Double Standards Video Game, Movie Ratings

Double Standards Video Game, Movie Ratings by Geek Woman™

The double standard that makes ratings easier for movies than it is for video games continues. As time goes by more players are coming into the arena of controversy surrounding video games. The American self rating board for video games, known as the ESRB and the British version of the same called the BBFC are now under fire from a variety of entities who are attacking their methods, and decisions. At the center of the controversy is Rockstar games. Again.

British psychologists have now stepped in to speak in defense of Rockstar’s appeal against the BBFC’s decision to refuse certification for Manhunt 2. One of them told the Video Appeals Committee panel he had played four levels of the game and was “surprised at how tame it is compared to some very graphical scenes I’ve seen in other games which have received certification. I expected it to be a lot worse… I can’t believe that this has been singled out as something that is worth banning.”

Another psychologist named Guy Cumberbatch, who has conducted extensive research into the issue of violence in the media. Told the panel that although playing games does produce adrenaline, “By and large, the plot and narrative is relatively unimportant for most video-gamers. Their emotional involvement in the games is relatively weak. There’s a scatterbrain logic which is applied to video-games - if [people] play, they must be violent,” Cumberbatch continued. “By and large, people who are attracted to media violence tend to be less sensitive and more thick-skinned… Most of these people are nerd characters, they tend to be anoraks.”

In a study Cumberbatch said he conducted with 86 respondents his results showed that video games did not make people violent. In fact video games tested were thought to be less violent than films. The participants were asked whether they thought Manhunt 2 was more, less or equally as violent as other games or films. While 68% thought there were other games equally as violent, 80% percent said there were equally violent films. “Certainly no one’s going to suggest Manhunt 2 is one of the least violent games around,” Cumberbatch said. “In my own limited experience of playing Manhunt 2, it’s fairly sanitised as a work compared with what you might expect in a film.”

Recently a supposedly bipartisan group of lawmakers including Democrats and Hilary Clinton sent a letter to the (ESRB) Entertainment Software Rating Board. What they are complaining about its decision to give an “mature” rating to Rockstar’s “Manhunt 2″ game. Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., Sam Brownback, R-Kan., Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said the game’s violent content, which includes “many graphic torture scenes and murders,” should have garnered an ‘adults only’ rating.

“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 ‘ultraviolent’ video games and the advances in game controllers,” the senators wrote. “We have consistently urged parents to pay attention to the ESRB rating system. We must ensure that parents can rely on the consistency and accuracy of those ratings.”

The team of Senators is misguided since the “M” rating in games is for 17 and over. They said that they thought that the “many graphic torture scenes and murders,” should have garnered an ‘adults only’. However 18 is the age when people are considered adults in most states, and can sign themselves up for military service and while there get murdered and perform government permitted torture in prisons, in real life. I don’t see what the conflict is with having video game art that is influenced by that world. If the image is so worrisome to all these Senators, then why did they vote for the war, and let torture bills pass in the Senate? It must be easier for them to just write letters about art and entertainment than it is to do their job when it really matters. What matters to them is how the anti video game tirade sound bytes make them appear.

There is a big double standard when it comes to video games. The movie industry did sort out their problems on their own, as late as 1990. There seems to be a stigma about video games though. Why is it that the same Play-station that will play a XXX rated DVD won’t allow play of an AO Adult Rated game? X ‘rated’ moves aren’t actually rated by the MPAA, but they still exist and can be purchased, if dubiously, in some instances. But with video games the AO rating, is more like an “N” for “Nobody”, censoring the games and making them unplayable anywhere which is against freedom of speech.

Even if it stretches my sensibilities to call Manhunt 2 art, I have to, like it or not in the spirit of liberal arts. Even if isn’t a game that I would be likely to buy, it has the right to exist as an art-form and be sold in a free market where adults can make a choice about if they want to play it or not. And not to have all the choices made for them about what is art by a group of psychologists or senators.

In the film business the ratings are:

G - General Audiences
All ages admitted
PG - Parental guidance suggested
Some material may not be suitable for young children (originally meant “Some material may not be suitable for pre-teenagers”)
PG-13 - Parents strongly cautioned
Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
R - Restricted
Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. (age may be 18 in some states)
NC-17 - No Children 17 and Under Admitted.

At one time the ratings were :
Rated G : General Audiences. All ages admitted.
Rated M : Suggested for Mature Audiences. Parental discretion advised.
Rated R : Restricted. Persons 16 and under are not admitted unless accompanied by parent or adult guardian.
Rated X : Persons 17 and under not admitted.

In the 1970’s the M rating was changed to GP, the ages on the R and X ratings were increased from 16 to 17. However, the age on the X rating varied in certain jurisdictions until it was officially changed to an NC-17. The MPAA introduced the NC-17 (No Children Under 17 Admitted) rating on September 27,1990 , to finally make an official and standardized classification that could allow adult oriented films to be distributed with the MPAA seal. X became no longer an official rating. Part of this calculation was that the adult XXX markets tended to have no reason to pay the fee to submit their product by that point (since the films were distributed either through independent theaters or simply direct to video. (Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPAA_film_rating_system)

ESRB Rating Symbols
EARLY CHILDHOOD
Titles rated EC (Early Childhood) have content that may be suitable for ages 3 and older. Contains no material that parents would find inappropriate.
EVERYONE
Titles rated E (Everyone) have content that may be suitable for ages 6 and older. Titles in this category may contain minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language.
EVERYONE 10+
Titles rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) have content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older. Titles in this category may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes.
TEEN
Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language.
MATURE
Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.
ADULTS ONLY
Titles rated AO (Adults Only) have content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.

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