War has been declared. A war that has seeded itself in the big cities of Chicago to small rural towns in Kansas. This war has been declared on the gaming industry on behalf of a handful of Government officials and watch dog organizations. However, our adversary has sold us far too short and have miscalculated our effort and ironclad will. What has brought us to war? The alleged blatant violence and sexuality in video games and the perceived lack of preventative measures taken by the ESRB.

Lets examine this further. The ESRB has been created and regulated in the same fashion as the MPAA. The MPAA reviews a movie and based on its content hands down a rating. Equivalently, the ESRB will also review a game and based on the content of said game will also hand down a rating. Now the rating system for both organizations is different but the similarities are uncanny. The ratings themselves for example can be perceived as being identical in meaning and recommendation for both the ESRB and the MPAA. We will start from the bottom. The MPAA has a rating of G (General Audience) which is equal or less than the ESRB’s rating of EC (early childhood) and E (everyone). Progressing forward we have PG (parental guidance suggested) which is coincidentally nearly identical to the ESRB’s rating of E+10 (everyone 10+). Further, we have the PG-13 rating (parents strongly cautioned). The ESRB version of this rating is simple, T for Teen. And finally the rating that has caused the most controversy, the rating M for mature. The MPAA has a similar rating which everyone knows as the rating R or restricted. Let’s investigate further and find out from the source what exactly these ratings mean. MPAA regarding the R rating:

“In the opinion of the Rating Board, this film definitely contains some adult material. Parents are strongly urged to find out more about this film before they allow their children to accompany them. An R-rated film may include strong language, violence, nudity, drug abuse, other elements, or a combination of the above, so parents are counseled in advance to take this advisory rating very seriously.”

Now let’s look at the definition of an M rating provided by the ESRB:

“Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.”

As you can see the ratings, although utilizing different symbols, have nearly identical meanings. Why is it then that the Government and douche bags like Jack Thompson are attacking the gaming industry with unrivaled vitriol and misguided determination? They site common games such as Doom, GTA, Quake, and even Halo in instigating, influencing, and initiating violent thoughts or actions in people who play and engage in these video games. Granted, the games mentioned do contain adult content and merit an M rating but why is it that the gaming industry is under attack when the movie industry is producing and releasing with an equal amount, if not more, of violence, sex, language, and adult content oriented movies? If you attempt to gain entrance to a rated R movie underage you will be refused or must have a parent or guardian to accompany you. The same can be said for games. If you attempt to purchase a M rated game underage you will be refused or be forced to have a parent or guardian purchase the game for you. So what’s the problem with the ESRB? You really haven’t heard too many people **** about the MPAA lately. Movies such as Casino, Reservoir Dogs, Clockwork Orange, Natural Born Killers, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Taxi Driver, Showgirls, Basic Instinct, etc etc the list goes on and on all have extreme scenes of violence and sex. A few of these movies caused controversy on their own but they pale in comparison to the fervor, criticism, and law suites the prior mentioned games have seen. So where is the outcry concerning these violent and sometimes obscene movies? The last movie I can remember that also took a substantial amount of flack was “Passion of the Christ”. Passion of the @#$%% #$%^* Christ?!? Give me a break! There is an obvious double standard here and I have yet to figure out why although I do have my theories.

Much more is involved in this issue such as accountability, Government taking over parental rights, and the hypocrisy in the entertainment medium.