Video Games Beyond Repair?

Nov. 29, 2005 — -- The National Institute on Media and the Family released their 10th annual assessment of the state of the $25 billion-a-year video game industry today, and it's not good news.

According to the "MediaWise Video and Computer Game Report Card," the companies that make video games are more concerned with profits than protecting children from violent and sexually graphic material.

The report claims that "killographic and sexually explicit games are still making their way into the hands of millions of underage players," despite the report's yearly criticism.

Video game retailers were given a "B" for creating company policies about selling "M" -- or "mature" -- rated games, but were slapped with a "D-" when it comes to enforcement.

Joined at a press conference by Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., David Walsh, president and founder of the National Institute on Media and the Family, said, "We believe that the ESRB [Entertainment Software Ratings Board] ratings system is broken and needs to be fixed."

According to the ESRB Web site, it is "a self-regulatory body for the interactive entertainment software industry" that "independently applies and enforces ratings, advertising guidelines, and online privacy principles adopted by the computer and video game industry."

As the ratings stand now, there are 6 ratings symbols: "eC" for early childhood, "E" for everyone, "10+E" for everyone over 10, "T" for teen, "M" for mature and "AO" for adults only.

In addition to these ratings, the ESRB includes a list of content descriptors to detail specific elements that might be considered offensive, including violence, alcohol references or nudity.

No one from the ESRB was immediately available for comment.

Still, Walsh says, the system is ineffective because the games are not rated properly.

"Just 18 of the 10,000 games on the market are actually rated 'AO,'" said Walsh. "The reason is not because they don't have the games that fit the criteria, the reason is that they can't sell those games."