Dear Reader:
Yee wants AO rated games on consoles
A statement released by Senator Lee’s team…
Senator Yee would agree with Ian Bogost that the consoles should allow play of AO rated games. The parental controls are necessary however. Dr. Yee has always said that the industry has a right to make extremely violent games and to sell them to adults.
His issue has consistently been about protecting children and eliminating their access to the most violent games without their parents’ knowledge.
Another problem with this whole ratings mess is that the ESRB just refuses to use the AO rating for violence despite the descriptor calling for such a rating when there are “graphic depictions of violence.” If Manhunt doesn’t qualify, what would?
Combined with the use of the ambiguous term “Mature,” many parents are left with a false sense of how violent an M-rated game may be; and obviously even some retailers as the FTC study suggests.
If the console makers would allow the AO rating on their platforms, then we wouldn’t have any of this mess…would we?