Thursday, October 2, 2008
Pew Study--Teens, Video Games and Civics.
Interesting report recently published by the Pew Internet and American Life Project entitled Teens, Video Games and Civics. The report shows how games, often perceived as the downfall of youth today, can cultivate teen civic engagement. It actually challenges some of the long held stereotypes about gaming.
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" Another major findings is that game playing sometimes involves exposure to mature content, with almost a third of teens playing games that are listed as appropriate only for people older than they are. "
Makes you wonder how well the rating system really works. It's obvious that parents are still misinformed about the rating system despite actions to inform them of the ESRB rating system. I'm all for playing games, but buying GTA for your 10 - 12 year old son just doesn't seem morally sound. I work at Gamestop (I'm sure I've said this before), and on multiple occasions I've had to ask parents if it was alright that their child was buying a mature rated game, most parents would ask me what that rating meant. Movies rating system is easily identifiable because it's been around longer, but we really need to inform parents of the ESRB as well.
I find it interesting that all of the focus appears to be on "teens,: as if we are the only ones that play games:
"The primary findings in the survey of 1,102 youth ages 12-17 include -- Game playing is universal, with almost all teens playing games and at least half playing games on a given day."
After reading the chapter from the book by Nick Yee, I find this passage particularly significant:
"The average age of MMORPG respondents was 26.57 (n = 5509, SD = 9.19); the median was 25, with a range from 11 to 68. The lower and upper quartile boundaries were 19 and 32 respectively. Thus, in fact only 25% of MMORPG users are teenagers."
Although this is just MMORPG's that were being surveyed, it's interesting to note that so much focus gets placed on "teens" when we only compose 25% of the general audience. I would be curious to see the statistics for more game genres..
I'd have to say that the rating system is rather ambiguous. I mean, look at Halo 3 and Gears of War. You have a somewhat cartoon-ish alien shooter(Halo 3) rated the same as a this gritty, dark, ultra-violent third person shooter(which I appropriately title 'Gibs of War'). After playing through loads of so-called 'mature' titles, few I'd deem worthy of that rating. Because of this ambiguity, I've come to see the 'mature' rating as a label for a potentially decent game since very few 'teen' titles have ever been appealing to me.
Assuming the parents understood the ratings, I'd say the purchase really comes down to the parent's perception of their child's maturity to handle such content. You can't police games or regulate which audiences experience what with just a letter and a number range on the corner of every box.
^
I agree completely. The rating system needs to be set aside and picked apart because in it's current state it feels broken.
The ESRB rating isn't whats wrong its the parents CHOICE that there buying the games. There the ones responsible for the decision on buying games for there kids. Its there responsibility to read up on the game and figure out if there kid is mature enough to handle it. Even if people in the retail gameing industry still have to ask if its ok for kids to buy the game. The parents should be responsible for there kids.
I too agree with you guys on a broken rating system. Though now you have to be 17+ to buy a mature game in Washington, its still amazing how many kids are able to purchase games with a M rating. For instance, my girlfriend and I were at Target last weekend and there was a kid, all by himself, trying to buy Gears of War. Now, he couldn't have been older than 9 or 10 and when he got to the register, the cashier sent him back to the tech section because the price rang up wrong. She never mentioned once to him that he isn't allowed to buy it, let alone say to him "Sorry honey, your just too young".
I think that now that games are evolving into something much more interactive and not just your average puzzle, they need to have a more strict enforcement on how games are rated and purchased.
I'm not really sure how games are rated or why they are rated the way they are because the games I play are the simple racing games like for Nintendo those are my favorite. I’m not into shooting games but I really don’t think anyone under 13 or 14 should be playing a shooting game just because I feel like it just morphs their brains into a different mind setting as if it’s ok to shoot people. It’s just a thought because I honestly don’t really play mature rated games. I just dont think i would let my 12 year old kid buy a mature rated game.
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