to scream in his face with a megaphone: "THEY ALREADY DO HAVE ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION! IT'S ON THE GODDAMN BOX! LEARN TO READ!"
It's as if the internet doesn't exist for them and they haven't figured out that the footage he is screaming for already exists out there. It doesn't matter if you put it on a website called www.parentshavetowatchthis.com, if parents aren't going on the net to look at these games already, they won't do it then either. The problem isn't the lack of information about the games and their content, it's the lack of effort and knowledge on the parent's side.
Like an analogy I posted before, I let my child off to play on a construction site or farm because I am illiterate and cannot read or understand the warning signs and the child is killed. Who is to blame? The site, for not posting up enough information? Or me, for being too dumb to understand the information available, or being too lazy to go and find out what it means.
According to these people and all the others jumping on the ESRB criticism bandwagon, that farm/site has a lot to answer for...
Most parents can't even be bothered to read the back of the box. Do they seriously think that they're going to take the time to look things up online and sit thru videos? I don't think so.
Seriously, has NO ONE explained to these lobotomy recipients how video posted on the 'net works?? How has a semi-literate intern not pointed out how ridiculously bad this is?
If the most extreme content is made available for parents viewing, what makes them think that kids won't be able to find and view that information.
What are they thinking?
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary
"What are they thinking? " (I wish I could underline "thinking".)
You're giving them waaaaay too much credit. :/
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Why do californians even elect these people?
The MPAA doesn't do this. The RIAA doesn't do this. THE FREAKING WHITE HOUSE doesn't do this (but you guys should really get to fixing that ;) ).
Why are games so special?
"Much sound and fury signifying nothing."
They can hem and haw and beat their chests all they like. As has been pointed out, the ESRB is a private entity. The govenrment can do nothing. Baca and Wolf can send their letters and the ESRB - rightly - can politely say "fuck you" and nothing will change. The congressmen in the backs of their minds know this. It's all just for show as it is with most politics.
To be fair, the guy did say 'clips' of the games, like the clips of a movie you see in a movie preview, but I doubt he meant that... Too bad, I mean, a quick google search or trip to a game store would fix all this... I wonder if senators get to go on field-trips, preschool style. "Everyone hold onto the rope, you too, Hillary, we're going to EBGames today!"
Ha.
What we're talking about isn't a game trailer, but the Video clip submitted by the game publisher to the ESRB which the raters view when rating the game itself. This would give the parents who bother, a means to determine if the views of the raters are in line with their own view on violence.
The other method would be for the ESRB to give clear, concise definitions to it's content descriptors (which it does not do very well at).
Also you could lock behind content to an age verification area of the site.
Until the Gaming Industry can get out of the sites of politicians as an easy target to garner votes, it is going to have to tip toe around certain topics. The Movie Industry did this for years under the Hays Code before moving to the current ratings system. Even under the current system the MPAA has only gradually lessened the strictness of the ratings.
Not to mention, would parents even understand the subtleties here? You post a video of, say, Mass Effect showing some of the shooting and the sex scenes. Will they get that this 10 minute or something video (if it's even that long) is only part of a game that I've been playing for 25 hours and *still* haven't beaten???
I do not like this idea because it would hold game video game industry accountable to a completely discriminatory and different standards. The problem with the ESRB lies in the "for the kiddies" stereotypes and connotations that hang around video games. We need to obliterate this stereotype by publishing truely adult games, and shifting the meaning of MA to "Adults Only."
If you're too stupid to allow your child to aquire and play a MA game, and take problem in their gaming habits, you probably should not have had a child in the first place. Stop killing the demands of adult gamers and defining the artistic limits of this industry for the damn children; most gamers could give a shit less about the needs of the children. We've faclititated them enough already: the MA rating means that a child SHOULD NOT HAVE THIS GAME. It's quite simple, really.
And honestly, if a descriptor that says stuff like "Violence and gore, sexual situations," PRINTED RIGHT ON THE BOX, aren't enough for parents, why the hell would they run out to a website to check out a game?
I really have nothing to say that hasn’t already except that as a bit of an Otaku the fact the Representative’s surname is Baca amuses me greatly with its appropriateness.
Damnit, someone beat me to it! Seriously, "Baca and Wolf" sounds like some cheesy comedy cartoon for Japanese kids on Sunday morning =)
----
Papa Midnight
I have no problem with them asking the ESRB for more openness in their process, and I'm confident that, if they have the legal power to do it, the ESRB would happily oblige. My problem is that no one talks about more openness in the MPAA's process, which is much, much shadier than these congressmen claim the ESRB's system is.
Leaking footage of any kind would not might but would hurt sales.
Senators are obviously computer illiterate.
This is proof that even the dumbest 10th grader is smarter than any of theses senators.
...right after they publish EXACTLY which special interest groups have given them campaign contributions on a nice little web page like the ESRB does for ratings.
In fact I further propose that we start a group that gives ratings on members of Congress that we the general public can easily understand based on their content (aka criminal records). All in favor?
That is an excellent idea. I wonder how they will like being rated by the general public
@ Dog_Welder
So are you saying that the only reason they have a problem is because they are bad lazy parents?
My mom knows very little about video games but she does understand the ESRB. I think I was the one to explain it to her. So the only thing that parents need to know is the system and how it works. Anything else is completely pointless.
No. They want all the naughty BMX XXX videos without having to buy the game.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary
It always seems like they are talking out of their asses.
They do talk out of their Arses.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Read.
The.
God.
Damn.
Box.
Guess what? When it says "violence" on the rating, there will be violence! It's really not hard to figure out. Read words, understand words... I wonder which step they're missing.
So, what it comes down to is:
1) Politician trying to get some votes and look useful.
2) Power grab over the ESRB, a private entity like the MPAA or the RIAA, neither of which have any Congressional oversight. (Conversely, the MPAA and the RIAA have a number of politicians in their pocket.)
If I were running the ESRB, I'd happily tell these senators where to stick their letter.
How about the big freaking pamphlet that comes with the damn system?
"We believe that posting comprehensive clips of T-rated games and higher online is advantageous for both consumers and the ESRB. The public will be more accurately informed of the substance of games before making purchasing decisions, and the rating process of the ESRB will be brought to light and given more credibility."
Right, because the internet is the answer to EVERYTHING... this all assuming that parents today are computer-literate. There's just one thing parents need to know, and it takes literally 30 seconds out of your day.
READ. THE. DAMN. BOX.
It doesn't get any clearer than that, unless you don't have above 5th-grade reading level.