Media Watchdog Releases Industry Report Card
Posted on Nov 27, 2008 at 1:37 AM Comments:0
The National Institute on Media and the Family has released its 13th annual Video Game Report Card (.pdf), which finds that the videogame market has become more parent-friendly versus last year.
From the report card:
ESRB Ratings. . . . . Grade: A
The addition of ratings summaries is yet another step forward in the growing
list of improvements that the ESRB has made in recent years.
ESRB Ratings Education. . Grade: A
We commend the ESRB for intensifying efforts to help parents understand the
video game ratings. The ESRB has become the entertainment industry leader
in educating retailers and parents about the rating system.
Retailer Ratings Enforcement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grade: B+
The 80 percent enforcement rate shows significant progress with still some
room for improvement.
Gaming Console Manufacturers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grade: A
Parental controls, timing devices and parent education efforts are all major
improvements giving parents more tools to supervise game play.
Parental Involvement. . . . . . . Grade: Incomplete
The focus of this year’s report card is providing parents with the information
they need. All segments of the industry have made significant improvements
in recent years. Parents now have more information and tools than ever before.
However, the constant changes present new challenges. Parents need to pay
more attention to the amount of time and the types of games their kids play.
The parent guide section in this report card is intended to motivate and equip
parents to do this.
This year"s grades are a marked improvement over the previous year"s. In 2007 (some categories have been changed), NIMF gave Parental Involvement a "C"; ESRB Ratings Education a "B-"; Retailer Policies a "C-"; and ESRB Ratings a "C+".The addition of ratings summaries is yet another step forward in the growing
list of improvements that the ESRB has made in recent years.
ESRB Ratings Education. . Grade: A
We commend the ESRB for intensifying efforts to help parents understand the
video game ratings. The ESRB has become the entertainment industry leader
in educating retailers and parents about the rating system.
Retailer Ratings Enforcement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grade: B+
The 80 percent enforcement rate shows significant progress with still some
room for improvement.
Gaming Console Manufacturers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grade: A
Parental controls, timing devices and parent education efforts are all major
improvements giving parents more tools to supervise game play.
Parental Involvement. . . . . . . Grade: Incomplete
The focus of this year’s report card is providing parents with the information
they need. All segments of the industry have made significant improvements
in recent years. Parents now have more information and tools than ever before.
However, the constant changes present new challenges. Parents need to pay
more attention to the amount of time and the types of games their kids play.
The parent guide section in this report card is intended to motivate and equip
parents to do this.
In the new report, NIMF also noted growing challenges that parents face when filtering inappropriate content for kid gamers. Many of these challenges lie in the growing online space, where parental controls have a difficult time of blocking interaction with unsavory online denizens or downloading age-inappropriate content directly to a hard drive.
NIMF was pleased with the report"s findings, but remains wary of whether the industry can stay on track.
"Such progress is absolutely essential, as videogames become an ever-larger part of American life. We are cautiously optimistic that this progress will continue."
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