Gaming Safelyby Sarah Childers

ESRB Rating System RedesignThesis Process Book

Table of Contents

IntroductionOverview of my knowledge and

experience concerning my lifetime hobby with

video games.

ArgumentShowing both sides of the ongoing argument

in the media today, “Are video games the

cause of child and young adult crimes?” and what parents are saying against video

games.

HypothesisHow can the ESRB

rating system be redesigned in order to be more successful when parents are

buying video games for their children?

ResearchQuestions to answer

throughout the design process of this project.

Ideas & SketchesFrom the research,

showing ideas through sketches and my

thought process for the redesign of the ratings.

Prelims & Prototyping

Testing preliminaries and responses

concerning the initial prototypes from

subjects to test which prelim is successful.

Final DesignThe presentation of the finalized project.

BibliographySources and credits for

research, stastistics, and insights.

Introduction

As far back as I can remember my childhood, playing video games has been a great hobby of mine, passed down by my father, it is still a major part of my life today. Video games not only kept me entertained as a child, but they also introduced me to alternative worlds, with interesting characters, and let me witness their adventurous stories behind the controller of the console. My love of video games started off with the Sega Genesis where I was button mashing my way through Sonic the Hedgehog, flash forward to today where I now have the PlayStation 3 and I’m playing beautiful video games with objectives that can be anywhere from sniping zombies to watching a great story unfold.

While starting college, I found a job at a local GameStop, a video game retailer that strictly sells video games and prides themselves in keeping their customers up to date with all the latest game news, so that the customers get experienced help and opinions. It was a job that I enjoyed because I was surrounded by video games, I got to have great conversations with fellow video gamers who had equal, if not, great opinions about games, and I was able to help people find the right video game they were looking for.

Argument

Video games are one of the most popular sources of entertainment for all age groups. They have many genres to choose from and like movies they are rated by what the game features whether it’s a game for everyone or a mature game for older audiences. Sadly though, it seems as if most people do not pay attention to the ratings. With a lot of crimes being committed by young suspects, parents blame video games for the cause of their child committing the crime. Here is a question for the parents, how did these games end up in the child’s hands to begin with?

Parent’s Argument Gamer’s ArgumentFor many years the fight over mature games has been going on, parents continue to scold game developers for making games that promote violence, stealing, and drug use. Parents even go as far as to call the hobby an unhealthy addiction equivalent to alcohol or drug use. There are many reports where a child or young adult who had showed strange behavior or committed a crime, also had a background of being an active video gamer. Parents are so quick to blame a video game for making their child victim to a crime the child committed. It is unfair for a parent to place blame on a video game when they are the only one who can purchase the video game for the child, and there are so many signs put in front the parent to let it be known that the game is not appropriate for their children.

In her article telling parents to be aware what their child is playing, Pamela Eakes

Video games are rated by the ESRB rating system, which rates games for what age group they are best for and what the video game may contain. The ESRB rating system is similar to the movie rating system, when a movie is rated R, only people 17 years of age or older are allowed to watch it. The ESRB rating is listed on the back of every game, all retail stores are aware of them, and are required to make it aware to the consumer. If someone were to purchase a video game rated mature at a store such as Game Stop, the employee is required to identify the person to make sure they are 17 years of age or older, otherwise they cannot buy the game. For example, if a child were to want a game rated mature they would be allowed to have their parent buy it for them and the employee still makes it known that they are buying a mature rated game for their child.

It is true that the violence in video games can affect the people playing them. Just

of the group Mothers Against Violence in America says, “A recent study by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) shows that more than 90 percent of parents don’t monitor ratings on the video games played by their kids...Worse yet, parents may not know that the content of certain games could affect the social and emotional development of their child, and may even be hazardous to children’s health.”

like with movies, television shows, and even in real life situations we visually interpret what we are seeing. Most people learn visually so that they can connect the picture with the object being described to them. Other than the ratings, there are a lot of other ways to be aware of what video games contain. One way, which is a good step to start with, is to do the research. There are many websites and television services that provide the latest news on video games and also review games thoroughly to not only tell the consumer if the game is good or bad, but also what the consumer may be getting into if they were to buy the game. With in depth reviews, game trailers, and gameplay video to get a visual look on how the game works, people have a moment to go over what they just read or watched and think whether the game is appropriate for them or not.

Hypothesis

With the constant argument parents are having against video games and the ERSB rating system being the only thing holding the video game industry up my question is, how can I redesign the ESRB rating system to become more successful when parents are buying video games for their children, so that video games fall into the right hands and game developers no longer have to worry about unfair accusations and lawsuits?

Apparently the current ESRB rating system, which is a single letter, being used to rate the age group it is appropriate for, is not working successfully and is not explaining enough to the customers with out having to explain it on the back of the game. Perhaps customers need a little more visual help to make a more successful and safe purchase.

Research

Questions to be answered1. How can the ESRB rating system be re-

designed to make it easier for the consumer to pick an appropriate video game?

2. Should color and pictograms become the design change for the rating system? Would that be more successful?

3. What other elements can help the consumer find the rating and information faster?

4. Should stores go the extra mile to make their customers more informed about the ESRB rating system, with in-store POP?

Ideas & SketchesFor early childhood, I tried to key in different visualizations of learning, such as building blocks or steps that a baby is climbing.

For the everyone rating I attempted to go the family route, since games rated under everyone are multiplayer and family targeted.

I tried to think about what teenagers are first doing at this age that could relate back to video games such as curse words, cars, drinking, and so on.

For Mature, I went the obvious route in order to warn parents that this rating is when the parents need to pay attention to what the gaming content holds, such as violence, drinking and drug use.

This rating has pornographic genres, so I went in the route of censoring the users chest, similar to when public television show a womans chest, the brodcast censors it.

For the package design, I wanted to design something tangible and bold so that when a customer is picking up a video game it is most likely to catch their attention and alert them about the rating of that game.

As for in-store POP I wanting to go the minimalistic, infographic route to inform customers about each rating. It could even possibly go with New Releases so that more customers gravitate to the POP.

Prelims & Prototyping

Prelims #1

Prelims #2

Surveys

In this survey, subjects viewed the color scheme choosen and were asked how they idesntified the colors when it related to video games.

Subject #1

32 yrs, female, casual gamer.Green - Everyone

Yellow - Caution, Parental

Blue - Violent

Red - Mature

Purple - Intimate

Subject #2

25 yrs, male, casual gamer.Green - Dora the Explorer

Yellow - Adventure, Safe

Blue - Call of Duty, Shooter

Red - Grand Theft Auto

Purple - Dating Sim

Subject #3

30 yrs, female, mother.Green - Everyone

Yellow - Appropriate

Blue - Teenagers

Red - Young Adult 17+

Purple - Over 25 years, adult

Subject #4

25 yrs, female, retail worker.Green - Children

Yellow - Fun

Blue - Balance

Red - Danger

Purple - Intimate

Judging by the results of these surveys, the color choices made and the responces given were closely related to their intended rating.

Final Design

ESRB Redesign

Early Childhood

EARLY CHILDHOOD

CONTENT RATED BY

ESRBEveryone

EVERYONE

CONTENT RATED BY

ESRBEveryone 10+

EVERYONE 10+

CONTENT RATED BY

ESRB10+

Teen

TEEN

CONTENT RATED BY

ESRBMature

MATURE 17+

CONTENT RATED BY

ESRB17+

Adult

ADULTS ONLY

CONTENT RATED BY

ESRB

X X X

Package Sleeve In-Store POP

Bibliography

1. Childers, Sarah. class survey, May 15, 2012. 2. Childers, Sarah. “Games Have Ratings Too -- Read

Them!.” 2011. Print.3. “Respect the Ratings.” Game Stop Inc. 2006. Web. 31

May 2011.4. Berr, Jonathan. “Media World: Should Parents Wage

War On Video Games?” Daily Finance. 09 December 2009. Web. 04 June 2011.

5. Pamela Eakes. “Do You Know What Video Games Your Children Are Playing?” PBS. Web. 31 May 2011.

Gaming Safelyby Sarah Childers

ESRB Rating System RedesignThesis Process Book