M is for mature

D.C. legislators, including many city council members and Mayor Anthony Williams, announced a push to ban selling video games that depict violence and sexual acts to minors in early February. In Illinois, Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) announced his support for a similar ban in mid-December of 2004. These legislators and others like them are on the right track.

A video game rated M (meaning mature) by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) is roughly equivalent to an R-rated movie and is recommended for people over the age of 17, according to the ESRB web site. Although minors cannot enter, buy or rent an R-rated movie without parental/guardian consent in most theaters and video stores in the U.S., they can currently buy and rent M-rated video games in most retailers. These policies should be made more congruous, and children should be forbidden from purchasing or renting an M-rated game without parental consent.

Game producers are not legally bound to submit games to ESRB for rating, much like how movie producers are not required to submit their movies to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). However, most producers who intend their games or movies for mass consumption do.

ESRB's voluntary rating system gets high marks for accuracy in ratings from parents, according to the ESRB web site. However, many parents do not even know that these ratings exist for the protection of their children, and far more are not aware of the ratings of the games their children are purchasing.

In 1968, motion picture theater owners adopted the MPAA movie rating system, including a promise to not allow children under the age of 17 into R-rated movies if unaccompanied by an adult. The Video Software Dealers Association of America has adopted a "pledge to parents," which strongly encourages adherence to MPAA guidelines. However, video game retailers have not limited the sale of M-rated games to younger children.According to a Washington Post article, some retailers like Best Buy and Blockbuster have enacted store policies that require proof of age to buy or rent an M-rated game. However, many game retailers place the bottom line above the welfare of children.

There is much contention over whether playing violent video games has any effect on children. Studies regarding the effects of violent video games on children are inconclusive, according to an article by Jeffrey Goldstein, Ph.D. from the Cultural Policy Center of the University of Chicago. However, violent video games are unequivocally harmful to children, according to an article by Craig A. Anderson and Brad J. Bushman from Iowa State University.

Regardless of whether or not these games do have detrimental effects on children, it seems only prudent to allow children to develop their moral standards before being exposed to violently explicit multimedia. As Governor Blagojevich wrote in a statement quoted in The Washington Post, "This is all about protecting our children until they are old enough to protect themselves. There's a reason why we don't let kids smoke or drink alcohol or drive a car until they reach a certain age and level of maturity."

As video game retailers seem reticent to self-police in keeping kids from getting games that their parents do not approve of, legislative action becomes necessary to make sure parents have a say in what their kids are playing.