Over the past 6 to 7 years that I have been playing video games, it has not occured to me until recently that maybe the ESRB has gone a little too far lately. I realize this by comparing ESRB ratings to MPAA (that's the movie rating board for all of you) ratings. I realize that the language permitted in PG-13 ratings is much greater than that in T ratings, such words as @$$hole and even the F word can be heard in PG-13 movies while there is absolutely no chance that you would ever hear such words in a T game.
Gore, violence, and blood is also more excused in PG-13 movies. Such movies as the new King-Kong, Lord of the Rings, Hellboy, and many more are actually considered perfectly fine for the rating, but you wouldn't see any of it in games below the mature rating. So does the ESRB overreact at times? Yes, or no?
Let's take it to the next level. The film The Reader has an entire hour or more based on sex and nudity in every scene, but was rated R, although most pornographic films are rated NC-17. A game based off of this would be rated AO. Same goes for some nude scenes such as in The Shining and The Ruins.
So... what do you think? I say the ESRB should change their rating system and create a more functional way to rate games. T games should deserve gore and allow some higher profanity. M games... I'm not entirely sure what to think. All I know is, it should change to work closer to the MPAA. But for now, that won't change.
Gore, violence, and blood is also more excused in PG-13 movies. Such movies as the new King-Kong, Lord of the Rings, Hellboy, and many more are actually considered perfectly fine for the rating, but you wouldn't see any of it in games below the mature rating. So does the ESRB overreact at times? Yes, or no?
Let's take it to the next level. The film The Reader has an entire hour or more based on sex and nudity in every scene, but was rated R, although most pornographic films are rated NC-17. A game based off of this would be rated AO. Same goes for some nude scenes such as in The Shining and The Ruins.
So... what do you think? I say the ESRB should change their rating system and create a more functional way to rate games. T games should deserve gore and allow some higher profanity. M games... I'm not entirely sure what to think. All I know is, it should change to work closer to the MPAA. But for now, that won't change.