During Summer B, I’ve been taking a course about the cultural impact of video games. The first classes were more about history than impact, showing how games got to be such an important part of our culture in the first place.
Recently the course reached the point in history in which games like “Mortal Kombat” inspired U.S. Senate hearings on violence in video games. The hearings eventually resulted in the 1994 creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board, known better as simply the ESRB.
Last year alone, the ESRB rated more than 1,200 games. Of those, more than half came with parental guidance, from Everyone 10+ to Mature. This does not even include games with an Adults Only rating.
A survey examined about 1,200 surveys of video game players ages 6-44 and their parents, finding that “82 percent of ‘gamer’ parents were familiar with the ESRB rating guidelines, 7 percent more than the game-playing children themselves.” A Kotaku article on the survey goes on to say that “70 percent [of parents] pay attention to it [the ratings system] when purchasing a game for their children, with 62 percent indicating that they actively research the games.”
Another survey is referenced in the ESRB’s own site, this one from May and June 2012. The number of parents aware of the ESRB went up 3 percent, while the 70 percent mark stayed the same. The only other important piece of info is 88 percent of those polled feel the ESRB is helpful in some capacity.
All of this culminates in the idea the ESRB is effective. Not only is it effective in rating games, but the group also has done a good job in making parents aware of its function. But the problem lies in the complementary statistics. If 70 percent of parents pay attention, why do 30 percent not? If 85 percent are aware of the ESRB, what prevents the other 15 percent from knowing? This should concern both the ESRB and the gaming community as a whole.
As long as games are merely considered as a viable scapegoat for causing violent behavior, the solution to combating that assumption lies in the spread of information. If 99 percent of parents are aware of the ESRB guidelines and follow them religiously, some will still claim the 1 percent not reached is the source of deviants. Sadly, it is clear even if the mark of 99 percent was ever reached, it would not change the minds of those so firmly entrenched in their ways.
Logan Ladnyk is a UF journalism junior. His columns appear Tuesdays.
