Ramifications
Posted by: EG Admin on June 24, 2007 2:52:18 AM (123 Reads)
What is the issue, first of all, I have only viewed game play trailers of Man Hunt 2, but from what I have viewed I think Manhunt 2 was given an unfair rating. A Mature rating would have been plenty high considering the conten5t of the game. The way I see it, if I am old enough to legally live on my own, vote and most of all go to war, I surmise that just maybe I can decide if a game is ok for me.
The issue at hand in the US is a small group of people decided that an M rating was not guarantee enough that the game would stay out of children's hands. Ok by law kids/teens can't buy it and if a parent is irresponsible enough to not do some research on a game before purchasing for a child. So why does everyone else have to be punished?
The easy answer to that question is we now live in a society that no one is responsible for their own actions. So this is the ramifications of a society that we have slowly been building. Can anything be done about it? Individually no there isn't much we can do, but like every other group we should form lobbing groups. Rating systems are great but if they can be corrupted by the lobbing groups they might as well have pull in both fronts.
What's wrong with the rating system, well even though it's not (in the US) a government agencies it is heavily influenced by politics, lobbyists and the media. The biggest issue with the ratings system is there are not enough people involved.
Another problem facing Manhunt 2 is who it was developed by, if it had been developed by any other developer (Rockstar North makers of the GTA games) we would be seeing the game released and with a fair rating of M. At least in the US, I think in the UK there are broader problems facing their ratings system.
Broader implications:
Right now the gaming industry is unfairly being targeted by Politian's and thus the media for just about every crime, or social problems our nation faces. While TV, Music, and every other form of entertainment have been or are still under fire the gaming industry is an easy target. Though there are lobbyists keeping the gaming industry fairly unregulated there are more groups trying to censor it.
Since the publishers own the rights to games, they have very little motivation to not only protect the first amendment but our overall freedom of choice, after all at the end of the day they are a business and they make money no matter what they are selling, be it watered down games or the developers intended art form. Since more and more Publishers are brining there developers in-house I think we will see a shift in attitude at the publishers.
As it stands Manhunt 2 will be the first of many games to be unfairly rated or banned all together.
Until the industry has more lobbyists on our side all you can do is write the ESRB.
Other Notes:
Take Two & Rockstar North could have most likely avoided these problems in the US if they would have not planned to release on the Nintendo Wii.
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Posted by: EG Admin on June 24, 2007 2:52:18 AM (123 Reads)
What's the price of freedom, apparently, that even at the age of 18 (or older) you still don't know what is safe to watch, see, hear, and/or play.
Since the Fall of 2001 I have been old enough to serve my country, to smoke, vote, yet a small group of people get to decide that I am not mature enough to play a game. Yes this is inspired by Manhunt 2, but there is a larger issue here. To get this out first, I don't have a problem with the rating AO, I do have a problem that in the state that I reside I can't buy games with a ratting AO.What is the issue, first of all, I have only viewed game play trailers of Man Hunt 2, but from what I have viewed I think Manhunt 2 was given an unfair rating. A Mature rating would have been plenty high considering the conten5t of the game. The way I see it, if I am old enough to legally live on my own, vote and most of all go to war, I surmise that just maybe I can decide if a game is ok for me.
The issue at hand in the US is a small group of people decided that an M rating was not guarantee enough that the game would stay out of children's hands. Ok by law kids/teens can't buy it and if a parent is irresponsible enough to not do some research on a game before purchasing for a child. So why does everyone else have to be punished?
The easy answer to that question is we now live in a society that no one is responsible for their own actions. So this is the ramifications of a society that we have slowly been building. Can anything be done about it? Individually no there isn't much we can do, but like every other group we should form lobbing groups. Rating systems are great but if they can be corrupted by the lobbing groups they might as well have pull in both fronts.
What's wrong with the rating system, well even though it's not (in the US) a government agencies it is heavily influenced by politics, lobbyists and the media. The biggest issue with the ratings system is there are not enough people involved.
Another problem facing Manhunt 2 is who it was developed by, if it had been developed by any other developer (Rockstar North makers of the GTA games) we would be seeing the game released and with a fair rating of M. At least in the US, I think in the UK there are broader problems facing their ratings system.
Broader implications:
Right now the gaming industry is unfairly being targeted by Politian's and thus the media for just about every crime, or social problems our nation faces. While TV, Music, and every other form of entertainment have been or are still under fire the gaming industry is an easy target. Though there are lobbyists keeping the gaming industry fairly unregulated there are more groups trying to censor it.
Since the publishers own the rights to games, they have very little motivation to not only protect the first amendment but our overall freedom of choice, after all at the end of the day they are a business and they make money no matter what they are selling, be it watered down games or the developers intended art form. Since more and more Publishers are brining there developers in-house I think we will see a shift in attitude at the publishers.
As it stands Manhunt 2 will be the first of many games to be unfairly rated or banned all together.
Until the industry has more lobbyists on our side all you can do is write the ESRB.
Other Notes:
Take Two & Rockstar North could have most likely avoided these problems in the US if they would have not planned to release on the Nintendo Wii.
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