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| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | |
| Posted By: Dan Rudolph <Ace_of_Sevens@mac.com> | Date: 8/17/01 1:33 a.m. |
In Response To: Re: Halo to have a teen rating? (vector40) Okay, you asked for it. Because I'm a lazy bastard, most of this is cribbed from a letter I wrote the ESRB several months ago. For those unfamiliar with the ESRB rating process, this is how it works: the developers send in a tape containing representative footage from the game. The ESRB has three non-gamers look at it and decide on the rating, possibly after a bit of Q & A with the developers. The obvious flaw with this is that three people are not a large enough sample to come up with consistent results. I'm pretty sure that a game's rating depends a lot on who gets drawn as judges. Also, it's too trusting of the developer to actually give them representative footage. I have come to believe the ESRB is at least a little arbitrary. The best examples are the instances when the same game has received different ratings on different platforms despite being identical on all. Good examples are Grand Theft Auto 2 (T on PSX, M on DC an PC) and Soul Reaver (M on DC, T on PSX and PC) though these all seems to have been rerated as M. Granted, they all deserved an M with the impalation and whatnot, but it bothers me that the ESRB can retro rate things and raise the rating. Also, they very often miss potentially offensive material. For instance, Shadowman has no warnings for suggestive themes or strong language. Suggestive themes is questionable, but the game does open with Michael and Nettie in bed together partially clothed, and later in the intro, he makes a reference to how she really moves him. Strong language ought to be pretty clear. There are related problems with the Duke Nukem series. Many games in this series have received descriptors for strong sexual content, even though it doesn't fit the description on the ESRB's site. The ESRB defines it as "Graphic depiction of sexual behavior and/or the human form (i.e., frontal nudity) in either animated or photographic like detail." The closest Duke comes to this is strippers on poles in their underwear. No nipples or any of the other naughty bits are even shown. The Sega Saturn version of Duke only got a suggestive themes warning, despite being pretty much identical to the other versions of Duke 3d. This would seem to be more appropriate, as the sexual content of Duke amounts almost entirely to innuendo. Duke Nukem: Zero Hour, which is for N64, though no platform is listed on the ESRB's site, contains as much sexual innuendo as any of the series, yet it has no descriptor for such. I would also quibble with the rating of Parasite Eve. Its M rating was apparently because of the Mature Sexual themes descriptor (Demo had no such descriptor and got a T). This was off base. The ESRB defines Mature sexual themes as "Contains provocative material, including depiction of the human body in either animated or photographic like formats." While Eve was naked toward the end, it was not provacative. She was no longer human, and wearing clothes was just an aspect of humanity. Nothing to do with sex. And by the point Eve lost her clothes, she only vaguely resembled a human, thus striking down another qualifier. Lastly, her nudity wasn't at all graphic. She was textured mostly a flat white with no nipples or genitalia. In fact, it seems the when the mature sexual themes warning is applied, it rarely fits the description given. Metal Gear solid got it for a pixeled out butt shot, some talk about reproduction in philosophical terms, and the implication the Colonel had sex with his brother's wife. Nothing resembling graphic nudity, which is all the official definition says. My final concern is that the Game Boy seems to get an automatic break in ratings for some reason. In Metal Gear Solid, you run around and shoot peope with guns, yet it got an E. There's no blood but, still. The GB version of Killer Instinct also got Es, despite not being any less violent than many T fighting games on consoles. The ESRB has shown improvement in this area with T ratings on Mortal Kombat 4 and Street Fighter Alpha, but it's too early to say whether the trend is reversed. I am glad to see that they dropped the realstic/animated distinction for blood and gore, as nothing was ever deemed realistic, and it didn't seem that important a distinction anyway. In conclusion, the ESRb needs to rewrite the definitions of their sexual desriptors or start applying them as per their definition. They also need to keep their ears open for swearing or start insisting developers submit tapes with a more wholistic look at the game. And finally, they need to be more consistent with both ratings and descriptors. | |
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| Replies: |
| Halo to have a teen rating? | PsychoBean | 8/15/01 4:00 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | Siva (W'rk) | 8/15/01 4:29 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | Matt | 8/15/01 8:51 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | vector40 | 8/15/01 9:00 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | Strider | 8/15/01 9:20 p.m. |
| Well, we do know... | Tursas | 8/15/01 10:24 p.m. |
| Re: Well, we do know... | Carth | 8/18/01 8:56 a.m. |
| It's raining Covenent. | Jester | 8/16/01 2:43 p.m. |
| Re: It's raining Covenent. | Fuolornis Fire Dragon | 8/17/01 2:21 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | Colin Berry | 8/15/01 10:29 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | Dan Rudolph | 8/16/01 2:41 a.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | FriendlyFire | 8/16/01 7:53 a.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | vector40 | 8/16/01 2:22 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | Dan Rudolph | 8/17/01 1:33 a.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | vector40 | 8/19/01 7:01 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | Dan Rudolph | 8/19/01 8:01 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | vector40 | 8/19/01 8:54 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | Dan Rudolph | 8/20/01 6:26 a.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | vector40 | 8/20/01 3:59 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | Andy | 8/16/01 11:21 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | vector40 | 8/16/01 11:52 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | DJL | 8/17/01 11:46 a.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | Dan Rudolph | 8/16/01 2:43 a.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | vector40 | 8/16/01 2:22 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | Dan Rudolph | 8/17/01 1:09 a.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | John Denton | 8/16/01 2:54 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | jamman | 8/16/01 3:14 p.m. |
| It really is. *NM* | John Denton | 8/16/01 5:56 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | vector40 | 8/16/01 4:20 p.m. |
| Re: Halo to have a teen rating? | John Denton | 8/16/01 2:58 p.m. |
| Assimilated Bobs are political correct *NM* | •M | 8/16/01 4:34 p.m. |
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