What's an ESRB Rating, and Why Is It Important?

Working for a video game store has introduced me to a variety of, ahem, fascinating scenarios and situations that one could only call uniquely "retail."

However, the most troubling thing I deal with on a daily basis isn't the blatant rudeness, the terse phone calls, the demanding customers who are, of course, ALWAYS in the right even when clearly in the wrong. Nor is it even the plethora of screaming children in the store at a given moment.

What troubles me the most in this day and age of video gaming are the parents who pay no mind to the ESRB rating on every game when buying one for their kid.

What's an ESRB rating, you ask?

These letters stand for ratings distributed for every game by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

At the bottom left-hand corner of every game is a big black letter, either an E (for everyone), a T (for teen), or an M (for mature). There is also a brief description of why the game has been rated that way, for factors ranging from comic mischief to suggestive themes, to blood and gore, and everything in between.

As someone who has been playing video games their entire life, I can completely see the importance of the ESRB ratings. When you have a thirteen year old coming into your job asking to buy Grand Theft Auto or Saint's Row, the rating and description makes it a lot easier for the parent of said kid to determine whether or not this game is appropriate for them. 

Case in point: this evening I was at work and a woman came in asking about a particular game for her child. Coincidentally, I had just finished playing the game in question and when she told me it was for the little girl next to her, who couldn't have been more than 8 to 10 years old, I was compelled to say something. The game, while it was incredibly good and is now one of my favorites, was rated M for very good reasons and not something that should've been in the hands of an elementary school kid. Granted, I knew I could've been overstepping a boundary in telling the woman what was and wasn't appropriate for her kid, but I found a copy of the game and read the ESRB description on the box and gave her some details about the story line. 

As it turned out, her girl was trying to pull a fast one and was not being very honest about the game. She knew it was meant for adults but was hoping her mom would buy it for her anyway due to her ignorance of the game's content.

She isn't the first kid that's tried this while I've worked the retail game counter and she won't be the last. So it's important to realize what the content of a game is before buying it for your kid. Heck, it's important to know what's in it before you play it yourself!

I don't know how many parents I've had return games, telling me that the game was too violent, or wasn't "age appropriate" for their child once they got it home and saw them playing it.

Very often, that annoyance is directed at us, despite the fact that we not only warn about mature ratings to parents, but also that the rating is bold and hard to miss on the package.

I've also had parents become annoyed when they've been called into the store from their cars to make sure the Mature rating was ok on the game their kid wanted to buy.

I've had a lot of customers barely bat an eye when I've asked them if the Mature rating on a game was ok for their kid, even with the mention of variables like strong sexual content, drug use, strong language, nudity, or blood and gore.

I've also had quite a few parents react oppositely and give their child a deathly stare and tell them to go pick something else to play.

It is at your discretion and it's your prerogative to determine what you feel is ok and not ok for your child to be playing. What you feel is offensive may be totally ok with another parent.

But be aware of the ESRB ratings; your pre-teen may want to play Call of Duty or Halo online, but it may not be the best idea for every kid, so make the judgement for yourself, study up on the game in question, and if it's not suitable, don't let them play it (believe me, older gamers will thank you for it in the end, especially those of us playing online).

And a special note to all you kids out there who think you're slick: you need a state ID to buy an M rated game (no, high school IDs don't count), and you will be ID'd if you look younger than 35. You can stop acting surprised/angry when you're turned away for not giving us proper proof of your age. And no, we will not sell you an M rated game if you come in with a stranger who you've somehow fandangoed off the street to try and buy the game for you (though admittedly, that's always slightly amusing).

Happy gaming!