Rating video games ratings
Study shows ratings are often inaccurate
A recent study conducted by researchers at Children’s Hospital
Boston and the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) suggests
that parents may want to reconsider trusting the rating on the
side of the package in determining if a video game is appropriate
for their children.
The study, which is the only rigorous, independent, and quantitative
analysis based on actual play of video games, showed that many
activities that earn other games Mature ratings appear without
warning labels in Teen-rated games. It was led by researchers
at the Center on Media and Child Health (CMCH) at Children’s and
the Kids Risk Project at the HSPH, and appeared in the February
18 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association
(JAMA).
Study authors Kevin Haninger, who is a doctoral
student at Harvard, and Kimberly Thompson, MS, ScD,
who is co-founder and director of research at CMCH, randomly selected
81 video games rated T (for Teen) by the Entertainment Software
Rating Board (ESRB), and compared the content they observed in
an hour of game play to the ESRB descriptions provided on game
packaging. They found that 48 percent of games included violence,
sexual themes, profanity, substance use, or gambling without noting
these activities on the game box. This finding prompted the researchers
to recommend that parents take a more active role in selecting
and discussing video games with kids, especially since the ESRB,
which is funded by the video game industry, rates games based
on descriptions given by the manufacturer rather than on game
play.
“These findings suggest the need for greater clarity and transparency
in the use of ESRB content descriptors and in the overall rating
process,” says Haninger.
Based on the wide range of content observed and the absence of
some content descriptors, the authors recommended that the ESRB
consider using additional age-based categories in its ratings,
such as a Youth rating for ages 10 and up and a T-15 rating for
ages 15 and up. They also emphasized that the ESRB should make
playing the games an integral part of the rating process to ensure
that the most accurate information is available to parents.
Haninger and Thompson encourage clinicians—particularly pediatricians
and specialists in adolescent medicine—to ask patients and their
parents about their experiences with video games, and to actively
mediate any potential health risks.
Says Thompson, “The results of this study and the recent glimpse
of popular teen culture that parents saw in the Super Bowl half-time
show should serve as a wake-up call to parents to pay attention
to what’s in their children’s media diets.”
