Gamasutra has a piece on a study conducted on behalf of the ESRB that concludes awareness of the ESRB rating system has been going up over the last year. It showed that 90 percent of American parents with gamer children were aware of the ratings system and that 85 percent of that same group regularly consult the system when choosing games for their family. These new numbers show a roughly 10 percent rise since the same study was conducted last year.
While the study (being all science-y and whatnot) fails to posit any hypotheses as to why awareness has been rising, I can't help but notice a correlation between the number of high profile gaming-related media events in the last year, and the rise in awareness regarding the ESRB system.
These events are the same ones in which people like Jack Thompson, Bill O'Reilly and Joe Liebermann decry the lack of a reputable ratings systems for gaming, and claim (apparently incorrectly) that the systems in place are being purposefully obfuscated (possibly by the devil, or commies) to trick parents into buying games that will send their precious children into a downward spiral of drugs, anal sex and murder.
The real irony here is that it seems the more they whine about the situation, the more parents will look into these ratings, and eventually, their argument will have become completely self-defeating. Left with a complete lack of ammunition on which to build careers, these pundits and politicos will no doubt turn to the only venue in which they can gain the attention they once had, and will take to assaulting schools with automatic weapons.
That, children, is the circle of life.
Contest:
2:43 AM on 05.05.2007
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Seriously, I woke up my dog.
...I think he's annoyed now.
So with this article, are you saying parents are actually trying to be parents and take blame? or am I expecting too much from the human race?
If Liebermann brings a gun to a school or a political convention and shoots up a lot of people is that Mortal Kombat developer's fault? Maybe he will be that chick and her mom's suger daddy... or the girl's dad's butt buddy in jail. Who by the way shot up his work place from playing too much Tetris, Viva Pinata, and Katamari Damacy.
There you go Nex, I'll join you with my bad jokes, just trying to make you look better.
(okay, 6 hours of apartment shopping 2 days straight with no hope, getting stitches, and waiting 4 hours at a car repair shop because somethings they didn't even fix = me being insane, so excuse me.)
Jack Thompson is a butt plug. He'd probably ban pooping if he could make the public believe he never had to.