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The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association, in response to criticism of controversial video games with excessively violent or sexual content, particularly after the 1993 congressional hearings following the releases of Mortal Kombat and Night Trap for home consoles and Doom for home computers. The industry, pressured with potential government oversight of video game ratings from these hearings, established both the IDSA and the ESRB within it to create a voluntary rating system based on the Motion Picture Association film rating system with additional considerations for video game interactivity.
Advertising in video games is the integration of advertising into video games to promote products, organizations, or viewpoints.
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is the trade association of the video game industry in the United States. It was formed in April 1994 as the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) and renamed on July 21, 2003. It is based in Washington, D.C. Most of the top publishers in the gaming world are members of the ESA.
In video games, censorship are efforts by an authority to limit access, censor content, or regulate video games or specific video games due to the nature of their content. Some countries will do this to protect younger audiences from inappropriate content using rating systems such as the ESRB rating system. Others will do this to censor any negative outlook on a nation's government.
The Videogame Rating Council (V.R.C.) was introduced by Sega of America in 1993 to rate all video games that were released for sale in the United States and Canada on the Master System, Genesis, Game Gear, Sega CD, 32X, and Pico. The rating had to be clearly displayed on the front of the box, but their appearance in advertisements for the video game was strictly optional. It was later supplanted by the industry-wide Entertainment Software Rating Board.
"Hot Coffee" is the unofficial name for a minigame in the 2004 action-adventure video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas by Rockstar Games. While it was not playable in the official game release, the modding community discovered hidden code that, when enabled, allows protagonist Carl "CJ" Johnson to have animated sexual intercourse with his in-game girlfriend.
The Guy Game is a 2004 adult video game developed by Topheavy Studios and published by Gathering for Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. Presented in a trivia gameshow style, it allows up to four players to compete by completing multiple choice questions and minigames complemented by filmed live-action footage of young women in bikinis on spring break. Its development was led by former Metroid Prime developer Jeff Spangenberg, who sought to create an interactive game with appeal to men inspired by the Girls Gone Wild series of pornographic videos. The objective of The Guy Game is for players to earn points, as well as accumulate bonus points for a meter, titled the Flash-O-Meter, that progressively removes censorship of footage of the women exposing their breasts. Upon release, The Guy Game was a commercial disappointment and received negative reviews, with critics critiquing its tastelessness, slow pace, and lack of content, although some praised it as a niche party title for a college-age audience.
Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse is a reverse horror video game developed by Wideload Games and published by Aspyr Media. It was released on October 18, 2005, for the Xbox video game console, and was released for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X in November that same year. The game was released on February 10, 2006, in Europe with distribution handled by THQ. The game was made available on Steam on May 17, 2007 and was later removed, but it became available for purchase again in March 2021 following an update which fixed several major compatibility and stability issues. It became available on Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace as an Xbox Originals on May 19, 2008, but was removed late 2012 due to technical issues.
The United States Family Entertainment Protection Act (FEPA) was a failed bill introduced by Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), and co-sponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Evan Bayh (D-IN) on November 29, 2005. The bill called for a federal mandate enforcement of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) ratings system for video games in order to protect children from inappropriate content.
The Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association (IEMA) was a United States–based non-profit organization dedicated to serving the business interests of leading retailers that sell Interactive entertainment software. Member companies of the IEMA collectively accounted for approximately seventy-five percent of the $10 billion annual interactive entertainment business in the United States. The association was established in 1997 by Hal Halpin, its president and founder, and counts among its member companies the largest retailers of games including Walmart, Target Corporation, Blockbuster Entertainment and Circuit City. The IEMA also sponsored an important annual trade show in the promotion of the business of the video game industry called the "Executive Summit".
The Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSAC) was an independent, non-profit organization founded in the U.S. in 1994 by the Software Publishers Association as well as six other industry leaders in response to video game controversy and threats of government regulation.
The United States Truth in Video Game Rating Act (S.3935) was a failed bill that was introduced by then Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) on September 26, 2006. The act would require the ESRB to have access to the full content of and hands-on time with the games it was to rate, rather than simply relying on the video demonstrations submitted by developers and publishers. In addition, the ESRB would become oversighted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and the Federal Trade Commission would define details of content for the ESRB ratings. Brownback said of the bill's introduction, "The current video game ratings system needs improvement because reviewers do not see the full content of games and don't even play the games they are supposed to rate. For video game ratings to be meaningful and worthy of a parent's trust, the game ratings must be more objective and accurate."
Ecco the Dolphin is a series of action-adventure video games developed by Appaloosa Interactive and published by Sega. Appaloosa Interactive was founded in Hungary in 1983; the first Ecco the Dolphin game was developed by an entirely Hungarian team, originally for the European market. Ecco the Dolphin series was released in part due to Nintendo's exclusive deal with the company Capcom. In the early 1990s, Capcom signed a deal with Nintendo preventing Sega's console from carrying two popular games at the time, Street Fighter I and Final Fight. As a result, Sega created Ecco the Dolphin to develop a competitive advantage against Nintendo by having their own interactive game series. The games were originally developed for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Dreamcast video game consoles, and have been ported to numerous systems. Ettore Annunziata envisioned and conceived the game, while Laszlo Szsenttornyai, Jozsef Molnar, and Zsolt Balogh programmed the game for the SEGA Mega Drive. The story follows the eponymous bottlenose dolphin, who fights extraterrestrial threats to the world. The games are known for their high difficulty as well as their pacifist nature, which is common for Hungarian Games. Hungarian animated games often feature animal protagonists like Caesar the Cat, a game released in 1983 for the Commodore 64. Ecco the Dolphin was seen as a continuation of the use of animal protagonists in Hungarian content. Ecco was created by Ed Annunziata, who also produced Chakan: The Forever Man, which was also released in December 1992.
A video game content rating system is a system used for the classification of video games based on suitability for target audiences. Most of these systems are associated with and/or sponsored by a government, and are sometimes part of the local motion picture rating system. The utility of such ratings has been called into question by studies that publish findings such as 90% of teenagers claim that their parents "never" check the ratings before allowing them to rent or buy video games, and as such, calls have been made to "fix" the existing rating systems. Video game content rating systems can be used as the basis for laws that cover the sales of video games to minors, such as in Australia. Rating checking and approval is part of the game localization when they are being prepared for their distribution in other countries or locales. These rating systems have also been used to voluntarily restrict sales of certain video games by stores, such as the German retailer Galeria Kaufhof's removal of all video games rated 18+ by the USK following the Winnenden school shooting.
The Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC), formerly the Game Rating Board (GRB) until December 23, 2013, is a South Korean video game content rating board. A governmental organization, the GRAC rates video games to inform customers of the nature of game contents.
There have been many debates on the social effects of video games on players and broader society, as well as debates within the video game industry. Since the early 2000s, advocates of video games have emphasized their use as an expressive medium, arguing for their protection under the laws governing freedom of speech and also as an educational tool. Detractors argue that video games are harmful and therefore should be subject to legislative oversight and restrictions. The positive and alleged negative characteristics and effects of video games are the subject of scientific study. Academic research has examined the links between video games and addiction, aggression, violence, social development, and a variety of stereotyping and sexual morality issues.
Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, 564 U.S. 786 (2011), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court that struck down a 2005 California law banning the sale of certain violent video games to children without parental supervision. In a 7–2 decision, the Court affirmed the lower court decisions and nullified the law, ruling that video games were protected speech under the First Amendment as other forms of media.
Video gaming in the United States is one of the fastest-growing entertainment industries in the country. The American video game industry is the largest video game industry in the world. According to a 2020 study released by the Entertainment Software Association, the yearly economic output of the American video game industry in 2019 was $90.3 billion, supporting over 429,000 American jobs. With an average yearly salary of about $121,000, the latter figure includes over 143,000 individuals who are directly employed by the video game business. Additionally, activities connected to the video game business generate $12.6 billion in federal, state, and local taxes each year. The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2025 the American gaming industry will reach $42.3 billion while the worldwide gaming industry will possibly reach US$270 billion. The United States is one of the nations with the largest influence in the video game industry, with video games representing a significant part of its economy.
On December 9, 1993, and March 4, 1994, members of the combined United States Senate Committees on Governmental Affairs and the Judiciary held congressional hearings with several spokespersons for companies in the video game industry including Nintendo and Sega, involving violence in video games and the perceived impacts on children. The hearing was a result of concerns raised by members of the public on the 1993 releases of Night Trap, Mortal Kombat and later Doom which was released after the first hearing. Besides general concerns related to violence in video games, the situation had been inflamed by a moral panic over gun violence, as well as the state of the industry and an intense rivalry between Sega and Nintendo.
References
- ↑ "1up.com". Archived from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
- ↑ "Who We Are". National Institute on Media and the Family. Archived from the original on 2006-12-28. Retrieved 2007-01-16.
- ↑ "David Walsh, Ph.D. Bio". National Institute on Media and the Family. Archived from the original on 2006-12-09. Retrieved 2007-01-16.
- ↑ "Video Game Report Cards". National Institute on Media and the Family. Archived from the original on 2007-01-16. Retrieved 2007-01-16.
- ↑ "National PTA Statement on Video Game Report Card". pta.org. 2005-12-01. Retrieved 2006-10-14.[ permanent dead link ]
- ↑ Walsh, David (2003). "Killographic Entertainment". National Institute on Media and the Family. Archived from the original on 2006-12-13. Retrieved 2006-09-02.
- ↑ "Group warns parents about 'killographic' games". CNN.com . 2003-12-09. Retrieved 2006-09-02.
- ↑ ESRB gives NIMFa failing grade
