Facing Up to Ratings

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Because the latest version of Windows will enable ratings-based parental controls, it is likely that the debate over the effectiveness of those ratings will continue unabated. Politicians and parents groups have long held that games are becoming more violent and access to them by young children is easier than ever.

But the data suggests otherwise. In 2006, 53% of the ratings assigned by the ESRB were "E" (for "Everyone") ratings, up from 50% in 2005, while "M" (for "Mature") ratings slid to 8% from 12% in 2005, according to data not yet publicly released by the ESRB. In both years, less than 1% of the ratings assigned were "AO" (for "Adults Only") ratings.

"I would expect that this trend will continue in 2007 as well," notes Anita Frazier, industry analyst at the Port Washington, NY-based NPD Group. "While the role of mature-rated content, particularly among the heavy gamer segment, cannot be discounted, a good deal of industry growth will be realized by games that expand the audience for gaming and, in many cases, this will be content with a milder rating."

Regardless, political pressure on the video games industry -- and on the ESRB -- continues, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, says Vance. "When political figures encourage parental education, when parents get involved in the media consumption in their home, when parents start to pay attention to the ratings information that's available, that's when the system really works. And I think the system does work, but politics is politics -- and not all politicians are necessarily familiar with everything we are doing," she adds, which includes a partnership with the PTA and a public service announcement campaign to promote awareness of the ESRB's ratings system.

She stresses that, because there is no regulation in the U.S. when it comes to video game content -- unlike in many countries, where legislation can prevent inappropriate games from being sold to minors -- education about the voluntary ESRB ratings system is of primary importance.

In the U.K., games containing gross violence and/or sexual content need to be submitted to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), a government body, for legal age classification. Only 2% to 3% of the games published -- the so-called "extreme games" -- receive this treatment. If a retailer sells, for example, a game rated "18" to a 15-year-old, they can be fined up to 3,000 pounds (approximately $6,000) and be jailed for up to six months.

"It is enforced and people are fined and prosecuted," notes Hall. "Some people will say that it isn't enforced enough, but the law is there. If there is any problem at all, it's lack of enforcement."

In Germany, game ratings are controlled by the four-year-old German Juvenile Protecting Law, not the PEGI system.

"There had been a shooting in a school there and, just as in the U.S., a computer game was blamed," explains Hall. "Legislation was passed that all video games in Germany had to be rated by their government."

Unless they have been banned completely, perhaps due to excessive force. For example, the Web site GamePolitics.com reports that Microsoft's forthcoming cops-and-robbers game Crackdown was refused classification, as was Microsoft's Gears Of War and Capcom's Dead Rising, all three Xbox 360 games. Unclassified games can't be sold to minors in Germany and can't be displayed in stores or advertised.

"We are having much political as well as public discussion about so-called 'killer games' and whether banning them is the best way to deal with them," says Jurgen Hilse, the Permanent Representative of the Supreme Youth Authorities of the Lander at the USK (Unterhaltungssoftware Selfstkontrolle), Germany's software rating body.

Indeed, discussion has heated up following "two recent events when juveniles ran amok -- in Emsdetten and Tessin [in Germany] -- which may have resulted from computer games," he notes. "An evaluation of the current law is now going to start and the results of this evaluation will be considered for possible changes in the law."

Meanwhile, he adds, "