TroyHepfner
October 27th, 2010, 04:31 PM
I read this Gamasutra article today: Parents TV Council Criticizes 'Abysmal' ESRB Retail Compliance (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/31210/Parents_TV_Council_Criticizes_Abysmal_ESRB_Retail_ Compliance.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GamasutraNews+%28Gamasutra+Ne ws%29).
The article discusses the PTC Action Alert (http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/publications/emailalerts/2010/1025.htm) that the group issued this week, in response to the PTC's own study as to how well chain stores (that are ESRB retail partners) prevent games rated M for "Mature" from being sold to minors. Basically, the PTC study shows a general improvement from a roughly 35% failure rate in 2008 to 19%, and yet the PTC calls the results "abysmal". Granted, the failure rate is still pretty high, but it is a significant improvement.
Of course, there's all kinds of discussion at the end of the article from game developers/publishers who dismiss it with comments like "it's an election year and it's just a political move", "the game industry is better regulated than movie theaters, CDs, and DVDs", "nobody's ever proved that video games make kids violent", "it's a first amendment violation of free speech", blah, blah, blah... the usual tripe.
What I find interesting is that nobody has noticed the gaping hole in the PTC study: what about online games? The PTC only addressed retail. Yet, the latest reports (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1415918620101014)indicate that retail sales are declining but online sales are increasing.
Here are the issues that I see with using ESRB to police online sales (should the PTC wake up and realize it's overlooking a significant part of the market):
No age verification. It's easy to buy stuff online, because there isn't any kind of age verification. If your kid has access to your credit card or your PayPal account, they can buy anything they want from any online retailer - the online retailer has no way to know how old the customer is, so they don't check.
Many online retailers do not post ESRB ratings, or any ratings at all. Subsequently, there is no way to know what you're going to get before you download it. If parents don't setup their computers to prevent kids from downloading and installing software, then kids can freely download just about any kind of game. They can even innocently download a mature game without even knowing.
Lots of games have no ESRB rating. The ESRB charges developers and/or publishers for ratings. Last time I checked, the cost for a ESRB rating was $800, which most indie developers like me cannot afford. And most indie games are only available online, not in retail stores. Thus, a lot of games are unregulated.
Lots of sites have free web games, which have no ESRB rating and can be freely played by anyone. Again, a lot of unregulated games that are easily available.
I think that keeping mature games out of the hands of kids is an admirable goal, but clearly the Parents TV Council doesn't fully understand the scope of the problem. They totally missed a major game distribution channel (online sales), they're relying on ESRB ratings (which not all games have), and they've overlooked web games (Flash games and ActiveX games that can be played freely on thousands of sites, with no ratings and no purchase required).
Bottom line: even if retail stores were 100% compliant with ESRB policy, kids can still get hold of games with mature content. It's easy - easier than it's ever been, thanks to the Internet.
So if you're a concerned parent, what can you do?
First, setup separate user accounts on your PC(s) for kids that prohibit them from downloading and installing programs. This can be done relatively easily with Windows 7, Windows Vista, and even Windows XP, as well as Mac and Linux. Then schedule some time to sit with them at the computer and look for games together that they might enjoy. When you find some, you can install them with your user account - and you've had a chance to see the game for yourself.
Second, limit your kids' access to the Internet. You have a couple of options for this. You can configure their personal user account to prohibit Internet access, which means you must then sit with them using your user account and surf the Internet together (a very good thing). Or you can let them use a kid-friendly web browser like KidZui (http://www.kidzui.com/), which will only let them visit approved web sites.
Third, you can shop online safely at My Game Company. Ok, it's a shameless plug, but you had to know it was coming! Seriously though, we've already addressed parents' concerns about online sales of games:
We provide easy-to-use color-coded ratings (http://www.mygamecompany.com/ratings.htm) for ALL games on our site, even online games!
No mature games! We will NEVER carry any games with mature content.
We allow no third-party advertising on our site, so you don't have to worry about your kids seeing ads for inappropriate stuff.
We're BBB accredited, so you know that we mean what we say, we do what we say, and we're committed to earning and keeping your trust.
We are KidZui-approved, so if your kids use KidZui, they can view our web site safely on their own.
So parents, the PTC may have overlooked online sales, but I'm way ahead of them and I've got you covered. This web site exists for the sole purpose of helping you find good games for your kids. If you haven't shopped with us before, I encourage you to try us out!
The article discusses the PTC Action Alert (http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/publications/emailalerts/2010/1025.htm) that the group issued this week, in response to the PTC's own study as to how well chain stores (that are ESRB retail partners) prevent games rated M for "Mature" from being sold to minors. Basically, the PTC study shows a general improvement from a roughly 35% failure rate in 2008 to 19%, and yet the PTC calls the results "abysmal". Granted, the failure rate is still pretty high, but it is a significant improvement.
Of course, there's all kinds of discussion at the end of the article from game developers/publishers who dismiss it with comments like "it's an election year and it's just a political move", "the game industry is better regulated than movie theaters, CDs, and DVDs", "nobody's ever proved that video games make kids violent", "it's a first amendment violation of free speech", blah, blah, blah... the usual tripe.
What I find interesting is that nobody has noticed the gaping hole in the PTC study: what about online games? The PTC only addressed retail. Yet, the latest reports (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1415918620101014)indicate that retail sales are declining but online sales are increasing.
Here are the issues that I see with using ESRB to police online sales (should the PTC wake up and realize it's overlooking a significant part of the market):
No age verification. It's easy to buy stuff online, because there isn't any kind of age verification. If your kid has access to your credit card or your PayPal account, they can buy anything they want from any online retailer - the online retailer has no way to know how old the customer is, so they don't check.
Many online retailers do not post ESRB ratings, or any ratings at all. Subsequently, there is no way to know what you're going to get before you download it. If parents don't setup their computers to prevent kids from downloading and installing software, then kids can freely download just about any kind of game. They can even innocently download a mature game without even knowing.
Lots of games have no ESRB rating. The ESRB charges developers and/or publishers for ratings. Last time I checked, the cost for a ESRB rating was $800, which most indie developers like me cannot afford. And most indie games are only available online, not in retail stores. Thus, a lot of games are unregulated.
Lots of sites have free web games, which have no ESRB rating and can be freely played by anyone. Again, a lot of unregulated games that are easily available.
I think that keeping mature games out of the hands of kids is an admirable goal, but clearly the Parents TV Council doesn't fully understand the scope of the problem. They totally missed a major game distribution channel (online sales), they're relying on ESRB ratings (which not all games have), and they've overlooked web games (Flash games and ActiveX games that can be played freely on thousands of sites, with no ratings and no purchase required).
Bottom line: even if retail stores were 100% compliant with ESRB policy, kids can still get hold of games with mature content. It's easy - easier than it's ever been, thanks to the Internet.
So if you're a concerned parent, what can you do?
First, setup separate user accounts on your PC(s) for kids that prohibit them from downloading and installing programs. This can be done relatively easily with Windows 7, Windows Vista, and even Windows XP, as well as Mac and Linux. Then schedule some time to sit with them at the computer and look for games together that they might enjoy. When you find some, you can install them with your user account - and you've had a chance to see the game for yourself.
Second, limit your kids' access to the Internet. You have a couple of options for this. You can configure their personal user account to prohibit Internet access, which means you must then sit with them using your user account and surf the Internet together (a very good thing). Or you can let them use a kid-friendly web browser like KidZui (http://www.kidzui.com/), which will only let them visit approved web sites.
Third, you can shop online safely at My Game Company. Ok, it's a shameless plug, but you had to know it was coming! Seriously though, we've already addressed parents' concerns about online sales of games:
We provide easy-to-use color-coded ratings (http://www.mygamecompany.com/ratings.htm) for ALL games on our site, even online games!
No mature games! We will NEVER carry any games with mature content.
We allow no third-party advertising on our site, so you don't have to worry about your kids seeing ads for inappropriate stuff.
We're BBB accredited, so you know that we mean what we say, we do what we say, and we're committed to earning and keeping your trust.
We are KidZui-approved, so if your kids use KidZui, they can view our web site safely on their own.
So parents, the PTC may have overlooked online sales, but I'm way ahead of them and I've got you covered. This web site exists for the sole purpose of helping you find good games for your kids. If you haven't shopped with us before, I encourage you to try us out!