ESRB Wants Us To Drown in Warnings
January 14th, 2009 | Written by Danreb Victorio | Topic: Industry News
Just a few days ago, Congressman Joe Baca (D- Rialto) introduced legislation that mandates that every game rated Teen through Adults Only by the ESRB should be sold with label that says: “WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent video games and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior.”
Really, if this was done, would anybody actually care? Sure, in the news we’ve recently had some random ramblings about Grand Theft Auto teaching a kid how to drive and Halo being a reason why some kid so violently killed his mother, but these little tidbits are not going to be stopped. Besides, that Halo story is a lot more twisted and more substance goes into that nearly unreal situation.
But back to the one at hand, Congressman Baca has been very active in ensuring that the video game industry accurately details in-game content to parents and consumers. He had this to say about the game industry:
“The video game industry has a responsibility to parents, families, and to consumers – to inform them of the potentially damaging content that is often found in their products,” said Rep. Baca. “They have repeatedly failed to live up to this responsibility. Meanwhile research continues to show a proven link between playing violent games and increased aggression in young people. American families deserve to know the truth about these potentially dangerous products.”
With all due respect, there is some truth to what the congressman is saying, but you can’t help but find that statement puzzling as well. Take the Hot Coffee minigame in GTA a few years ago. Before the rating was drastically changed from Mature to Adults Only, it’s worth noting that the entire Hot Coffee scene in the game was just a hard-to-find Easter egg–a glitch even. People who found it played it for the sole purpose of finding it. On top of that, it’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. If the words “Grand Theft Auto” don’t spark any sort of concern to a parent or consumer, then that’s just total negligence. This, by all accounts, was never the first time the game had received such a critical response from the general public. The name, on its own, already raises questions about the content to be found in the game, so really… would a label help?
Look at the back and bottom of any game case for any of the three consoles this generation. On the back of the box for Halo 3, not only does it already have a warning label for seizures, but the ESRB label already takes quite a bit of space and manages to say that the game includes sci-fi violence, blood, and language aside from the fact that is M – 17+. It’s big. It’s black and white. Everybody can see it. It’s the exact same thing on any M-Rated PlayStation 3 game. On the Wii, warning labels are taken to another level. Aside from the seizure label and M-Rated themes suggested in No More Heroes, Nintendo takes the liberty of putting the labels on in three to six different languages–which takes up even more space.
Every publisher has three warning labels on the box; one rating in the front, a rating in the back, and one for seizures. Nintendo has eight; one rating in the front, a rating in the back, and six for seizures in different languages. It doesn’t matter how many labels you put on these things.
So with that, I say go ahead and put another label on the box. It isn’t going to change anything. All Baca is doing is adding redundancy to our video games, and then another crime is going to happen, so he can blame them again. Then we’ll have all this hooplah about games being banned, and then gamers will get over that by buying games on eBay. Everything works in a cycle, and hardly anything can disrupt the cycle’s movement–not even a dreaded label.
Related posts:
- Spoilers? The New ESRB Rules Ruining Your Games
- ESRB Reveals New Minis For North American PSN
- Rejoice: In-Game Ad ‘Faith’ Waning
- David Jaffe’s Hypocrisy and GTA IV’s Problem
Comment by fdinolfo on the January 14th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Ah Politicians… If they spent half as much time playing games as they did trying to ban them, they might see that there really isn't that much to complain about. As Danreb said, there are plenty of labels on the game cases already that explain what's in the games. Parents and Politicians ought to learn to read those labels that are already there. We don't want our game boxes to start looking like cigarette boxes.
Comment by Danreb on the January 15th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if health experts called video games unhealthy, fully proposing the option of putting Nutrition Facts on our games.