by Rio Waye

Created on: March 08, 2010

The Entertainment Software Rating Board, or ESRB, decides the ratings of video games, much like the MPAA decides the rating for movies. The purpose of these rating organizations is to "protect children", or at least that's the reason they say. If you know much about movies, you'll know that many kids, way younger then 17, are allowed to watch R-rated movies, many parents don't care. With video games, it is the same thing, people don't care and sometimes they just don't notice it.

The ESRB doesn't work because not enough people take it seriously. Consider the following scenario; an 11 year boy goes in with his dad to purchase a mature rated video game. Of course the boy would get carded, and wouldn't be able to get the game if he came alone. His dad goes up to the register, and the boy asks for the game. The clerk proceeds to tell the father just how violent the game is. This for can make the  father feel agitated, that the clerk has the nerve to tell him how to parent his child. Chances are this isn't the first time the kid is buying a mature rated game, and his dad just doesn't care. Secondly, his father's reference may be a little dated. By this I mean that he does not picture the same type of violence that is intended. When he was young, video games were just blocky groups of pixels, chopping off an enemy's head was not really that violent on games during the 80s. At the same time, the child is made uncomfortable, and will take his father to purchase his next game at a different store, to avoid the conversation.

That not all games are created equally, and especially not rated equally. Sometimes games that have a teen rating, have language and violence that should be considered by most to be mature. One said game is the original Enter the Matrix, for the Playstation 2. The game contained similar language, everything but the f-word, and violence, just like it's counterpart movie, which is R-rated. Yet it received a Teen rating. They don't actually play the games they rent, instead the game company sends in footage of the game's most violent and offensive content, they watch it, and base it on that. As you can imagine, there have been times where the ESRB will change their rating after the fact. An example of this is, the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, originally it was given a Teen rating. After the release, it was brought to their attention that by accessing files on the PC version that are locked out, one could create nude characters. Thus every version

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