21st August 2003, 2:30 PM
Who stole my photo album?!
Anyway, sometimes I wonder if parents really do think the reatings are just "cool looking things".
Let's look at the appearence. The ratings USED to have this look where the letter was hollow and there were bits of dirt or something splattered around it. Obviously this was a design choice, but they changed it to a solid letter on a plain white background probably because it would be taken more seriously. However, the letter is still tilted. TILTED! Who can take that rebellious new age TILTED LETTER seriously? Of course I joke, but I do believe some parents might have a much more subtle line of reasoning along those lines. I think game ratings should look perfectly plain like movie ratings. Also, almost no parents have any idea what the ratings mean, STILL. Kids probably throw away those sheets of ratings the second they open that new console rather than let their parents "in" on it. I think ESRB should change the rating system to look exactly like the movie rating system, just like TV ratings did. All parents know what movie ratings mean after all. G instead of E, PG or PG-13 (I still have no idea what the diff is between those...) instead of T, and R instead of M. On another note, what the letters stand for is more accurate. E for everyone doesn't really mean EVERYONE. General audience is more accurate. T for teen? Some younger teens might not be allowed to see it, or may not be deemed mature enough. Parental Guidance is more accurate there. Mature? Well, most "mature" games have not a lick of maturity about them, so "Restricted viewing" is much more accurate there too.
Yes, parents ARE idiots for not being able to actually look into what the ratings mean, but if anything's to be done by the entertainment industry, it should be this. I doubt it'll work, but hey, at least you can't say they didn't TRY to inform them if they did this. No more letter tilting too, as I said, because really, it's all TILTY and REBELLIOUS and you can't take a tilted letter seriously! :D
Anyway, sometimes I wonder if parents really do think the reatings are just "cool looking things".
Let's look at the appearence. The ratings USED to have this look where the letter was hollow and there were bits of dirt or something splattered around it. Obviously this was a design choice, but they changed it to a solid letter on a plain white background probably because it would be taken more seriously. However, the letter is still tilted. TILTED! Who can take that rebellious new age TILTED LETTER seriously? Of course I joke, but I do believe some parents might have a much more subtle line of reasoning along those lines. I think game ratings should look perfectly plain like movie ratings. Also, almost no parents have any idea what the ratings mean, STILL. Kids probably throw away those sheets of ratings the second they open that new console rather than let their parents "in" on it. I think ESRB should change the rating system to look exactly like the movie rating system, just like TV ratings did. All parents know what movie ratings mean after all. G instead of E, PG or PG-13 (I still have no idea what the diff is between those...) instead of T, and R instead of M. On another note, what the letters stand for is more accurate. E for everyone doesn't really mean EVERYONE. General audience is more accurate. T for teen? Some younger teens might not be allowed to see it, or may not be deemed mature enough. Parental Guidance is more accurate there. Mature? Well, most "mature" games have not a lick of maturity about them, so "Restricted viewing" is much more accurate there too.
Yes, parents ARE idiots for not being able to actually look into what the ratings mean, but if anything's to be done by the entertainment industry, it should be this. I doubt it'll work, but hey, at least you can't say they didn't TRY to inform them if they did this. No more letter tilting too, as I said, because really, it's all TILTY and REBELLIOUS and you can't take a tilted letter seriously! :D
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)