M vs. R: The Game Rating Double Standard
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Mature-rated videogames are often subjected to harsher restrictions than R-rated films — ironic, since a close look at the ratings’ boundaries shows that movies could contain far more graphic content.
When the Chicago Transit Authority banned the advertising of M games but continued to allow advertising for R movies, the Christian Science Monitor pondered whether or not violent videogames are worse than violent movies.
Judges have consistently thrown out such measures as unconstitutional. In Feburary, a California appeals court struck down such a law. It ruled that targeting violent or sexual video games, while not expanding the law to cover R-rated movies or suggestive books, unfairly singled out the free speech rights of a particular industry.
Taking the question posed by the Monitor, the Technologizer blog looked at the Entertainment Software Ratings Board’s definition of a “Mature” game and compared it to that of the R rating for the Motion Picture Association of America.
Both the ratings recommend that the media deemed Mature or Restricted is for people ages 17 and older. An R-rated film may contain “adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements.” On the other hand, titles given an M rating may have content that includes “intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.”
However, given the nudity aspect, Mature-rated games may actually be less explicit than R-rated movies. Note that the M rating doesn’t include nudity — that’s reserved for Adults Only titles, according to the ESRB:
Titles rated AO (Adults Only) have content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.
One could argue that there are plenty of R-rated movies with “prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.”
Unless the Chicago Transit Authority has some legitimate reason for treating games differently than films, they’re probably on the losing side of this fight.
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What do you think fellow Currenteers? Is the double standard just or do we need to show society that video games need to be rid of their demonized title?
When the Chicago Transit Authority banned the advertising of M games but continued to allow advertising for R movies, the Christian Science Monitor pondered whether or not violent videogames are worse than violent movies.
Judges have consistently thrown out such measures as unconstitutional. In Feburary, a California appeals court struck down such a law. It ruled that targeting violent or sexual video games, while not expanding the law to cover R-rated movies or suggestive books, unfairly singled out the free speech rights of a particular industry.
Taking the question posed by the Monitor, the Technologizer blog looked at the Entertainment Software Ratings Board’s definition of a “Mature” game and compared it to that of the R rating for the Motion Picture Association of America.
Both the ratings recommend that the media deemed Mature or Restricted is for people ages 17 and older. An R-rated film may contain “adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements.” On the other hand, titles given an M rating may have content that includes “intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.”
However, given the nudity aspect, Mature-rated games may actually be less explicit than R-rated movies. Note that the M rating doesn’t include nudity — that’s reserved for Adults Only titles, according to the ESRB:
Titles rated AO (Adults Only) have content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.
One could argue that there are plenty of R-rated movies with “prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.”
Unless the Chicago Transit Authority has some legitimate reason for treating games differently than films, they’re probably on the losing side of this fight.
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What do you think fellow Currenteers? Is the double standard just or do we need to show society that video games need to be rid of their demonized title?
