Digital gaming is on the rise, and the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is doing its best to keep up with the times. Today, the ratings board announced a new process to assign content ratings to downloadable titles for console services like Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, WiiWare, DSi shop, etc.
"These games will receive the same recognizable ESRB ratings via a process whose efficiency and ease of use provides the scalability necessary to address the steady increase of games delivered digitally across an ever-expanding multitude of new devices and outlets," the organization stated.
Publishers of these downloadable games will now be required to fill out a different submission form for their titles than what's used for retail titles. The new form asks numerous multiple choice questions pertaining to categories like violence, sexual content and language, as well as contextual factors such as the game’s realism and visual style, its incentives (i.e., whether a certain action is meant to be avoided or results in failure), the player’s perspective (i.e., omniscient, distant or third person vs. immersed, close-up or first person), and more.
The responses are evaluated and the publisher must then also send the ESRB a DVD that reflects all the disclosed content in the game. Additionally, the ESRB said that titles rated via this new process will be tested by staff shortly after they are made publicly available. If it's determined that disclosure was incomplete or inaccurate, the ESRB will correct it right away; moreover, if any attempt was made to deliberately deceive the ESRB to hide game content affecting a rating, the game and all of its promotional materials will be removed from the digital store through which it is being sold, pending its resubmission to ESRB.
“The ESRB rating process that has been in use since 1994 was devised before the explosion in the number of digitally delivered games and devices on which to play them. These games, many of which tend to be casual in nature, are being produced in increasing numbers, by thousands of developers, and generally at lower costs,” said ESRB president Patricia Vance. “This new rating process considers the very same elements weighed by our raters. The biggest difference is in our ability to scale this system as necessary while keeping our services affordable and accessible.”
She continued, “Our rating system is widely considered to be among the most effective in the world, and ESRB continues to be an exemplary model of self-regulation. We serve a rapidly growing and evolving industry, and it is incumbent upon us to continually adapt along with it. This new process for downloadable games helps position ESRB for a future that promises an ever-expanding market for games while allowing us to continue empowering parents with the ability to determine which ones are OK for their children to play.”
