Posted on: Tuesday, March 8, 2005
New rating for video games fills a need
| • | Chart: Rating categories |
By May Wong
Associated Press
A big fan of Mario Bros. video games, 9-year-old Nicholas Patton is itching to play "Super Smash Bros. Melee." But to his dismay, his parents have declared the T-rated game off-limits.
Parents and their children often don't see eye to eye when it comes to video games. But a little relief might be on the horizon for the Pattons, who live in the San Francisco suburbs, and other parents struggling to find appropriate video games for children approaching their teens.
Last week, the rating board for the game industry announced a new category for that group.
The E10+ category should help fill a gap between games rated E for everyone, which some children outgrow, and T for teens, games that are too violent or mature for some parents' tastes. "Super Smash Bros. Melee," which includes more violence than other Mario-based games, might have gotten a permissible E10+.
Ratings, which range from EC for early childhood to AO for adults only, are meant to be a guide only. But the Entertainment Software Rating Board, a self-regulatory body set up by the gaming industry, believes the new E10+ label will come in handy for parents, especially because the organization has seen an increasing number of games getting a T rating, perhaps because of mild violence, when the titles could be considered suitable for a 10-year-old.
The E10+ rating means the video game may be suitable for children 10 and older. The title might contain moderate amounts of cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, and mild profanity or minimally suggestive themes.
Likely candidates might be racing games with more extreme car crashes or games with superheroes or cartoon characters — cute as they may be — involved in some fighting, Vance said.
The underlying theory is that not all children are created equal: There are very distinct developmental differences at the ages of 6, 10, and 13.
