STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLO. – The thing parents need to understand about the age-based suitability ratings prominently displayed on video game packaging is they are bestowed by raters with no training in child development who are paid by an organization founded by the video game industry itself.
"What the ratings are telling us is not what’s good or bad for kids, it’s telling us what society will accept – what the industry can get away without getting people pissed off at them," Dr. Michael Rich said at a meeting on practical pediatrics, sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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Parents should keep in mind that suitability ratings for video games are bestowed by industry insiders with no child development training.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) raters don’t even get to actually play the games before making their determinations. Instead, they are provided with a manufacturer-edited video sample of part of the game being played by someone else. In other words, they receive only part of the content, explained Dr. Rich, director of the center on media and child health at Children’s Hospital, Boston.
The video game industry’s ratings are based on the self-regulating rating system developed by the movie industry, with which Dr. Rich said he is intimately familiar. He began his career in adolescent medicine after a dozen years as a Hollywood filmmaker, a highlight of which was serving as the assistant director to the legendary Akira Kurosawa on the making of Kagemusha, which means "shadow warrior."
"We have a system in place to ensure a safe food supply so that when we walk down a grocery store aisle we can read labels and know what we’re putting in our kids’ bodies. Because of the way we approach media ratings, we’ve got no idea, really, what we’re putting into kids’ minds," he said.
Dr. Michael Rich
The arbitrary age cutoffs used in the ESRB rating system are just plain silly, as not all 13-year-olds or 17-year-olds are developmentally equal, Dr. Rich noted. He said he favors instead a descriptive rating system that tells what happens in a video game.
"You really want to know whether you’re going to be killing hookers or building a farm," the pediatrician continued.
He said he recommends that parents disregard the ESRB ratings in favor of a more trustworthy rating system developed independently of the video game industry, such as Common Sense Media. Kids-in-Mind rates movies.
"While they are also fairly subjective, at least they’re coming from the position of a parent who cares, who’s seen it and rates it for you and tells you exactly what you’re going to find if you’re worried about violence or nudity or language," Dr. Rich said.
Patricia Vance, president of the ESRB, said, “The age ratings we assign serve as a reference point by which parents may make their own determination about a game’s suitability for their child, and the content descriptors give a clear and unmistakable warning about the type of material that contributed to that rating, and which a parent might reasonably want to know about. As a supplemental resource, we also offer ‘rating summaries’ via our website and a free mobile app. These provide brief but detailed descriptions of a game’s content, including specific examples.
We do not pretend to be perfect, nor do we believe that a rating can ever objectively represent the sensibilities of every single parent. But we do take seriously the obligation we have to provide them with trustworthy guidance about video game content," she said in a written statement.*
He reported that he had no relevant financial disclosures.
* Updated 2/29/2012 to include additional information.