Lazy Cops on the Video Game Beat
BevK March 29th, 2006
http://www.mrc.org/Bozell…col20040227.asp
Another meaningless rating system. L. Brent Bozell III from Media Reserach Center gives the scoop.
Two Harvard researchers, Kimberly Thompson and Kevin Haninger, recently discovered that parents of teenagers can’t rely very heavily on the video game ratings system created by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, a self-regulating body.
The duo chose a random sample of 81 video games rated “T” (for Teen), played each of those titles for about an hour each and analyzed all the content they observed. They found that in almost half the games – 48 percent – there was violence, sexual themes, profanity, substance use, or gambling, and none of it was noted on the game box. In 15 percent of the games, they also found depictions of alcohol or tobacco use; only one percent of the games carried a description of that content.
