Insider Gamer’s Loop

We’ve discussed video game ratings multiple times in the past because we believe it is an important issue. We’ve considered what criteria ratings should be based on, how strictly games should be rated, and what responsibility the industry and parents have in making sure ratings are effective. But a simple question raised recently questions the premise of ratings and the frequent discussion surrounding them.

Do parent pay attention to video game ratings?

In order for us to fully grasp the relevance of this question we need to understand that video game ratings are designed to be a tool used by consumers. While developers and publishers are directly responsible for the content of games, neither the ESRB, the PEGI, or any other video game rating organization is intended to regulate content; the purpose of ratings boards are to categorize content for the sake of the consumer. So while we acknowledge that the content created for games hold an important place in the discussion of how video games are viewed and handled by society, particularly how they are consumed by children, we also recognize that ratings are a tool ultimately intended to be used by consumers, specifically parents.

On the Bioware website gamers were recently posed with the question: “Did your parents pay attention to the ESRB ratings and the games you played when you were a child?” As of Saturday night on September 27th, sixty-four percent (64%) responded ‘No’ and twenty percent (20%) responded ‘Yes’ out of a total 2,715 votes.

We found this poll to be extremely telling, and furthermore found the discussion on the Bioware forums to be equally insightful. You can read the entire thread here, but we’ve collected some of the choice comments below.

Posted by the_sextein:

My parents usually didn’t pay attention to ESRB ratings when I was a kid but if the game got an M for Mature rating sometimes the place my parents would buy games from would warn them that the game they were buying was rated M for mature. My parents didn’t mind buying me M rated games because I proved that I was mature enough to handle them but they knew to keep an eye on the game they just purchased since it had adult content.

Posted by The Elite_elite:

No, my parents never really payed any attention to the rating of the games I played. However, when I was really young they were quite restrictive. (My mom got very upset when I was playing Gex and she heard him say “damnit”) But, when I got older, she has had no problems with me playing games with cursing in them. So while my parents never payed any attention to the game rating they would pay attention to what I played when I was younger.

Posted by Chokladglass:

Not caring about ratings and not caring what your kid plays are two very different things…

Posted by The Elite_elite:

Quite frankly paying attention to the game is better than paying attention to the ratings. The ratings don’t really tell you much of anything, just draws attention to some very broad issues.

What do we think?

Ratings are a tool to be used by parents. They can help a parent to make an informed decision, but they don’t do the work for you. Parents have to be informed, they have to be involved. We’ve brought it up before in the past - the only way to know what is or isn’t appropriate for your child to play is to sit down and watch it or better yet, play it for yourself.

The users on the Bioware forums are hitting it right on, parents need to pay attention to games more than ratings. I know my parents often didn’t care what the rating on a game was, but they were always present to monitor what I was playing.

Ratings will continue to be discussed and debated and with good reason we’ll continue to measure how effective, or ineffective, they are. But a discussion on ratings only goes this far: they are a tool that has to be utilized properly. We’ve gone as far as we’re going to go discussing ratings. If we really want to have a discussion about the place of video games within our entertainment spectrum and how they’re consumed by children, we need to start having more discussion on parenting.

Think about it, seriously.

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Did your parents pay attention to the ESRB ratings and the games you played when you were a child? [ Bioware forums]