Game Experience May Change During Online Play
By ANDREW STEEVES
steeves(at)uwm.edu
The ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) acts as the guiding light for parents by rating games according to appropriateness, like the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) but for video games. The ratings rank in the following order: EC-Early Childhood; E-Everyone; E10+-Everyone 10+; T-Teen; M-Mature; AO-Adults Only; RP- Rating Pending.
Any game controversy is generally focused around games rated M. Mainstream video game consoles won’t carry AO titles, and generally anything T or younger is pretty mild. Many parents feel, however, that games rated M should not be sold in stores. Pretty much all of the major retailers (including Best Buy, Target and EB Games) have a policy not to sell M-rated games to children under 17.
However, with every game capable of online play, the ESRB rating comes with the following warning: “Game experience may change during online play.”
In one of my first columns I reviewed the game Call of Duty 4 and made, let’s call them sweeping generalizations, about online gamers being, well, douchebags. Recently, my Xbox 360 broke down, and I shipped it to Microsoft so it could fix it with its very extensive warranty. When I got it back, I received a free month of Xbox Live as a consolation for going so long without the 360. Intrigued, I popped in the game, hooked up an Ethernet cable and let rip.
The game is incredibly fun to play online. Honestly, it exceeded all of my expectations. However, the voice chat throughout the game and in game lobbies matched my expectations exactly. Despite the M rating, I did here a couple pre-pubescent voices over my headset, which concerned me greatly, especially the due to the graphic nature of the conversations between other gamers. I have gone to the effort to transcribe, verbatim, some of the things I heard said between other games.
Disclaimer: The following bits of dialogue in no way reflect the views or opinions of the cactus or its contributing staff. The Xbox Live names have been changed.
[.][.]xjaxxVagetax: (singing) You’re beautiful!
[.][.]xjaxxVagetax: (singing) You’re beautiful!
[idk]DarkEnforcerz: Man, shut up.
[Brog]killa vanilla: Hey, xjaxx, is your tag supposed to be boobs?
[.][.]xjaxxVagetax: Yeah! Boobs are awesome.
[Brog]killa vanilla: You know boobs aren’t square, right? Have you ever seen a boob?
[.][.]xjaxxVagetax: I’ve seen your mom’s boobs.
[Brog]killa vanilla: Man, don’t talk about my mom. Ima f*ck you up with your square titties.
That was fairly mild. Much more concerning would be this:
[PwN] MaDHaCkS: This n*gger ate my watermelon.
Devonshyr: Seriously?
[PwN] MaDHaCkS: Yeah, just came in and ate that shit.
Devonshyr: No, I mean, black guys and watermelon? I thought that was a stereotype.
[PwN] MaDHaCkS: Naw man, I f*ckin love watermelon. What should I do?
[Pmz] Unknowing: Cut ’em. Pop ’em.
Devonshyr: Yeah, those are your options.
[PwN] MaDHaCkS: I could get a noose and hang they ass an.. an.. paint they toenails all sorts of colors and shit, like f*ggots.
I can imagine that the ESRB probably has a tough time with online games, since they obviously have no control over what other people say. While it’s true that Call of Duty 4 is already rated M, it raises questions about popular Teen rated games that have an online play option. If a game is popular enough, it will certainly attract douchebags, making the gameplay inappropriate. The best example? World of Warcraft.
I’m not saying any online game should be rated M, I’m just pointing out that, no matter how hard we label and define in order to protect children from hearing bad words, an 18-year-old can still go to a G-rated movie and say whatever the hell he pleases.
If you have any comments, or just want to swear gratuitously at me, feel free to comment or email.
Andross
January 25th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
first, i love the picture [[and i didn’t pick it, in case anyone was wondering]].
second, i think it’s hard for parents to monitor anything like this because they can’t control what people are saying over the headsets, but i wonder: is there a way to play xbox live without using the headset? like, if the game doesn’t have inappropriate content, but it’s the other users who are the concern, maybe parents can just disconnect the headset — or let the kid wear that strange helmet that comes with halo 3. have you seen that? it’s like they’re anticipating injuries… except the helmet isn’t big enough to fit on anyone’s head.
January 26th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
You don’t have to use the headset, but people’s voices still come out over the tv speakers. All the headset means is you can talk back.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:33 am
so the kids could play the game without the sound, but then there’s no fun in that. i wonder what would happen if a kid was playing this and his/her parent walked downstairs and heard this crap coming through the speakers. i wonder if the parents would be even a little concerned then.