With the ESRB under fire since the Hot Coffee incident, many have called for an end to the self-regulation of the games industry. Some companies are even trying to implement their own ratings system that will (they hope) replace the confusing "T for Teen, M for Mature" age ratings of the ESRB. Next Generation has interviewed David Kinney, head of Media Data Corporation, about his Profanity Sex Violence (or PSV) system.
The PSV rating system is, essentially, a traffic light. One light will be for profanity, another for sexual content,
and the final light represents violence. If the light is green, then there is little to no questionable content in that
category - if the light is red, however, parents must be very cautious of that game. This system is definitely much
simpler than the current system in place. Can you come up with a few examples of how the PSV system would be
implemented on some currently available titles?
Can you suggest some other ratings systems? One which parallels the
movie industry is too obvious, but how about a ratings system akin to
the Homeland Security Advisory System? We can denote the
severity of the game?s content by how red the game?s label is.
