November 20, 2007
In what appears to be looming political trouble for the video game industry, four United States senators have signed a letter calling for a "thorough review" of the ESRB rating system.As reported by Video Business, Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) sent the letter to ESRB president Patricia Vance yesterday. The move was prompted by the furor surrounding the M rating assigned by the ESRB to a revised version of Manhunt 2.
All four senators have been critics of the video game industry in the past. Lieberman is generally credited with pressuring the industry to create a rating system in the mid-1990's. Clinton was the most prominent political voice heard during the 2005 Hot Coffee scandal.
Brownback has legislation pending in the Senate which would mandate that the ESRB play games to their entirety before assigning a rating. Bayh was a co-sponsor, along with Lieberman and Clinton, of the unsuccessful Family Entertainment Protection Act.
Clinton, of course, is the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. From the letter:
As you know, in June 2007, the British Board of Film Classification refused to rate Rockstar’s Manhunt 2 videogame … stating that it contains ‘unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone. In October 2007, the BBFC again refused to rate a revised Manhunt 2 stating that ‘the impact of the revisions on the bleakness and callousness of tone … is clearly insufficient.
[The ESRB, however,] reduced the revised version’s rating to “Mature,” effectively opening the door to its widespread distribution and its licensing approval by game system manufacturers Sony and Nintendo.
The senators also expressed concern over the game's appearance on Nintendo's Wii, intimating that the system's motion-sensitive controller “permits children to act out each of the many graphic torture scenes and murders.” They suggested that the Wii controller be considered as a factor in future rating assignments:
In sum, we ask your consideration of whether it is time to review the robustness, reliability and repeatability of your ratings process, particularly for this genre of ‘ultra-violent’ videogames and advances in game controllers.
GP: Particulary in regard to Clinton and Lieberman (pictured at left), the letter represents a setback for the ESRB and the video game industry. As recently as December of 2006, the pair had publicly praised the ESRB.
Comments
BBFC has nothing to do with America, other than giving these hollow shells something they think is leverage.
Not surprised to see the names attached to this one. And one of them a presidential candidate? THIS is what you focus on Hillary?
Every voter in American should make sure, come the primaries, everyone knows what Hillary Clinton wants to focus on. Not healthcare. Not schools. Not education.
Video games.
They forget to mention that:
1. M means you have to be 17 and above to play. Not exactly the age range of the "kids" they're trying to protect now, is it?
2. It was cut down to an M after several scenes were cut out of of the original version. And of thy argue it was possible, fine - show me an average kid within the stated age bracket that's capable of hacking the PSP ISO (which has to be ripped, hence is illegal) to show the scenes.
You're better off watching youtube to see the said scenes - why don't they ban that instead?
Pretty much speaks for itself.
As SolidSnark pointed out, what does the BBFC have to do with the price of tea in China? Or the ESRB? Or American values and morals, for that matter? Nothing! Nil. Nada. Zip. I really hate when anyone refers to another nations policies when defending a position. We are not those nations. We do not share their policies. If you can't defend you position based on American laws and policies, maybe you shouldn't. I believe there is an unwritten law that our courts don't cite foreign courts. So why should the ESRB reference the BBFC?
Yep, political leaders like this are really taking this country forward into a brighter future.
I agree with Solidsnake. The BBFC has nothing to do with the ESRB. Two different countries. Two different ways of managing entertainment.
The FTC has already done a study on the ESRB. Manhunt 2 was rated fairly and properly. The only problem here that I see is ignorant politicians and their ignorant supporters.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
Does that mean we can ban Lifetime Television for women now? How about Iraq news coverage? How about the Bible?
As long as we're relying on the few to interpret acceptable levels for the many, then by all rights we should ban the Trinity Broadcast Network, perhaps the bleakest and most callous thing on TV.
countless of vital issues to make a stand on but what does Hilary center on???? VIDEO GAMES FOR CHILDREN OVER THE AGE OF 17....
THIS IS THE LAST STRAW IF SHE IS THE FRONT RUNNER I VOTING FOR REPUBLICANS......
Rather than not voting at all, vote for anyone except those two. That's my plan in that scenario anyway. It's better to show up at the polls and vote for candidates that have no chance of winning, or only exist in your imagination than it is to not show up to vote at all. That's because then you'd be on the record as being displeased with the choice of candidates, than on the record as being apathetic.
"permits children to act out each of the many graphic torture scenes and murders"
no, parents allowing children access to the game are doing that.
the game is rated M! that means no children! get it through your heads!
Come, boys and girls! Let's practice our writing abilities and skills of influence.
"A letter writin' we will go, a letter writin' we will go, hi' ho' the derry-o, a letter writin' we will go."
In all seriousness, flood your representatives (both in Congress and Senate) e-mail box with your voice. They have taken their stance, so we should take a stand and let them know what we think.
Honestly, why is pandering to the masses over such a small-time issue considered a great political move during election time?
Grumble grumble... I hate politicians.
Well . . . exposed SuperBowl Nipple and Elvis's hips would disagree w/ you. It looks like they don't want to be outdone by anyone on anything. Including censorship. :)
That would create an interesting situation for the US politicians and their rally of morality.
As the saying goes, all the Congressional fretting over video games is a solution in search of a problem. Hillary et. al. can come back when they have more to say in a letter than simply "we don't like this so it should be banned."
"bleakness and callousness of tone"
Anyone ever see Requiem for a Dream?
This is a seriously bad move for Clinton. The Games Industry is not a small player in the world and I can foresee some funded rebuttals and adverts against her and her viewpoint on the subject. She is certainly not inspiring those who are tired of the last 8 years of having their rights removed to vote for her.
Simply, wow!
If the ESRB did play through the games in their entirety they would surely miss something leading to a huge uproar where the politicians would blame them, completely forgetting they were the ones that caused it.
I really hope that everyone who calls themselves gamers will vote against this , watch her plan backfire on her.
The good news, however, is that in the next 20 years these old farts will die off and we'll have a new round of politicians who aren't prude like Clinton here.
GP: Feel free to express your views, but please avoid using a term that is derogatory toward all women. I've deleted it.
What should be done instead, is a review of how much politicians actually understand about video games and the rating mechanism, and a review of why parents don't seem to understand the ratings. If a person doesn't understand calculus, you don't assume calculus is wrong and order a review, you work with and teach the person to help them understand!
Still, I'm sure everyone knows that this is nothing more than a stab at the Soccer Mom vote for Hilary, with the other senators hanging on as well as the worst kind of attention is no attention...
I though democrats were "liberals" which means you believe individual liberty is the most important political goal. I guess gamers don't count as individuals or something.
They don't really address whether games are qualified as art. They just say that some games are not suitable for children - which is okay. Then they say that the government needs to control the industry to make sure children don't get to play these games - which is not.
Again, I ask, have these people seen the game at all? Any of it, except maybe a few pictures grabbed by those psychopathic "for teh children" groups? What, no? They don't know squat about the game? In that case, their opinions are meaningless, as they don't know what they're talking about.
arowe87:
Neither side is looking out for your liberty. The Republicans are in the pocket of big business, and if they weren't they'd be the most likely candidate for protection of Liberty, or they would be if everyone wasn't so paranoid.
The less laws and government, the more liberty you have. Neither side is working toward this. (Well, with the exception of Ron Paul, but my hopes are almost nonexistent for that whole thing.)
My main problem with the government reviewing the ESRB is the fact that the ESRB is not a government organization. What would be the point of it? Even if they find flaws in it, what can they do? Set up a government rating board? Illegal. Force the ESRB to change its rating practices? Also illegal.
If they want to fix any independent rating board, the should focus on the MPAA. There are so many allegations of corruption, that it’s just not funny.
I can understand anti-gaming actions enacted from the position of crusading moralists but I am completely disgusted by the sight of people who supposedly value freedom attacking video games solely for political leverage. Clinton and others on the left represent a FAR lesser threat than a Bible thumping, freedom hating, religious morons on the right. Thus far, Clinton's critcisms have been limited to drafting strong laws to ensure that games do not end up in the hands of kids. She has yet to take up the Bible thumping, freedom-raping, censorship rhetoric of the far right.
Bible thumpers and political pragmatists alike must realize that these games are not marketed, intended, or legally sold to children. Their greatest point of misconception rests in the fact that Video games are not the sole intellectual domain of children.
I wanted to say that though I'm a democrat myself, Hillary doing something like this is hugely disappointing to me.
M= MATURE= NOT FOR KIDS.
It's not complicated or "flawed" simply because you don't want to pay attention.
If any of these morons become president, we're all doomed. The simple fact that people with no common sense were elected to the senate is in itself deeply disturbing. Just goes to show you, there are very few informed voters in this country.
Honestly, am I the only person who actually watches the debates? Does nobody else realize the general retardation possessed by nearly all politicians?
Sorry for the rant, but this has gone too far!