Do you follow the ESRB rating strictly???

[DeSmOnD dAvId]

Hi guys,

I'm sick of this ESRB rating on games (E,T,M,blah,blah). Do you follow it strictly while playing? I don't. I completed Half Life (1), without taking a second look at the ESRB rating (M).

Happy Fraggin!

[drvarunmehta]

Even I don't care. But they have to put it there for legal reasons because of parents groups protesting the sale of violent games to underage kids.

[Nemesis]

I do take a look at the rating, but that doesn't affect my ubying decision :)

And drvarunmehta is right. Those ratings are for legal reasons and they are also there to help parents decide if a particular game is suitable for their kids.

[AcceleratorX]

I dont care about the ratings, I am 13 years old but most of my games are rated M at ESRB or 16+ at PEGI.

[expertno.1]

Mr. Acceleraotr then i must call ur parents coz u should not play those games..which may harm u..otherwise why these games have been rated !

Well i look at the ratings but since i get few games to play i play them alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllll

[AcceleratorX]

Most of these M rated games are gory stuff, sometimes scary. But mostly it doesnt affect me at all.

[Charley]

I look at the ratings before I make a decision.

[ctrl_alt_del]

Not me, but I will really take care to see what the ratings are when I buy any game for my children in future.

[ashu888ashu888]

The ESRB as they r called r totally a crap thing for me :wink: coz its the game that matters and not the ratings !!! u wouldnt hv known abt the EA's latest title, the SIMS (sumthing a flirty thing) unless u dont play it in real time !! :wink:

neways the BOTTOM line is that u hv to KICK every bad asses buTT b4 they kick ur b@ll$ out of the town !!! :twisted: :twisted:

cheers n e-peace..mates...

and yes HAPPY FRAGGIN' !!!!!

[Delpiero]

I don't care a **it about these ratings. I just unpack the cd put it in the DVD drive and start playing. These ratings are nothing.

[Prashray]

Even I don't care about it.

[ctrl_alt_del]

It would be naive to say that the ratings mean nothing. I haven't come across a single game that has been awarded a rating that it doesn't deserves. Imagine a game like "Manhunt" with a "+3" rating and a kid clamouring to have it. How will you explain that?

Honouring a rating is your personal choice but calling it useless is something which I don't agree with.

[tarey_g]

manhunt was a dull game imo(voilence is not always entertainment, it lacked the special element which makes a game good) , whatever rating does a game has , i need not to worry abt them except one

K+ - For kids below 10 yrs, lol

[raj14]

OH Puh-lease i am not 18, and yet i have Tons of M Rated Games, Also an A Rated one: Playboy: the Mansion, ESRB ratings Don't matter in india

[mamba]

its like saying u CANT watch ' A ' rated movies b4 ur 18 :lol: i used 2 watch them all

so applies with the games ( tho have been above the legal limit now 4 the past 2 yrs ) :D

if u like 'em , play 'em

yeh hai india meri jaan :lol: yahan sab chalta hai

btw , have ne of ur parents ever looked at the ratings of the games u play . bet they dont even no such a thing exists even 4 games !!!!!!!!! the mindset here is , if its a computer game , its meant 4 kids

[Nemesis]

Hehe well said mamba. But the ratings are there just as an indicator. ESRB is not forcing anything, but just laying out guidelines. It's totally upto the consumers to decide whether or not to follow them. It's just a legal thing. They too know that these ratings don't matter. :lol:

[ammusk]

even parents of young kids dont even bother to take a second look at the restricted rating on many films for violence like
matrix reloaded
star wars III
etc

so even when they dont bother about the content their kids are exposed do u really believe we will give it a second tought ( if we give a first one )

ammusk

[plasmafire]

ratings eh.. I look at them.. the badder the better ...
so yes it affects my buying decision.. :-D
manhunt was a nice game..the videos were made using real physics.postal 2, and i forget a few were a few gory games worth the R rating

[plasmafire]

there is one way that they matter..

u can return a game saying that it was sold to ur minor brother, the shop has to accept it back. of course even if u have installed the game, u can't play without the original CD or DVD... heh heh *cough

[drvarunmehta]

there is one way that they matter..

u can return a game saying that it was sold to ur minor brother, the shop has to accept it back. of course even if u have installed the game, u can't play without the original CD or DVD... heh heh *cough
*cough* No CD crack *cough*

[plasmafire]

@drvarunmehta Thx m8 now u get warned, banned and burnt at the stake by the all-seeing mods..lol..

[rohanbee]

well if and when i have kids i will start taking these ratings more seriously...........

[Charley]

well if and when i have kids i will start taking these ratings more seriously...........

Which kinda games ?? ?? :)

[intense_dude]

Never really care bout those ratings........
I play any game that i like, whatever the rating may be.

[shaunak]

let me tell u of a recent incident:
I was at planet m and this 40 something guy comes up and asks the sales guy for a game for his 12yr old nephew. The sales guy dipped in and gave him Doom3!!! The 40 something guy didnt know abt ratings so he was going to buy it.
His eyes fell on the warning lable reading 17+. when he asked the sales guy the sales guy told him it was the diffuculty level!!! and he fell for it! Can u believe that. later when i asked the sales guy why he did that he said: "bcoz doom3 wasnt selling well !"

it was really the height of ignorance.

immagine the 12year old kids reaction when he starts playing the game!!!

[Charley]

His eyes fell on the warning lable reading 17+. when he asked the sales guy the sales guy told him it was the diffuculty level!!! and he fell for it! Can u believe that. later when i asked the sales guy why he did that he said: "bcoz doom3 wasnt selling well !"

it was really the height of ignorance.

immagine the 12year old kids reaction when he starts playing the game!!!

This is what happens when ratings are given.

Thats RATINGS for you. :lol:

[speedyguy]

well i just take a look at it to get d idea of d game's maturity level....though its compulsory n it shud be given as some games really shud not be bothered by young ones....yes but i dont efect my decision on d ratings.
cheers

[plasmafire]

well the 12yr old will be pretty happy.. he got D# rather than pokemon or sonic

[King_Niral]

Dont care a Hang !!!!


Cheers !!!

[akshar]

There is some purpose behind it try to understand why these ratings are put.

[Charley]

There is some purpose behind it try to understand why these ratings are put.

That is right .. But how many bother abt it .. I havent seen many of my friends or relatives follow it.

[DeSmOnD dAvId]

This is what happens when ratings are given.




Very right, Ratings hurt more than they do good!!

[moshel]

Even I don't care. But they have to put it there for legal reasons because of parents groups protesting the sale of violent games to underage kids.

well the old lady who busted out the whole Hot coffee thingy of gta had bought the game for her 14 yr old grand son. and then she sues rockstar ppl for it. the game was 17+. so in a way its just depends on parents whether they want to let their kid play a certain kinda game. and i am above 21 now so i can play any game.......

[enoonmai]

Here's an interesting development that's related to the spirit of this thread.

Violent Games Bill Passes California Legislature -
Governor Schwarzenegger has 30 days to sign AB1179 or veto it; bill would take effect January 1.

The California Assembly has adjourned until next year, but not before squeezing a few bills in under the wire. One such bill was Assemblyman Leland Yee's AB1179, which looks to prohibit retailers from selling violent games to minors, lest they be fined $1,000 for each violation.

AB1179 was passed by the California Senate yesterday by a vote of 22-9. The bill then went back to the Assembly, where it was approved 65-7. Now the bill goes to the desk of California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who must sign or veto the bill by October 9.

"Governor Schwarzenegger is no longer an action star but an elected representative of all Californians; I am hopeful that he will consider our children's best interests by signing this commonsense legislation into law and giving parents a necessary tool to raise healthy kids," said speaker pro tempore Yee in a statement.

If signed by Schwarzenegger, AB1179 would go into effect January 1, 2006.

Yee has previously introduced similar legislation to this effect, and while one such bill was signed into law by Schwarzenegger last year, it had been thoroughly watered down along the way. Yee's AB450 (which eventually became AB1179), stalled in the legislature earlier this year, but the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Hot Coffee scandal once again attracted public attention to the issue and spurred the bill out of its legislative limbo.

Yee's bill also would require violent games to be labeled as being for sale to adults only by way of a solid white "18" sticker no smaller than 2 inches by 2 inches on the front of the package; the "18" would be outlined in black. For an idea of how visible that sticker will be, keep in mind that Game Boy Advance boxes are slightly smaller than 5 inches by 5 inches.

The bill makes no mention of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) or its ratings system, instead offering its own definition of what constitutes a violent video game. According to the bill, that would be "a video game in which the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being," so long as it's offensive to community standards and without artistic merit or allows players to hurt other characters "in a manner which is especially heinous, cruel, or depraved in that it involves torture or serious physical abuse to the victim." The bill also defines terms like heinous, cruel, and torture. However, with no definitive governing body set up to determine in advance which games fall into this category, it appears publishers and retailers will have to decide for themselves what fits the government's definition of a violent game, and worry about fines and legislation later.

Other states have instituted laws like this before, but previous attempts have been declared unconstitutional. At the moment, an Illinois law banning the sale of violent games to minors is being challenged, and the dispute is likely to be fought on a nationwide level in the coming months. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) called for federal legislation in the wake of the Hot Coffee scandal, though nothing has come of that yet.

Interestingly enough, Yee's bill, the full text of which is available by searching for AB1179 on the State Assembly's Web site, does not require labeling of games containing consensual sex of the sort that tipped off the Hot Coffee controversy in the first place.

Source: GameSpot (http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/09/09/news_6132907.html)

If California signs it, you can bet Hillary Clinton will pressurize New York into signing something like this, and it will only be a matter of time before a trickle-down effect makes sure almost every state in the US will sign it, making other countries follow suit. In the end, there should be harsher punishment against the people who sell the game to people without finding out who the game will be played by. The ratings exist for a reason, both in games and in movies, and it would only do our country a world of good if we enforced them as much as possible.