The ESRB ratings work: 85% of parents understand the system

After shooting at Sandy Hook in December, video games became a topic in the US Congress and the Senate. Many bills have been proposed, some of which are very similar to the PEGI rating system in the UK, allowing the electronic software evaluation committee system to evaluate video games based on the appropriateness of age Want to. The idea is to make retailers more vigilant in order to keep children away from violent games. Retailers such as GameStop, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and others are alerted to not selling games for minors to minors. In other words, parents are responsible for preventing children from accessing them. Wal-Mart has always followed the evaluation system. And that position of executing an "adult only" evaluation game is one of the main reasons that there are few AO evaluation games today. Since the establishment of ESRB in 1994, only 21 games have received this evaluation. My parents are familiar with ESRB's evaluation. In fact, according to ESRB, they are almost impossible to better understand the rating system.

ESRB Chair Patricia Vance tells us in the gaming industry as follows. Parents have 85% of their knowledge, and 70% say they have been using them all the time.

The ESRB evaluation system is not limited to retail games. Since the group expanded its rating system for digital distribution games in 2012, ratings are also being implemented for games downloaded to PCs, mobile phones and tablets.

The Federal Trade Commission has praised the ESRB system in the past and highlighted the effectiveness of the tool.

Some people think that the ESRB system itself is not enough to protect children from violent video games. In January of this year, Jim Matheson, a member of Utah State, proposed House Game Remodeling Act 287. This is also known as the Video Game Evaluation Enforcement Act. The purpose of this bill is to make ESRB's rating legally binding. Like Senator Leland Yee, who prohibits selling violent video games to children in California law, Mattheson's bill sells adult or adult games to children under the age of 18 every year as game small We propose to impose a fine of up to $ 5,000 to the merchant. Yee's invoice and other similar invoices were considered unconstitutional in the past.

These ESRB ratings have two elements: 1) the symbol indicates the proper age of the player; 2) the descriptor to help parents understand the factors of the score. To successfully use the ESRB evaluation system, you need to consider these two aspects. Check the rating symbol (on the front of the game box) and the content descriptor (on the back of the game box). Today's console includes a home security setting that allows you to decide if you can only talk with parents by limiting time, blocking inappropriate games, and the user can only interact with their friends It is equipped with). You can find specific instructions on how to set these settings on the game console web site, or you can check your parents video game, parental controls and online safety guide.

In recent years, some legislators, researchers, and guardians also support parents' understanding and use of the ESRB system, and ESRB has the effectiveness of evaluation assigned to a particular game and the level of M I am concerned about purchasing games. .193 In response to these concerns and as part of the ongoing monitoring of government agencies of the video game industry self-regulatory system, the committee will conduct research to investigate the intimacy, use and evaluation of parents and children I signed a contract with the research company Synovate. ESRB system Children's survey also raises new questions about game habits and parents' attitudes towards video games. A total of 1,311 parents and 354 children completed the interview. The results investigation tool is in Appendix C.