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WASHINGTON - Senators Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT) today commended the new, voluntary computer and video game ratings improvements announced by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) to give parents and retailers more information about violent content of games. The new guidelines include more precise descriptions to alert consumers to violent content - distinguishing between cartoon and more graphic violence -- and bolder labels to make it easier for consumers to determine whether games are appropriate to sell to and be used by children under 17.
"The changes announced today will help parents make more informed decisions when purchasing games for their children. And we are hopeful that the addition of specific age guidelines to the rating icons will make it easier for retailers to enforce the rating system, as many have committed to do but which few are doing reliably," Kohl said. "It's important that parents check the rating information on every box before bringing computer and video games home to their families. Although the ESRB rating system contains the most information of any rating system in the entertainment industry, it can only be effective if retailers recognize and enforce it and parents understand and use it."
"I have always said the ESRB system was the best rating system in the entertainment media, and these changes will make it even better - more informative, more precise, and more enforceable for retailers," Lieberman said. "I appreciate the ESRB's ongoing commitment to helping parents make smart choices for their kids. I hope parents will return the favor by making better use of these better ratings, for in the end they have the primary responsibility to protect their kids from potentially harmful games. And I hope retailers will finally accept their responsibility to help parents do that job, and commit as an industry to stop selling adult-rated games to kids."
For nearly eight years, Lieberman and Kohl have been working with the video and computer game industry to help keep violent, graphic and adult videos out of the hands of kids. At their insistence, the video game industry has developed entertainment's best rating system, has applied that rating system uniformly to the packaging of every video game sold in stores, and has promulgated aggressive anti-targeting provisions aimed at keeping the advertisement of violent, Mature-rated games away from children.
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