Why M-rated games are overrated

Firstly, let me make it clear that this essay is not about M-rated games being overrated in the sense that they’re more popular than they should be. This is about M-rated games being overrated in the sense that they shouldn’t be M-rated. I find this as a fault as a to strict rating system that the ESRB has imposed.

We all know that Video Games are usually never positively covered in the general news media, and that we have people like Jack Thompson and Joe Lieberman trying to generate even harsher laws on them. But, do they really deserve all the bad press? My answer is no, and then some.

M-rated games, more often than not, do not deserve that capitalized M that’s printed on the game case. Usually, these games are rated M for things that are all too common on the six o’ clock news. Blood and shooting. While some M-rated games definitely deserve the rating, I don’t think I could say with a straight face that Halo is truly an M game.

Many people’s biggest complaint with games is the amount of violence. They think that kids cannot handle all this violence. Don’t get me wrong, I would never place Halo in the hands of an eight-year-old. But would I give it to a thirteen-year-old? Of course. I can turn the news on and see videos of people shooting at each other in Iraq. I can see stories of people stabbing each other, killing babies, and abusing their spouses. So does this complaint really deserve to deem whether a game is appropriate or not? Absolutely no. We might as well start saying that your not allowed to watch the news if your under eighteen.

Another common complaint – the shooting. I have never seen the point of this argument. People don’t seem all that opposed to letting there kids go out to the shooting range to shoot cardboard cut outs. They don’t have a problem with letting there kids shoot at each other with nerf guns. So why do they have a problem with letting them do something that is so far from shooting an actual gun, that I could say that it makes Guitar Hero a good way to learn how to play an actual guitar. Heck, a popular thing now is to play laser tag, and it’s exactly like a video game – just real. Do you have a gun? Check. Is the object to shoot other people? Check. Do you get scored based on your performance? Check. So why is laser tag not feeling the heat from the media?

And then, the blood. This argument is what separates a cautious parent from a redneck ****. If you don’t want your kids seeing blood, then you shouldn’t allow them to walk. What if they trip and see – dare I say it – blood? Not to mention that it’s not considered taboo in the least to go to YouTube and watch somebody perform Open Heart Surgery. The ESRB even saying that blood is a cause for a game to receive a higher rating is absolutely ridiculous, seeing as it’s extremely common to see somebody’s arm bleed, or have a bloody nose.

People also love to complain about curse words and sexual innuendos in video games. I don’t see any point in this. Alright, here’s what you do – go and sit in a hallway of a middle school for one school day and you will hear more of these in one day than in your average M-rated video game.

Of course, there are cases where games should be rated M. Games that feature sex scenes deserve the rating (Of course, this isn’t to say that seeing somebody’s pixilated butt will entitle an M-rating). Games that have hyper-stylized violence and outrageous amounts of blood, such as Mad World deserve an M-rating.

To sum it up, games that have M-ratings simply don’t stack up to what you can see on YouTube, and even on the six o’ clock news. Being upset over people cursing isn’t that big of a deal, seeing as most eleven-year-olds do it. You can go and shoot at people in real life in a laser tag arena, and seeing blood isn’t really that big of a deal.

Should we slap an M-rating on games that say the f-word? No! Should we give M-ratings to games with sex scenes? Absolutely!

I agree. The only thing worthy of an M rating is Gore or Sexual Themes.


btw, I meant Al Gore.

Generator, you make a great point and bring up something that is not often brought up. People are always arguing about how video game ratings aren't strict enough or are not enforced well, but the ratings are ridiculous. Smash Bros is rated Teen. It's cartoon violence! You could go watch Tom & Jerry and see the same kind of stuff. And while I think it's really immature and stupid, I don't think a fart attack entitles a T rating either. You're fighting and that's it. And the fighting that's done in Smash Bros is hardly violent enough for even an E10+.

Then you've got every FPS and its sequel rated M. As you pointed out, you see worse stuff on the news. You can see everything that's contained in an M game in a PG-13 movie -- in fact, you can hardly find a single PG-13 movie anymore that doesn't have some sort of sex scene or brief nudity. Yet for some blood and shooting a game receives a rating which makes it impossible for anyone to buy the game unless they're four years older than they needed to be to see the movie without supervision. You can argue that in the game you're actually doing it, whatever. Then why does blood come into it? That's a visual thing. You're causing the blood to appear, but what's the difference between shooting someone and blood not coming out and shooting someone and blood coming out? It's like the more realistic a game is, the worse rating it gets. I mean, GOD, Twilight Princess got a T rating for Animated Blood. Apparently, that dark purple-ish substance that appears after you kill an enemy counts as blood.

They're so bloody sensitive about everything. And people are convinced STILL that video games are dangerous, need more harsh ratings, etc. I love the games classified as "dangerous". Like MMORPGs in particular. Bull. If games were so dangerous, I would be a psychotic killer at this point in my life.

I really do agree, but I still think it's mostly from those OVER PROTECTIVE parents that need to learn to calm themselves. Really, I think that because Banjo Kazooi involves the throwing of explosive eggs it's going to get rated [i]T for absolutely no reason.
for the blood and gore, it's because of the little kids who believe that everything on TV is real. the irony is that veery often those kids are the ones that have the parents that are over protective. so most M rated games are truly T.

For the thing about being in a school hallway and hearing more, I agree, except that it has to be a higher grade than elementary kids, and the ratings are for the uncontrollable elementary kids, that can't tell teh difference between real life and video games.

I think overrated games have their ratings because the makers are afraid of angry mothers who sue them.

Frown wrote:

I think overrated games have their ratings because the makers are afraid of angry mothers who sue them.

True.

I hate idiots who are all nuts about video games. It's like toys meets electronics, in a much more artistic fashion. I really want to know what makes them so evil.

Frown wrote:

I think overrated games have their ratings because the makers are afraid of angry mothers who sue them.

Way too true.

And I thought the name of this thread was the misguided belief that all M games were good.

salads wrote:

For the thing about being in a school hallway and hearing more, I agree, except that it has to be a higher grade than elementary kids, and the ratings are for the uncontrollable elementary kids, that can't tell teh difference between real life and video games.

Not necessarily. Where I went to elem. I'd already learned most cusswords by 5th. Eh, maybe it's just me. But still. Totally agreed on the point of people needing to TEACH their kids what's real and what's not. Before, I wasn't even allowed to watch RUGRATS, just to keep me from doin that stuff. Now? I've seen just about everything from Breakfast Club to 300. It's just a matter of the parents pullin their heads outta their collective rears.

well, I knew them by 5th also, but did you here them in the hallway? that's what I meant

i heard them around 2nd in hall way and knew them before i was in school.