ESRB responds

The fact is that the ESRB recommends that all M-rated games, regardless of content, are recommended for people 17 years of age and older. However, Thompson said that M-rated games are being played by a number of people under the age of 17. Dr. Thompson said she was encouraged by a recent FTC study that showed retailers were doing a better job in keeping sales of M-rated games from kids. "We think we are seeing great progress there." However, she said more can be done to ensure access to such material is restricted. That's not to say that Dr. Thompson supports any kind of government regulation of video game sales. "We are very strong supporters of self-regulation," explained the professor, and supports the video game industry's efforts to rate their own products. Dr. Thompson does feel that the ESRB can to more to inform parents and the general public on what is contain in games via the ratings system. "Right now that's not very clear," she said.

One of the big recommendations that the study gives to the ESRB is for the ratings board to actually play the games before they are officially rated. Currently the ESRB uses info, screenshots and movies provided by the publisher to rate the games and sometimes those ratings are given out months before the game itself is released. In their response to the Harvard study, ESRB President Patricia Vance stated such an approach "is pleasant in theory and senseless in practice", saying that having three people play the over 1,000 games rated by the board each year, "would not only be staggeringly inefficient, but more importantly would increase the likelihood of the raters' not finding and considering all pertinent game content." Associate Professor Thompson disputes Vance's opinion, saying that even though their single player for their own study went through each M-rated game for an hour, "we are capturing 90 percent of the content in the game. It is different to play the game than it is to watch it." Dr. Thompson compared the ESRB not playing the games before rating them to the MPAA not watching movies before rating them.

So what is the solution? Again, Dr. Thompson said that its best for the video game industry to rate their own products and the Harvard study simply recommends ways the ESRB can change and improve their process. However, Dr. Thompson does feel that for parents, having separate ratings systems for video games, television and movies can become confusing. As a result she would like to see the three entertainment groups get together on a universal ratings system that can be used by parents without having to learn three separate systems.