|
The ESRB has been around since 1994 and has been
a significant part of every video game since then. The ESRB uses a scale going from E-A to decide
what age group the game is geared towards. The letters appointed to games are in order from safest to most
dangerous E = Everybody, T= Teen, M = Mature and A = Adult. The ESRB system was created by Nintendo after
the release of some violent video games such as Doom and Mortal Kombat around
1992, but at this time it wasn’t a law. The ESRB was just Nintendo’s gift to parents.
The Federal Trade
Commission has broken a very important right of the American people. The right that has been breached is the
freedom of everybody. If restrictions
are sealed on games then it can easily lead to everything being restricted to
certain people. In a way this policy
resembles the Jim Crow laws in the south many years ago. The way people are being discriminated of
being more vulnerable because of their age is indeed a bad and unjust
thing. By saying only people of the ages
of seventeen and older are able to buy games with the M (mature) rating posted
on them; many people are missing out on great games. Major changes have
occurred everywhere in retrospect of the ESRB coming into existence and being
pushed on every game retailer in the United States of America. Longer lines cause less time for American
families to do the things that they want to do, because of clerks having to
check identification to play something that in no way physically harms the
body.
“Sixty percent of
parents with children under 18 never allow those kids to play M rated games,
while 34 percent only do sometimes, according to a recent study commissioned by
the Entertainment Software Rating Board” (par. 1). This shows how children under 18 are being discriminated against and given unfair chances based on their parents' beliefs and guidelines.
|
