Tendo City

http://pc.ign.com/articles/592/592778p1.html

New rating, between E and T. :)

If anything I thought they should compress it, not expand it.

They should just stick with the basic movie ratings. You know, G, PG, R. 13 doesn't really seem to serve a purpose if you ask me... Besides that, those terms kinda nail what the ratings should be doing a lot better than ones based on age groups. "General", "Parental Guidance", and "Restricted" basically say all that's needed to be said without tacking on any extra meaning like "its FOR CHILDREN, CHILDREN CAN PLAY THIS" or "THIS IS MATURE AND ALL THE POSSIBLE INTERPRETATIONS OF THAT WORD APPLY TO THIS".

E is G, E-10 is PG (yes, this is the rating cooresponding to PG. PG-13 already exists in games in the form of T... :)), T is PG-13, M is R... and all of them definitely serve a purpose. There's a big difference between a 10 year old and a 13 year old and the ratings should reflect that... it makes sense to fill in that gap for games as well.

Instead of coming up with new ratings, they should just use the same ones that movies do so that parents can't say that they don't know what the ratings mean.

Which is what I said. Hey ABF, what I mean is, what's the difference between PG and PG-13? I mean, Parental Guidance applies to ALL kids right? What, is PG-13 like only applying to kids under 13? I mean, PG-13 has some specific age number, but PG doesn't specify JACK, so where does it fall?

I still think 3 ratings is sufficient for a parent's needs. They don't need to know the age group, just that the content is something they need to keep an eye on or avoid altogether. They can view and decide for themselves if it's right for their kid's age group, rather than just blindly trust in some entity to decide what's appropriate, like too many parents do.

Here's the difference: "G" means the movie is suitable for everyone while "PG" means that parents might want consider various factors before allowing their children to see it, and "PG-13" means that is isn't suitable for children under 13.

So like PG means parents want to consider factors for... what age group OF children? They don't specify! Just drop the 13 bit if you aren't going to be specific with the other one.

Okay, so you drop PG-13 from the rating system, then do you lower R to include movies that don't fit PG or you do you raise PG to include movies that don't fit R?

So PG is lower than PG-13? Could ya answer that for me? Really, I have no idea. What age group is normal PG supposed to cover?

PG represents parental guidance <i>suggested</i> for any children to be watching the movie, while PG-13 represents parental guidance suggested for anyone under 13. Simple really, although I don't see the need for either, because both say "parental guidance suggested". Suggested, not necessary. A kid could go see a PG movie alone, and a fairly mature looking kid could go see a PG13 movie alone. The only real roadblock in movies, as with games, is the R (M) rating. Everything below that is interpretive to the individual person playing it.

That's just my opinion anyway.

PG-13 was invented for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom because it was too dark and violent to get a PG rating and Paramount was afraid of getting an R. So they came up with an in-between.

So... so wait...

We have E, for everybody.

There's T, for teen. (13 and up)

Then we have M for Mature. (17/18 and up)

and of course A, for adults only. (21 and up)

Now we have a rating for people between the ages of 10 and 12? What the shit?? Now we'll get a rating for people 19 to 20 or a rating for people with one eye.

Yeah I think we should have a different ESRB rating for every single age, 1-95.

"This game is rated WTF by the ESRB because we dont know WTF to rate it since we keep making shit up for no reason and trying to jack-off the politicians and soccer moms of America so that everybody's happy and if another 12 year old shoots his school up they can blame the parents for buying him the M rated game and we're totally out of the loop, maybe they'll blame rap music or something.... oh, yeah, almost forgot; this game is progressive scan and also a 4 player game which uses 3 blocks on your memory card."

Quote:PG-13 was invented for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom because it was too dark and violent to get a PG rating and Paramount was afraid of getting an R. So they came up with an in-between.

However, Temple of Doom didn't get rated PG-13, the first movie released as PG-13 was Red Dawn which came shortly afterword.

Now that I'm 18, though, I don't really care what a movie is rated anymore.

Huh, you're right. What's the deal with that?

According to IMDB, Temple of Doom and Critters were difficult to rate because they had more violence than most PG movies, but supposedly because they had the Speilberg name on them they were rated PG anyway. After that though, they introduced the PG-13 rating for movies that weren't quite PG or R.

Okay, according to EM PG means for ALL children, meaning anyone who isn't an adult legally. And, PG-13 only applies to those under 13. According to others PG-13 is like a higher rating... and I guess PG should really be called like what, PG-10? Also, apparently PG-13 was a way around some movie studio getting the rating they actually deserved.

Anyway, books are not rated. Just thought I'd remind people of that.

If you want ages, it's basically...

Ec: up to 6 (young kids' educational games)
E (G): 6+ (okay for anyone)
E10+ (PG): 10+ (some material not good for young kids)
T (PG-13): 13+ (because children are quite different at 13 from how they were at 10, they realized another category was needed... otherwise you say "okay, is this a high PG or a low R?" and aren't really quite satisfied with either.)
M ®: 17+ (some content restrictions, but not as many)
Ao (NC-17): 18+ (very few games in this category, and no major commercial titles.)

As for books, it's true that they aren't rated, but they are seperated -- children's books are put in one place, adult's books in another, in either a bookstore or a library. That serves for the most important purpose, seperating kids' from adults' stuff... but anyway, how would you content-rate a book? It seems like it'd be harder than movies or games... you could do it, I'm sure, but obviously no one has made an issue of it so it's not been tried. Just banning unpopular books alltogether.

Here you go:

Quote:G:"General Audiences-All Ages Admitted."

This is a film which contains nothing in theme, language, nudity and sex, violence, etc. which would, in the view of the Rating Board, be offensive to parents whose younger children view the film. The G rating is not a "certificate of approval," nor does it signify a children's film.

Some snippets of language may go beyond polite conversation but they are common everyday expressions. No stronger words are present in G-rated films. The violence is at a minimum. Nudity and sex scenes are not present; nor is there any drug use content.

PG:"Parental Guidance Suggested. Some Material May Not Be Suitable For Children."

This is a film which clearly needs to be examined or inquired into by parents before they let their children attend. The label PG plainly states that parents may consider some material unsuitable for their children, but the parent must make the decision.

Parents are warned against sending their children, unseen and without inquiry, to PG-rated movies.

The theme of a PG-rated film may itself call for parental guidance. There may be some profanity in these films. There may be some violence or brief nudity. But these elements are not deemed so intense as to require that parents be strongly cautioned beyond the suggestion of parental guidance. There is no drug use content in a PG-rated film.

The PG rating, suggesting parental guidance, is thus an alert for examination of a film by parents before deciding on its viewing by their children.

Obviously such a line is difficult to draw. In our pluralistic society it is not easy to make judgments without incurring some disagreement. So long as parents know they must exercise parental responsibility, the rating serves as a meaningful guide and as a warning.

PG-13:"Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some Material May Be Inappropriate For Children Under 13."

PG-13 is thus a sterner warning to parents to determine for themselves the attendance in particular of their younger children as they might consider some material not suited for them. Parents, by the rating, are alerted to be very careful about the attendance of their under-teenage children.

A PG-13 film is one which, in the view of the Rating Board, leaps beyond the boundaries of the PG rating in theme, violence, nudity, sensuality, language, or other contents, but does not quite fit within the restricted R category. Any drug use content will initially require at least a PG-13 rating. In effect, the PG-13 cautions parents with more stringency than usual to give special attention to this film before they allow their 12-year olds and younger to attend.

If nudity is sexually oriented, the film will generally not be found in the PG-13 category. If violence is too rough or persistent, the film goes into the R (restricted) rating. A film's single use of one of the harsher sexually-derived words, though only as an expletive, shall initially require the Rating Board to issue that film at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such expletive must lead the Rating Board to issue a film an R rating, as must even one of these words used in a sexual context. These films can be rated less severely, however, if by a special vote, the Rating Board feels that a lesser rating would more responsibly reflect the opinion of American parents.

PG-13 places larger responsibilities on parents for their children's moviegoing. The voluntary rating system is not a surrogate parent, nor should it be. It cannot, and should not, insert itself in family decisions that only parents can, and should, make. Its purpose is to give prescreening advance informational warnings, so that parents can form their own judgments. PG-13 is designed to make these parental decisions easier for films between PG and R.

R:"Restricted, Under 17 Requires Accompanying Parent Or Adult Guardian." In the opinion of the Rating Board, this film definitely contains some adult material. Parents are strongly urged to find out more about this film before they allow their children to accompany them.

An R-rated film may include hard language, or tough violence, or nudity within sensual scenes, or drug abuse or other elements, or a combination of some of the above, so that parents are counseled, in advance, to take this advisory rating very seriously. Parents must find out more about an R-rated movie before they allow their teenagers to view it.

There.