Senator Brownback vs. Video Game Industry

U.S. Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) recently announced that he is throwing his hat into the 2008 race for the White House. He also announced his proposal to tighten restrictions with a bill intending to use the FTC to eliminate what he calls, “deceptive conduct in the rating of video and computer games.”

The current dominant rating system is the ESRB. The ESRB provides an age rating, as well as a description of the content found within the game. Many consumers have found this to be very reliable. This system is also voluntary. Game developers are not required to carry an ESRB rating; however, most individual retailers will not stock unrated games.

For quite some time now, the game industry has voluntarily policed itself to the satisfaction of most, just as the film industry has. Would be President of the United States, Sam Brownback, believes that the ESRB is not doing such a good job.

It is his determination, the ESRB does not give adequate ratings, because they only skim content provided directly from the game developers. He believes that since they may not explore every nook and cranny of a game and disassemble the coding inside and out to find hidden content, the system that has been in place for years is of little use.

I have played many video games most of my life. I have worked selling video games when I was younger. I have bought games for children. I find that the current system is spectacular. The only problem with the ESRB rating system is the parents that disregard the system. Even if the FTC became involved in the policing of video games, the parents would still have the opportunity to ignore the rating system.

This is just another example of Republican Big Government Nanny State ideology. It sickens me.