Editor:
I am writing in response to Alfred Brock’s letter to the editor, (“Video game ratings are useless,” Aug. 3).
Saying that the video game rating system is vague is pure folly. If anyone has any questions about what type of content is in a game, simply look at the content descriptions on the back of the box.
If you only have the game itself without packaging, the rating symbol is printed right there on the disc-so anyone who can read can tell what rating a game has.
If you have any questions at all about how clear the descriptions are, then go to www.esrb.org.
Saying that it is the video game industry’s fault that games inappropriate for minors are being sold to minors is like saying that it’s the legislature’s fault that cops allow motorists to speed.
I am a store clerk at one of our local video game retailers. Every time one of my co-workers or I deny a gamer under the age of 17 the opportunity to purchase a mature-rated game (and we I.D. them too), they act surprised because most of the other retailers have never held to the standard.
Gamers under 17 cannot buy these games without a parent’s permission-and the parent has to be there in person or have personally signed a waiver in the store that gives the child permission to buy mature games.
Retailers are where the system breaks down. Customers need to stand up and let retailers know that they don’t want their kids buying inappropriate games by taking their business to retailers that do hold to the standard. At our store, we hold to the video game industry’s standards.
Video games are a legitimate, premium artistic medium that deserves the same rights that books, movies, magazines and the theatre enjoy.
As video games are not as freely distributed as television, they should not receive the same level of censorship that television does.
Yes, some of these games are violent, sexually explicit, lewd and some may find them repulsive. But so are of thousands movies and books.
Guess what-my books don’t have labels telling me for what ages they are appropriate, like my video games do.
If you find it obscene, don’t buy it. At least with video games, you can tell by the cover.
Adam Young
Bountiful
