ESRB and PTA are BFF

by Alexander Sliwinski { Nov 22nd 2006 at 9:00PM }

To educate parents that video games are not the anti-Christ, the ESRB is going straight to the wellspring of over-protective parents: The Parent Teacher Association (PTA). Yeah, the PTA is actually a national organization, who knew? The PTA will help distribute 1.3 million brochures to 26,000 PTAs nationwide in an effort to "edumacate teh addults on the vijeo gaames." Apparently it is still legal to breed and propagate the Earth without taking a competency test, so campaigns like this are required.

According to PTA National President Anna Weselak, "Every parent knows how popular video games are these days, but perhaps not as many are familiar with the tools that can help them select games that are appropriate for their children." Why are parents buying inappropriate games in the first place, how much larger do the ratings need to be? When was the last time you purchased something for a child without knowing what the item did or was about? Seriously, this campaign can only lead to good and hopefully wipe out just a small bit of naiveté and ignorance around games.

Tags: ESRB, PTA, ratings

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Zeke @ Nov 22nd 2006 9:09PM

"Apparently it is still legal to breed and propagate the Earth without taking a competency test, so campaigns like this are required."

Heh

Dave @ Nov 22nd 2006 9:14PM

I like this idea. It will hopefully stop parents from suing game developers for making games violent, and saying it caused their kid to be that way. Now that the parent will have the information available to learn what the ratings mean and what certain games entail, they will understand what they are buying for their kids. Knowledge is BLISS!!!

FuzzyPickles @ Nov 22nd 2006 10:02PM

No one can stop the suing, only over time will it become less prevalent, hopefully. For too many people in this country, post hoc logic works. The kids who did Columbine listened to Marilyn Manson and played Doom, so that artist and that game must have caused those events... right? To the rational person, it's as ludicrous as saying gay people are more violent than heteros because Andrew Cunanan was gay, but remember: people are stupid. After all, Sony is giving us 200 bucks worth of free software...

Miz @ Nov 22nd 2006 10:34PM

It's good to see that the ESRB has been making such a big push lately. It's a great ratings system and I can't believe how blind some people are to it. Anything that gets thick parents to actually look at the big, nigh-impossible-to-miss letter rating on the corner of the box is a good thing.