ESRB Ratings and potential changes(long read)

http://gamepolitics.com/2006/10/16/smartbomb-author-has-plan-to-fix-esrb/
http://gamepolitics.com/?s=ruby

There are thos that wish to change how the ESRB by either reviewing a game by playing it all the way threw or whining that the system is so confusing that they want it replaced.

1.You could cheat your way threw a game to review it but that would still needlessly delay a game by months ,having the devs show the most obscene matrail is reasonable and have not failed them yet,because if GTA:SA was played threw by the ESRB they would have never saw Hot coffee if they played threw Oblivion they may still have gave it a T rating since the EXTERNAL nude patch made them pause and re review the game.



2.The rating system has been made harder to understand by the needless insertion of the descriptors dumbing it down to a movie rating like system should help with things,also the ESRB has added 2 more levels of rating in the past year or so and I for see them adding more because the system they have now is ill equip to handle ALL game types
--------
ESRB ratings are they are today.

EARLY CHILDHOOD (ok)
Titles rated EC (Early Childhood) have content that may be suitable for ages 3 and older. Contains no material that parents would find inappropriate.

EVERYONE (vauge)
Titles rated E (Everyone) have content that may be suitable for ages 6 and older. Titles in this category may contain minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language.

EVERYONE 10+ (ok)
Titles rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) have content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older. Titles in this category may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes.

TEEN (kinda vague)
Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language.

MATURE (ok)
Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.

ADULTS ONLY (18+ is adult...not in all states..)
Titles rated AO (Adults Only) have content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.

RATING PENDING
Titles listed as RP (Rating Pending) have been submitted to the ESRB and are awaiting final rating. (This symbol appears only in advertising prior to a game's release.)

-----------------------------------
Heres the rating setup I have come up with

“G” learning and non violent
Early learning
Everyone Non violence (puzzle games and what have you)
—–
“PG” cartoon and fantasy type action games
Everyone (games like Zelda)
Everyone 10+ (games with a bit harder content like most 2D FF games)
—-
“PG13″ Games with mild blood and strong themes like Star wars
Teen 13+ No need for change
Teen 16+: knock 17 down to 16 then split the diffrance overly violent and sexy go to 18 the rest go to 16+
—–
Games not for kids,because of the distaste the US has for “sex” it needs to be split into 2 category’s so that no game based on violance alone can be rated “AO”

Mature 18+:Games that are to gory or strong for “17″
Adults Only:games that have sex and nudity in them.

In the end they can make the rating system easier to understand but they can not change the review possess if they do change to playing the game threw it will create months(5-15) of delays for game releases and destroy the industry.

To me T and M need 2 tiers badly,E has already evolved to 3 tiers but frankly you have 6 sets of ages
below 6,around 6 to 10,10+ ,13+ and 17+ and “adult”
this is why each should be split using content and violence as markers

“G” learning and non violent
Early learning
Everyone Non violence (puzzle games and what have you)
—–
“PG” cartoon and fantasy type action games
Everyone (games like Zelda)
Everyone 10+ (games with a bit harder content like most 2D FF games)
—-
“PG13″ Games with mild blood and strong themes like Star wars
Teen 13+ No need for change
Teen 16+: knock 17 down to 16 then split the diffrance overly violent and sexy go to 18 the rest go to 16+
—–
Games not for kids,because of the distaste the US has for “sex” it needs to be split into 2 category’s so that no game on violance alone can be rated “AO”

Mature 18+:Games that are to gory or strong for “17″
Adults Only:games that have sex and nudity in them.

with this setup you don’t have to “change” or “upgrade” it in the next few years it has room to take ANY game into it.
==========================


I know this is probably a bad place to put it but surely we have some smart people here that know WTF I am talking abut and can comment wisely and non flamingly