The ESRB is trying to fight its way out of a hole, and it is swinging its fist every which (witch?) way. Our friends
at GameCloud have pinpointed a few lines in a recent statement, which has potentially harmful ramifications to the
industry. The line in question concerns third-party mods – which are made by everyday gamers who have a little bit of
time on their hands and little or nothing to do with the game developers – and the potential to alter a game's rating
"in light of modifications of this nature."
GameCloud has a long piece damning the statements,
which would harm the game maker for forces outside its realm of control – which means it should also be out of the
realm of control for the ESRB.
In other words, say you buy Tetris Worlds for the computer ? a very safe, kid-friendly puzzler that
stimulates the brain. Now, if someone alters all the Tetris code and releases a mod that turns all the pieces into
various sex positions or drug paraphernalia, and the mod becomes popular enough to garner attention, the ESRB may
change the rating of Tetris from ?E? for Everyone to ?M? for Mature or (gasp!) ?AO? for Adults Only. This is
an extreme example, obviously, but it is meant to exemplify the possible extreme interpretations of the ESRB?s
statements.
Then again, if someone were to release a highly effective and highly educational mod for Vice City that
taught kids to spell and count, I highly doubt there would be even a consideration to lower the rating on the title. It
just does not work that way.
Do you think the ESRB would be crossing the line here? Do you think this is simply just a misread of the statements
and that all this panic is for nothing? You can see a full transcript of the e-mail sent out by the ESRB
here (thanks,
Dan).
