2007 Video Game Report Card

The 2007 Video Game Report Card from MediaWise.org is out. It focuses primarily on ESRB ratings, whether parents understand them and how they are being used by retailers. The summary reports that,

this year, our findings suggest that the unacceptable negative impact of excessively violent video games on young people is a problem depicted in an ever expanding body of research. Increasingly, the companies which create and market the games, the retailers who sell them and the parents who buy them have become too comfortable with the voluntary standards they set for themselves in previous years.

Complacency, especially on the part of retailers and parents, appears to have caused a backslide in ratings awareness and enforcement.

The full report (which can be downloaded) has a fairly succinct review on the research about links between gaming and violence along with a bibliography. The report obviously takes the stand that children should not be playing ESRB M or AO rated games and that retailers and places that rent games need to train clerks better to enforce rules about who can buy games. There is some interesting stuff about blurred sequences in M (Mature) games. They go further and suggest that we need a common rating for all entertainment media:

A universal ratings system is needed now, more than ever, to increase ratings knowledge and reduce confusion. A majority of parents favor one rating system for all media.

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