Game Over For Flimsy Rating System

Brownback should play the games before he produces a new rating system. Ask a gamer about this.

A simple FPS or racer, easy. Get a dedicated gamer on it, a really good one, and they will finish it in a couple of days. But an RPG could take weeks, even with a walkthrough - and then it must be played again, and again, to ensure that every tiny detail is checked. Every character spoken to, every hidden area accessed. Its very time-consuming, even if the publisher provides a cheat and walkthrough. Even then there is no way to be sure that content has not been overlooked

And what about online games? It doesn't matter how those are rated, because some gamers swear. A lot.

The whole idea of this is well-intentioned, but completly impractical - its expensive, inconvenient, and results in only a very slight improvement in accuracy if any at all.

I have read the actual text of the bill and it suffers from a fatal flaw. The bill requires that the games be played in their entirety. That just is not possible.

However the part of the bill which requires the reviewers to be independent of the industry is a step in the right direction as well as the requirement that the reviewers be given access to hidden content.

But I doubt anything can be down to prevent downloadable customization.

Some games cant even be played through entirely in one pass - if player decisions affect the storyline, whole sections might be locked off. Its also common for producers to stick obsecure little jokes in places where players will find them only through luck.

It might help if publishers were to make special 'reviewer editions' which include extended cheating capability and convenient popup messages that point to all hidden things. But the bill doesn't require that. All its going to do is replace a poor ratings system with an overloaded-to-failure system.

The whole uproar over this is manufactured in order to raise money for political campaigns.

These are games written by and for adults. And adults are the majority of the people who buy them, not children. And they are marketed to adults, not children. If they weren't, they wouldn't be successful and make any money.

Its always easer for parents to point to some outside issue as the cause of their child's poor behavior. Rather than their own self or to their own child.

There is this victim mentality that has taken hold of social conservatives that says that any time little Johnny or Suzie do something bad that it must be because of outside influences rather than something they just came up with themselves.

Its stupid. Anyone who hangs out and watches how children treat each other on the playground for five minutes can see that children are quite capable of being evil all on their own. Its human frailty you know. Original sin and all that. It applies to children too. And of course, how often is the outside influence the parent? Or maybe the real problem is that the parent isn't even there to be an influence in the first place?

And hey, if you want to limit your child's exposure to bloody carnage and violence and NC-17 rated sexual situations you might start with the Bible.

Everybody in that book is always hacking away at someone else. Or thats what they do that when God isn't smiting someone or some city every other chapter. Not to mention all the incest stories.

And never let your child read Revelations. It says something that some of the most successfull horror movies in history are based on it. We should impose a rating system on the Bible.

I was just testing some code I created for the game Unreal Tournament 2004. I discovered that the game can swear - if you achieve a certian condition, it displays the text 'Holy sh1t'* on the screen while saying it aloud.

This condition involves killing a lot of players, with a gap of no more than two seconds between them. Unless you are cheating (as I was), it is next to impossible to achieve this. It takes superhuman skill, and a lot of luck.

What is the chance of a ratings official achieving this nearly-unobtainable little secret?

Were the bible rated, it would have to be a 17+ at least. Ezekiel 23 alone would be enough to earn that rating. It starts with a bit of prostiturion, moves on to some graphic sex, and finishes with even more graphic violence. Not just killing, but several body parts amputated from the prostitutes as punishment.

*But it doesn't use the one, I put that in to avoid setting off any filters this blog may use.

Patrick,

I take exception to your claim that these games are made for adults, unless you are considering teenagers as adults.

I know a lot of teenagers who play GTA.

That said, while I think the current rating system has its flaws, I don't think it is a big deal.

GTA is rated for mature players. That should be enough for parents to know that this game is not for little kids, and that the decision whether to allow your teen to play this game should be based on one's understanding of how mature your teen is.

I find it entertaining that as long as the same featured nothing worse than mass-murder, cop-killing, gang-warfare, some hit-and-run, the occasional assassination or revenge killing, a whole lot of carjacking and the odd traffic violation there was almost no objection to it. But the moment a sexually-themed easter egg is found, there is a mass moral panic.

Ive heard it said that where media is concerned, Europe is oppressive towards violence and permissive towards sex, while the US is vice versa.

I shouldn't try to speak for Mr. Perkins, but I think he is indeed just as concerned with violence in these games as the sexual content.

John, what's your gamerscore? How many achievements do you have? You don't have any achievements? Understandable.

http://www.contextsmagazine.org/content_sample_v6-1.php

Ahem. :-)

Ferrariman, as you can tell I am not a gamer. I am a parent who has sometimes had to decide what is appropriate for my child.

I usually find it rather simple but the ratings system is of little help to me.

I think your point is that within the context of the game the violence may be overstated by the critics or even catharic.

If that's your point, I get it.

My son may well be the most non-violent person you could ever meet yet he plays GTA.