Entertainment Software Rating Board | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 06/01/2019

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_Software_Rating_Board


00:03:55 1 History
00:04:04 1.1 Background
00:06:36 1.2 Formation and early years
00:11:25 1.3 Expansion and recent developments
00:15:16 2 Rating process
00:19:48 3 Ratings
00:21:57 3.1 Content descriptors
00:22:36 4 Enforcement
00:25:55 5 Marketing
00:28:03 6 Online privacy
00:28:53 7 Reception
00:30:20 7.1 Ratings accuracy
00:35:24 7.2 Adults Only rating
00:38:45 7.3 Hidden content
00:43:14 7.4 Microtransactions
00:45:29 8 Usage
00:45:59 9 See also



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SUMMARY
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The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is an American self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association (formerly the Interactive Digital Software Association), in response to criticism of controversial video games with excessively violent or sexual content.
The board assigns ratings to games based on their content, using judgment similar to the motion picture rating systems used in many countries, using a combination of six age-based levels intended to aid consumers in determining a game's content and suitability, along with a system of "content descriptors" which detail specific types of content present in a particular game. The ESRB maintains a code of ethics for the advertising and promotion of video games—ensuring that marketing materials for games are targeted to appropriate audiences. In 2011, the ESRB began offering a system to automatically assign ratings for digitally-distributed games and mobile apps, which utilizes a survey answered by the product's publisher as opposed to a manual assessment by ESRB staff. Through the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC), this method can generate equivalent ratings for other territories. Alongside its game rating operation, the ESRB also provides certification services for online privacy on websites and mobile apps.
The ESRB ratings system is enforced via the voluntary leverage of the North American video game and retail industries; most stores require customers to present photo identification when purchasing games carrying the ESRB's highest age ratings, and do not stock games which have not been rated. Additionally, major console manufacturers will not license games for their systems unless they carry ESRB ratings, while console manufacturers and most stores will refuse games that the ESRB has rated as being appropriate for adults only. The ESRB ratings system is not enforced under federal laws in any of the countries where it is actively used, although it is enforced under provincial laws in some regions of Canada.
Due to the level of consumer and retail awareness of the ratings system, along with the organization's efforts to ensure that retailers comply with the ratings system and that publishers comply with its marketing code, the ESRB has considered its system to be effective, and was praised by the Federal Trade Commission for being the "strongest" self-regulatory organization in the entertainment sector. Despite its positive reception, the ESRB has still faced criticism from politicians and other watchdog groups for the structure of its operations, particularly in the wake of a 2005 incident that surrounded the organization's handling of "hidden", objectionable content in a game which could be accessed using a user-created modification.
Critics of the ESRB have asserted that the organization has a conflict of interest because of its vested interest in the video game industry, and that the ESRB does not rate certain games, such as the Grand Theft Auto series, harshly enough for their violent or sexual content in order to protect their commercial viability. Contrarily, other critics have argued that, at the same time, the E ...