Deciphering the Video Game Ratings

We’ve talked about television ratings and movie ratings so that leaves us with just one last set of ratings; video game ratings.

How are games rated?
Video games seem to have the most stringent review process than any of the three genres. Again there are no federal laws that require game publishers to have their games rated, but most do if they want the retailers to actually carry their games. And the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) takes their ratings very seriously. They lock publishers in with legally binding contracts and may fine publishers who are not truthful to the ESRB.

The ratings begin with a detailed questionnaire game publishers must fill out and return to the ESRB prior to release of the game. Publishers must also include a DVD of the game that contains typical gameplay, missions and cutscenes. They must include the most extreme cases of violence, language, sex, drugs, gambling and any other content that may not be suitable for children. They must also include portions of the game that may be “locked” and require a player to enter cheat codes or whatnot.

The ESRB then reviews the content for completeness and may even play the alpha or beta versions of the game. And the video game footage is reviewed by three specially trained game raters. Game raters must be adults and must have experience with children either through work, education or being a parent or caregiver. The game raters then come up with their initial ratings. Then they do more research and have some further discussions until they come to a consensus on the ratings.

Then ESRB staff reviews the raters recommendations and issues a certificate with the final rating.

When the game is ready for release publishers send final copies to the ESRB. The ESRB review the packaging to make sure their rating is showed correctly. They also play hand picked and randomly selected games to ensure the ratings are correct.

With all that I think it’s pretty safe to say they’ve done their research when it comes to rating these video games.

What are the ratings?
Much like the television ratings, video game ratings are made up of two parts; rating symbols and content descriptors.

There are six age-based rating symbols.

• EC for Early Childhood. These games may be suitable for kids ages 3 and older. There is no material that parents would find inappropriate.
• E for Everyone. These games are suitable for kids ages 6 and older. They may contain minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language.
• E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older. You may find more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes.
• T for Teen. These games are suitable for teenagers ages 13 and older. There may be violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language.
• M for Mature. These games may be suitable for people ages 17 and older. They may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.
• AO for Adults Only. Only people 18 or older should be playing these games. They may contain prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or sexual content and nudity.
• RP for Rating Pending. This is reserved for games that are awaiting final approval from the ESRB and is only used in advertising prior to the game’s release.

There are over 30 content descriptors.

• Alcohol Reference
• Animated Blood
• Blood
• Blood and Gore
• Cartoon Violence
• Comic Mischief
• Crude Humor
• Drug Reference
• Fantasy Violence
• Intense Violence
• Language (profanity)
• Lyrics
• Mature Humor (including sexual references)
• Nudity
• Partial Nudity
• Real Gambling
• Sexual Content
• Sexual Themes
• Sexual Violence
• Simulated Gambling
• Strong Language
• Strong Lyrics
• Strong Sexual Content
• Suggestive Themes
• Tobacco Reference
• Use of Drugs
• Use of Alcohol
• Use of Tobacco
• Violence
• Violent References

What’s new with the ratings?
Just in time for holiday shopping the ESRB has added summaries to their ratings online. You can access these ratings on the web or from your cell phone with their new mobile version.

The ESRB and Liz from This Full House explain the ratings.

You can search for games in a certain category (e.g. all Teen games), by platform (e.g. PC, PS2, Wii, or other platform), and/or by one or more of the content descriptors. You can also search for a game by title to see what the rating and content descriptors are. Very helpful for when you’re standing at the store looking at all the games wondering what you’re about to buy your teen.

For more information check out the ESRB website or read the press release.