When the Home open beta launched on the PlayStation 3 last week, I noticed that during the loading screens, some areas were branded "Based on a game rated by the ESRB __." The blank in question changed depending on the space I entered -- Uncharted's virtual bar was "Based on a game rated by the ESRB T," while the Far Cry 2 space was "Based on a game rated by the ESRB M."

But there was one that confused me a bit: the Bowling Alley area was clearly labeled "Based on a game rated by the ESRB EC." According to the ESRB, the "EC" stands for "Early Childhood," and is said to have "content that may be suitable for ages 3 and older. Contains no material that parents would find inappropriate."

Ironically enough, within seconds of entering the bowling alley, I was verbally accosted by someone through my headset. There were four-letter words involved, and some of it had to do with my supposed sexual orientation -- use your imagination. 

So really, this space is associated with the "EC" rating, eh? And what game is it based on, exactly? Where does the ESRB stand when "rating" these virtual spaces? I checked in with them to find out. 

Interestingly, the "Bowling Alley" space rating was a bit of a mistake; a rep from the ESRB told us that the "bowling" game had never been rated by the organization. (It has since been changed to say "Based on a game rated E by the ESRB.")

But to further clarify their position on how they'll go about rating Home and its spaces, the ESRB issued this statement to us: 

Game Spaces within a virtual environment like PS3 HOME must leverage the rating of the product with which they are associated by presenting to players, upon entry to the Space or on the download confirmation page, a specially crafted notice indicating that the Space is “Based on a product rated __ by the ESRB.” The publisher-created content available to consumers in the Game Space must not exceed that of the rated product with which that space is associated.

Since Game Spaces are essentially promotional vehicles, any trailers, posters, demos or other content available in those spaces should be compliant with all applicable ARC guidelines and requirements. User-generated content which may occur in these promotional spaces, such as user chat, is unrelated to and does not impact the rating assigned to the core product marketed there.

It's curious to see how the ESRB refers to the "Game Spaces" in Home (and other virtual environments) -- "essentially promotional vehicles." Their words, not mine.

As far as the social aspects in terms of both user generated content and chat is concerned, the ESRB seems to be covering themselves in the same way they do many online games:

Online Rating Notice

Online-enabled games carry the notice "Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB." This notice warns those who intend to play the game online about possible exposure to chat (text, audio, video) or other types of user-generated content (e.g., maps, skins) that have not been considered in the ESRB rating assignment.

This is fair -- because areas of Home are essentially open to anyone, it seems impossible to predict some of the content. The ESRB seems to be holding up their end of the ratings bargain, at the very least attempting to label the content according to their standards. 

How I feel about Home as it stands right now is irrelevant, but I do feel Sony has a huge opportunity to help build a flourishing social hub for PS3 gaming. It'll be interesting to see how Sony will handle user-generated content and social interactions in the future. There doesn't seem to be any way to report or flag a user for inappropriate language or actions, either. Right now, beyond muting players or running away from them, there doesn't seem to be much way to avoid "questionable" activity, regardless of these "based on" notices.

It's hard to imagine anyone who reads Destructoid regularly being "offended" by much of anything that could go on in Home. But as we've seen time and time again, there are those out there that will be. And perhaps it's only a matter of time before we'll be reporting on it here.