Comments on: The Fifth Estate Shames Canada http://cjsweb.com/unclealias/?p=18 A grown-up perspecitive on gaming. Thu, 09 Sep 2010 05:06:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Uncle Alias » Blog Archive » Truth.Strangeness > Fiction.Strangeness http://cjsweb.com/unclealias/?p=18#comment-20 Uncle Alias » Blog Archive » Truth.Strangeness > Fiction.Strangeness Wed, 08 Apr 2009 06:06:41 +0000 http://cjsweb.com/unclealias/?p=18#comment-20 [...] was posted on gampolitics.com a while ago, but I just had to compare it my mockup of what The Fifth Estate thinks game boxes should look like.  Although mine was meant to seem absurd, it really doesn’t hold a candle to this real-life [...] […] was posted on gampolitics.com a while ago, but I just had to compare it my mockup of what The Fifth Estate thinks game boxes should look like.  Although mine was meant to seem absurd, it really doesn’t hold a candle to this real-life […]

]]> By: Mr.Falcon http://cjsweb.com/unclealias/?p=18#comment-6 Mr.Falcon Fri, 13 Mar 2009 06:52:54 +0000 http://cjsweb.com/unclealias/?p=18#comment-6 ESRB descriptors are more descriptive than that. They distinguish between realistic and fantasy violence and include words like "gore" where appropriate. I parents still don't understand, they could find out from the ESRB displays that stores usually have at the POS, or from the Internet, or simply by asking the staff. As I pointed out, these same parents don't seem to have a problem understanding the far inferior MPAA ratings. I totally disagree that this episode educated parents about ESRB labels. I don't think they even showed what an ESRB label looks like. The only information they conveyed about the labels was that, in their opinion, they aren't good enough. I don't think that motivates parents to seek out more info. The Fifth Estate could have given parents a comprehensive lesson about ESRB labels in about 10 minutes, and they would have if they cared one iota about educating parents. They didn't even give a link to more info on the web. Thanks for the comment, though! ESRB descriptors are more descriptive than that. They distinguish between realistic and fantasy violence and include words like “gore” where appropriate. I parents still don’t understand, they could find out from the ESRB displays that stores usually have at the POS, or from the Internet, or simply by asking the staff. As I pointed out, these same parents don’t seem to have a problem understanding the far inferior MPAA ratings.

I totally disagree that this episode educated parents about ESRB labels. I don’t think they even showed what an ESRB label looks like. The only information they conveyed about the labels was that, in their opinion, they aren’t good enough. I don’t think that motivates parents to seek out more info.

The Fifth Estate could have given parents a comprehensive lesson about ESRB labels in about 10 minutes, and they would have if they cared one iota about educating parents. They didn’t even give a link to more info on the web.

Thanks for the comment, though!

]]> By: George http://cjsweb.com/unclealias/?p=18#comment-5 George Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:41:26 +0000 http://cjsweb.com/unclealias/?p=18#comment-5 While I agree that the report was sensationalized, I'm not so sure the result was all as bad as you suggest (and I work in the video game business). Fact number one is that parents know very little about video game ratings. You and I know what "M" represents, but just how does a parent really find out what this really means? It says "Mature" - what exactly is "mature" after all? A lot of young people act mature - a lot of older people act immature. It also says "17+" (in relatively small type), and some general comments like "Violence" and "Blood and Gore". Well, that could describe an episode of "Itchy & Scratchy" on the Simpsons as well. The pic you posted at the top of this article as a joke explains to parents what the M means, but without the red banner where does a parent, not exposed to gaming, really get this info from? Video games don't even use the same letter indicators as movies, a system that at least has wider awareness. The point about educating parents about game ratings is a real point, and one that should be discussed. In that respect, the Fifth Estate episode did just that - informed a lot of parents about game ratings, info that they were not aware of. While I agree that the report was sensationalized, I’m not so sure the result was all as bad as you suggest (and I work in the video game business). Fact number one is that parents know very little about video game ratings. You and I know what “M” represents, but just how does a parent really find out what this really means? It says “Mature” - what exactly is “mature” after all? A lot of young people act mature - a lot of older people act immature. It also says “17+” (in relatively small type), and some general comments like “Violence” and “Blood and Gore”. Well, that could describe an episode of “Itchy & Scratchy” on the Simpsons as well.

The pic you posted at the top of this article as a joke explains to parents what the M means, but without the red banner where does a parent, not exposed to gaming, really get this info from? Video games don’t even use the same letter indicators as movies, a system that at least has wider awareness.

The point about educating parents about game ratings is a real point, and one that should be discussed. In that respect, the Fifth Estate episode did just that - informed a lot of parents about game ratings, info that they were not aware of.

]]>