28 réponses à ce sujet

[I SNiP3R Ix]

I was talking to friend the other day and he made an interesting point about the British Army & Modern Warfare 2(You may have heard it before). He said: 'Whats the point of putting a warfare game up for sale as RATED 18yrs, when you can join the army at 16? How do they compare?'

This lead me to think about people and age ratings and i wanted to get the worlds opinion on this topic;

I'm currently 15 with really strict parents(i've never owned rated 18 game) yet where i live all the other parents just let their children to play and buy any game. It obviosly makes me feel left out. But is it just me or are video game ratings getting more and more severe and harsh? For example: Mass Effect 1 was rated 12, the game involved a lot of shooting a lot of killing and i think some language. Yet Mass Effect 2 is given a rating of 15 when it is almost exactly the same as ME1 why...?

I want to hear your views on this topic;
- Is it right for younger children to be playing games intended for thoses older?
- What ratings of most 18 games should be? Are they over rated?
- Should game ratings be lowered to more realistic ages (like army games as mentioned before)

(((AMERICANS))) Just to let you know, if you don't already, british ratings go as folow;

BBFC- U(Universal), PG(Parental Guidance), 12, 15,18
PEGI- 3,7,12,16,18

Modifié par I SNiP3R Ix, 02 mars 2010 - 09:23 .

[JBC4733]

What do I think? Americans are paranoid.



Seriously, with today's society, sheltering your kids from everything even remotely inappropriate is futile. I can understand it with YOUNG children, because they're more impressionable. Honestly, though, when you're a teenager and enter high school (probably earlier), your mind is already corrupted -- kids are going to figure out what they're going to figure out.

[I SNiP3R Ix]

I couldn't agree more I just wish I could say the same for my parents...

[Statulos]

You have a serious issue when media considers nudity and sex as something offensive while CNN and other news channels do not have issues on broadcasting walls covered with blood in Irak or humans executed in Afghanistan.

Modifié par Statulos, 02 mars 2010 - 09:47 .

[AshedMan]

I come from a time before age ratings on games, so I never had to get my parents to buy them. By the time the rating system was out I was old enough to get them myself. It's a little silly. I've always watched "R" rated movies and read horror novels from a very early age. A lot of my writing in school was based on extremely violent things. If kids wrote about the guts and gore that I had done then they'd be suspended from school and sent to counseling.

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but aren't the American rating systems voluntarily placed by the gaming companies in an effort to avoid the government stepping in and mandating certain ratings for certain actions?

Modifié par AshedMan, 02 mars 2010 - 09:49 .

[bzombo]

I SNiP3R Ix wrote...

I was talking to friend the other day and he made an interesting point about the British Army & Modern Warfare 2(You may have heard it before). He said: 'Whats the point of putting a warfare game up for sale as RATED 18yrs, when you can join the army at 16? How do they compare?'

This lead me to think about people and age ratings and i wanted to get the worlds opinion on this topic;

I'm currently 15 with really strict parents(i've never owned rated 18 game) yet where i live all the other parents just let their children to play and buy any game. It obviosly makes me feel left out. But is it just me or are video game ratings getting more and more severe and harsh? For example: Mass Effect 1 was rated 12, the game involved a lot of shooting a lot of killing and i think some language. Yet Mass Effect 2 is given a rating of 15 when it is almost exactly the same as ME1 why...?

I want to hear your views on this topic;
- Is it right for younger children to be playing games intended for thoses older?
- What ratings of most 18 games should be? Are they over rated?
- Should game ratings be lowered to more realistic ages (like army games as mentioned before)

(((AMERICANS))) Just to let you know, if you don't already, british ratings go as folow;

BBFC- U(Universal), PG(Parental Guidance), 12, 15,18
PEGI- 3,7,12,16,18

i am personally against game ratings. parents should be active in their children's lives and know what they're buying. i guess that's the libertarian streak in me. as for the poster who blamed paranoid americans, the rating system cited was a british one. i assume the op is from britain.

[Loerwyn]

I believe the current system in the UK is fine.

We have the BBFC and PEGI, both of which are now enforcable (Only BBFC was, previously). Modern Warfare 2 had an 18 rating, I think, because of a highly controversial mission where you play as a terrorist (I've not played the game, no plans to either) and not just for its violence/language which are pretty standard (generally games get 12-15 ratings for MW2 style violence).

[bzombo]

AshedMan wrote...

I come from a time before age ratings on games, so I never had to get my parents to buy them. By the time the rating system was out I was old enough to get them myself. It's a little silly. I've always watched "R" rated movies and read horror novels from a very early age. A lot of my writing in school was based on extremely violent things. If kids wrote about the guts and gore that I had done then they'd be suspended from school and sent to counseling.

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but aren't the American rating systems voluntarily placed by the gaming companies in an effort to avoid the government stepping in and mandating certain ratings for certain actions?

i am pretty sure that they are mandatory.

[Statulos]

Mavi, out of curiosity; when are you allowed to join the, let´s say, Royal Marines?

[I SNiP3R Ix]

[quote]OnlyShallow89 wrote...

I believe the current system in the UK is fine.
We have the BBFC and PEGI, both of which are now enforcable (Only BBFC was, previously). Modern Warfare 2 had an 18 rating, I think, because of a highly controversial mission where you play as a terrorist

But this is what i mean by that you can see all this by joining he army at 16 and yet you have to be 18 to simulate it??

Modifié par I SNiP3R Ix, 02 mars 2010 - 10:04 .

[I SNiP3R Ix]

[quote]Maviarab wrote...

But yes, its like sex (and I'm in the UK)....at 17 I can starta family, get married (without consent)....own my own property, be mortgaged to the hilt, have a job, be in debt drive a car etc etc..

yet I cant watch an adult video or buy an adult magazine? I mean wtf is the world coming too...[quote]


This is exactly my point. Everything we are limited to we can usually do ourselves at an earlier age...why? Why can't the films and magazines be lower there is no point when most things in them can happen at home..

[I SNiP3R Ix]

Sorry i'm still getting the hang of quoting...

[Seagloom]

On the whole I dislike game ratings. I feel parents should simply be responsible and make informed decisions before purchasing games for their children. It can be argued ESRB ratings assist with this, except, I've seen many a cashier and parent ignore them completely. I'm sure there are places where that isn't the case. Perhaps in a store like Walmart it's actually enforced. This may even be the type of store where a majority of sales are made. But go to your average game shop in Manhattan or one of the other four boroughs, and no one cares if a teen or preteen buys an M rated title. It's a pointless system when those guidelines can be easily ignored. It's pretty much the same with cigarettes too, again, because there's no real law anyone enforces to prevent their sale to minors. Unlike say alcohol, which one needs identification for if they're obviously too young and the merchant is at all responsible... or at least worried about incurring a fine or risking their liquor license.

The only reason these ratings even exist here is because the industry made a preemptive effort to police themselves in the wake of political pressure and dodgy publicity.

This is a long way of stating that I'm opposed to ratings. Ideally, I wouldn't mind them so much if they were enforced across the board, but since they're guidelines at best and troublesome at worst, they may as well not exist.

Modifié par Seagloom, 03 mars 2010 - 12:18 .

[xxr]

Every time I get carded for a video game I can't help but think "This is the dumbest thing ever." But honestly, with the way people act about this stuff I'm surprised they haven't tried to slap ratings on books already.

[mattp420]

Seagloom wrote...

It's pretty much the same with cigarettes too, again, because there's no real law anyone enforces to prevent their sale to minors.

Is that how it is in NY?  In Chicago, I'm still getting carded and I'm almost 30.  A buddy of mine was once fined $500 selling to someone without checking their ID.

Modifié par mattp420, 03 mars 2010 - 01:50 .

[Statulos]

Maviarab wrote...

Statulos....you can enlist at 16 straight from school.

So you can get military training and a weapon in your hands before you are allowed to buy adult magazines or even vote.

This is just... great.

Modifié par Statulos, 03 mars 2010 - 01:59 .

[Dark Lilith]

like most things game ratings have no real meaning,nor can they be enforced because younger people will always find a way to get what they want in most all things that are forbidden to them

[Statulos]

Every country is ridiculous. Sure, we don´t allow people in the armed forces till they are 18 years old but Spanish laws have other weird things like setting the age of consent at 13 (it´s a bit more complicated than that but still, it´s aberrant)...

[Seagloom]

mattp420 wrote...

Seagloom wrote...

It's pretty much the same with cigarettes too, again, because there's no real law anyone enforces to prevent their sale to minors.

Is that how it is in NY?  In Chicago, I'm still getting carded and I'm almost 30.  A buddy of mine was once fined $500 selling to someone without checking their ID.

It isn't universal by any means. There are a lot smaller game shops in the city that don't care though. Of course some of them are selling bootleg copies of games alongside legitimate versions, so they have bigger concerns... but that doesn't explain the rest. I've only ever heard of someone getting asked for ID in a store chain like Gamestop. It cheers me up a bit to learn they take that more seriously elsewhere.

[Baracuda6977]

the ESRB is a group of out-of-touch geezers who think that improving graphics on the same concept makes it worse and that the ability to shoot someones head off gets the same rating as being able to rape a japanese fetish **** (maybe that gets Ao but its hyperbole)



no person i have ever known equates violence to sexual content



also, ESRB ratings in America are not mandatory, but in an effort for public appeal, the stores like Best Buy will not show unrated or Ao games on their shelves but keep them in the back to my knowledge or don't stock them at all. it is purely company policy, no law at all but they will fire clerks who sell to minors



they are ridiculously stupid although the need to quickly inform parents of 'inappropriate' content is needed



P.S. i am part of the last generation of kids to grow up desensitized by Japanese anime apparently, watching ripped guys shoot giant explosions at each other and destroy planets kinda set up the difference between reality and fiction for me

[A Killing Sound]

I'm Canadian, we share the same games ratings system with the US, but have a different rating system for movies. I'm also in my late twenties, so I remember the beginning of the rating system debates as well (Mortal Kombat:happy:). For as long as I can remember, Canadian retailers were very lax when it came to enforcing the rating policy (unlike the States, where they ID you upon purchase). My personal opinion to the OP questions is as follows.

Realistically. the rating system is close to the actual content found within games. Should these be lowered to a more realistic age? Probably not. There seems to be a lot of backlash for violence in games, and making Left 4 Dead or Modern Warfare, or whatever violent flavour of the month easier to get for a younger audience is not a good idea. However I'm not an advocate of censorship. If the ratings system lets younger audiences get the games, then videogame companies will be pressured by parents and various organizations to change/alter the content of the games.

The parents of children are the ones that really need to be the ones that enforce what games their children can play. Parents are usually the best judge of what kind of content their children can handle, so at the end of the day, it is really their job to watch and decide what is appropriate for their child, and what is not.

Modifié par A Killing Sound, 03 mars 2010 - 03:27 .