The Rating System and a Plea to Parents
All of us watch the news and notice that there always seems to be a parent who is concerned for their child and start the blame game.
The truth is a lot of times this conflict can be avoided if the
misunderstanding of the rating system was cleared up
in a way that all of us can understand.
In 1975, a movie by the name of Death Race 2000, which was a film about a dystopian future where a transcontinental road race takes place as entertainment for the masses by running over pedestrians. Also in 1975, an arcade company by the name of Exidy released a game titled Destruction Derby. After the release of the Death Race 2000 film, Exidy used much of the same logic from Destruction Derby and created a game titled Death Race in 1976. The game created a huge controversy. In Death Race, the player controls a car and the objective is to hit gremlins, but due to the primitive graphics of the time the gremlins resembled nothing more than stick figures. Once hit, a high pitched noise can be heard that almost sounds like a scream and the gremlins become a tombstone that resembles a cross.
Then later in the Early 1980s, erotic games made their way to the home market. Two of this games can be found in our collections and they are Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em (left) and Custer's Revenge (right). Custer's Revenge actually featured a Native American that was bound to a pole and forcefully raped for points. There was also massive controversy on these games as well. Many groups tried to have them banned.
There are many more examples, but to keep it short. I am trying to show you that video games have always had an adult side to them, in fact Ralph H. Baer, the father of home video games was once asked if he thought he "unleashed a monster" when he created his pong game. He responded by saying “Yeah. I did a bit. What I thought I unleashed was a family game. If you’ll stop to consider for a second, what’s the ping pong game? You can’t play ping pong with yourself. It was meant to be played by two people. And we had four-handed ping pong and hockey games early on, also. I always thought of it as a family game. And it just sort of degenerated into a one player type thing which was never in my mind.” video games were intended to be for the family adults included, not just the children, it was meant to bring a family together, not bring them apart.
Yes, there will always be games exclusively for adults. Yes, there will always be games exclusively for children, but these days we have a rating system to distinguish which games those are.
ESRB Rating System
This rating is the Early Childhood rating and is meant for smaller children.
This is the Everyone rating and this tells you that the content within the game is generally suitable for all ages. May contain minimal cartoon,
fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language. This is the kind of game the whole family can enjoy.
This is the Everyone 10+ rating and this tells you that a the game may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes. this game is a family game, but should be played with caution if you have younger kids under the age of 10.
This is the Teen rating and this tells you that a game may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood,
simulated gambling and/or infrequent use of strong language. Just like the Everyone 10+ rating, it can be enjoyed by the whole family, but if you have children under the age of 13, play with caution.
This is the Mature rating and this tells you that a game may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language. This is the type of game that is more on the adult side and should not really be played by people under the age of 17.
This is the Adults Only rating and this tells you that a game may include prolonged scenes of intense violence, graphic sexual content and/or gambling with real currency. Just like the rating says, these games should be play by adults only. Not to be played by anyone under the age of 18.
This means Rating Pending which is used to tell you the game is not yet rated. This is usually used in advertising a game. The game will be released later with one of the above ratings.
Parents please, read the ratings on game boxes and decide if your child is mature enough for it. The back of the box also contains a description on why it received the rating it did.
How Rating Works:
When an app or game is created, it is submitted by the developer for review. The developer is then asked questions about the content of the game. An algorithm is then used to place a rating on the game or app based on the region of its release.
History of Violent and Adult Video Games
Today, we are going to talk about the North American rating system (ESRB) and reveal a little history of violence and adult video games.
The reason that we have the problem that is mentioned in the intro of concerned parents is many parents still have the mindset that video games are only for kids. A quick look back in time will show you that video games were never exclusively for kids.
In 1975, a movie by the name of Death Race 2000, which was a film about a dystopian future where a transcontinental road race takes place as entertainment for the masses by running over pedestrians. Also in 1975, an arcade company by the name of Exidy released a game titled Destruction Derby. After the release of the Death Race 2000 film, Exidy used much of the same logic from Destruction Derby and created a game titled Death Race in 1976. The game created a huge controversy. In Death Race, the player controls a car and the objective is to hit gremlins, but due to the primitive graphics of the time the gremlins resembled nothing more than stick figures. Once hit, a high pitched noise can be heard that almost sounds like a scream and the gremlins become a tombstone that resembles a cross.
To add fuel to the controversy, the working title of the game was simply Pedestrian, and the president of Exidy, inc. denied that the game was intended to promote violence. The media continued to attack it. NBC's 60 Minutes even had an investigation on the psychological effects that video games had.
Below is just a few newspaper clippings about Death Race
Then later in the Early 1980s, erotic games made their way to the home market. Two of this games can be found in our collections and they are Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em (left) and Custer's Revenge (right). Custer's Revenge actually featured a Native American that was bound to a pole and forcefully raped for points. There was also massive controversy on these games as well. Many groups tried to have them banned.
There are many more examples, but to keep it short. I am trying to show you that video games have always had an adult side to them, in fact Ralph H. Baer, the father of home video games was once asked if he thought he "unleashed a monster" when he created his pong game. He responded by saying “Yeah. I did a bit. What I thought I unleashed was a family game. If you’ll stop to consider for a second, what’s the ping pong game? You can’t play ping pong with yourself. It was meant to be played by two people. And we had four-handed ping pong and hockey games early on, also. I always thought of it as a family game. And it just sort of degenerated into a one player type thing which was never in my mind.” video games were intended to be for the family adults included, not just the children, it was meant to bring a family together, not bring them apart.
Yes, there will always be games exclusively for adults. Yes, there will always be games exclusively for children, but these days we have a rating system to distinguish which games those are.
ESRB Rating System
This rating is the Early Childhood rating and is meant for smaller children.Parents please, read the ratings on game boxes and decide if your child is mature enough for it. The back of the box also contains a description on why it received the rating it did.
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