Feature: Ethical Dilemmas
Critics call videogame ratings board, the ESRB, corrupt and ineffectual; proponents, a blessing. Who's right? Who's wrong? And who really decides what's kosher for you?
Savor the irony: after downing too much Hot Coffee, it's not Take 2 and subsidiary Rockstar, but rather the entire gaming industry and Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in particular, who's getting burned.
Analysts predict the scandal, involving a sex-filled mini-game hidden within Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, could cost its publisher more than $50 million. The title, originally marked for mature audiences, was reassigned an Adults-Only (AO) rating almost a month after the raunchy Easter egg's discovery.
Retailers such as Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart -- all of whom refuse to stock AO titles -- pulled the best-selling game from shelves seemingly overnight; alas, the damage was already done. Not to a certain software manufacturer's share price, however... Rather, the credibility of one of the electronic entertainment business's most staid institutions, and the sector's content rating system as a whole.
"The ESRB screwed up," admits even Vince Desi, CEO of Running with Scissors, creators of the ultra-offensive Postal franchise. "The second the scandal surfaced, I would've come out publicly against Take 2. But to take a month or so after reports of the problem first surfaced to offer any meaningful response? That's just nuts."
Even loopier than the way the situation was handled (it took politicians' widespread criticism to spur the establishment into action): the storm of controversy the situation created.
Consider.
On July 6, California assemblyman Leland Yee, author of a recent bill proposing that states regulate violent videogame sales, publicly blasts the ESRB for "failing parents" in an emotionally-charged press release. He additionally questions the organization's integrity, stating that "parents cannot trust [it] to look out for children's best interests."
A week later, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) predictably requests that the Federal Trade Commission pursue action against Take 2, yet also suggests they examine the underlying validity of retailers' overall rating enforcement policies. She further proposes legislation that would enact a federal law levying a $5000 fine against anyone found guilty of selling explicit software to minors.
Enter Florida lawyer Jack Thompson, famed for his crusades against musicians like Ice-T and 2 Live Crew, plus suits filed against videogame manufacturers on behalf of victims' families in the Paducah, Kentucky school shootings.
According to the outspoken attorney, who's recently been making impassioned pleas for action against titles like Killer 7 and The Warriors, "We'd be better off if there was no ESRB."
"The problem is the organization's hypocrisy," he asserts. "The ESRB doesn't care one iota about children... it's a creation of the videogame industry. Having representatives assign ratings is like asking the fox to guard the chickens."
Worse, he continues, "Look at the situation. You have a system in place that identifies games containing content that's inappropriate to minors, yet imposes no penalties upon those who ignore its guidelines."
Jack Thompson and ESRB president Patricia Vance: two key figures in the violent games spotlight.
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