‘A Only’ (Adult Only) rated content has become an eye sore for both ESRB as well as for parents. Manhunt II is not the only example that flies under suspicion radar but also there are many others that have created a great fuss.
As you know, ESRB was questioned for employing rating to censored Manhunt II. BBFC banned the retailing of the game in UK, and other countries like USA followed the suit, immediately. To prove its worth, the ESRB has enforced ‘A Only’ rating to ‘Manhunt II’ that gamepolitics.com defines as the victory of parents and children. The distribution of game has been suspended, temporarily.
Well, ESRB has rated the controversial game with A Only rating, but the problems don’t ends here only, still there are many games (or about to come) that contain A rated content and would create a great hoopla, inside as well as outside the gaming-industry.
Is there anyone listening to us?
ESRB has revealed the process how it does deploy rating to a game. The process that ESRB adopts presently seems a bit erroneous, because ESRB hires some people (who have spent a good amount of time with kids and can understand the psyche of a kid very well), go through the game, and rate the game, leading to an inappropriate rating enforced to the game. In order to enforce more appropriate ratings to the game content, ESRB must bring some essential changes to its modus-operandi.
Secondly, rating the game trailers can also work. Recently, the ESRB’s Advertising Review Council (ARC) has quoted that it regularly monitors game ads and trailers to make sure that either they follow industry-adopted principles and guidelines for Responsible Advertising Practices (established in 2000) or not. Since 2005, ARC guidelines have required that M-rated trailers on publisher websites be displayed behind an ‘age gate’ to help restrict viewing to those visitors who are 17 or younger.
No doubt, it forbids a publisher to put raw content into the trailer, but looks futile in case of children; because what children do is enter the wrong year of birth to traverse the age gate barrier.
Parental controls is another idea that can help the situation, but the responsiveness of parents lies beside, because the trick can work only if parents have a scrutinizing approach towards which game their kid play.
However, A only rated content is really a lame work (I must say) that a developer serves, but if it’s about violence, then it’s movies and several other TV series that appear more pragmatic than animation work and seemingly can affect one’s psyche, more gravely. So, people! Please stop blaming games for provoking so-called violence.
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Via: Spawnpoint
