please explain how does a game go from m to a both have violence and sexual content
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There’s also two things to note: there is no legal obligation to get your game rated by the ESRB,it’s just that when physical distribution was the norm,retailers mostly refused to stock games that weren’t rated by the ESRB.
This meant that if you wanted to sell a game but didn’t want to get rated,you could. Just,good luck getting anyone to carry your game.
Furthermore,retailers who carried ESRB rated games would rarely if ever carry AO games in particular. So again if you would get an AO rating,you would either shave off enough to get an M instead,or you would shoot your sales in the foot,the gut,and the head.
>The ESRB rating system is enforced via the voluntary leverage of the North American video game and retail industries for physical releases; most stores require customers to present photo identification when purchasing games carrying the ESRB’s highest age ratings, and do not stock games which have not been rated. Additionally, major console manufacturers will not license games for their systems unless they carry ESRB ratings, while console manufacturers and most stores will refuse to stock games that the ESRB has rated as being appropriate for adults only.
With the advent of digital storefronts,the ESRB is far less relevant,but of course their own moderation remains…theoretically.
You may notice that some games on Steam have ESRB ratings on the store page,but many do not. The most you get is an adult tag and age verification page.
It’s about the degree and quantity of objectionable content. Think about movie ratings – R and NC-17 are both meant for adults only, but you expect a very different experience depending on which one your movie received.
I was always under the impression that M and R were “We advise this to be for an adult, but an adult can get it/bring in their close to 17 year old kid.”
Was that ever real or did it just change?
Physical stores refuse to sell AO games, as a general rule. And, console manufacturers require you to go through the rating process before you can sell the game on their console, and restrict releases in the same way. If you’re on PC, games that are clearly adult tend to just not get rated at all. If selling to a console, developers will tone down the extreme content in their game to avoid the AO rating that would get it removed from storefronts.
Essentially, the AO rating is a way to ban video games with extreme subject matter (hardcore pornography). Console manufacturers don’t want the negative press for signing off on them and storefronts don’t want to go through the hassle of selling them. The AO rating exists to say, “if you want to sell a game in the US market to a console audience, here’s what you’re not allowed to include.” Before digital storefronts, this was a bigger deal, but these days pc users are seeing more and more of a thriving adult content market. It’s the reason why your local Gamestop is filled with more ‘normal’ releases while the frontpage of Steam is a hotbed for Sex With Hitler.
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