The ESRB is attempting to prove with a new study that their ratings system is doing more than just cluttering up game boxes. The group says that 90% of American parents of gaming kids are aware of the ratings and 85% use them regularly when buying games. Those numbers are up from 84% and 73% from last year.While it's certainly good news for fans of industry self-regulation if accurate, this surprisingly high number of rating-literate parents comes at a conveniently good time for the ESRB, which currently has its independence threatened yet again by the "Truth in Video Games" act reintroduced by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas).
But who knows? Maybe the ratings are catching on. One concerned 4-foot-tall man pre-ordering Grand Theft Auto IV in our local game store who assured us that was "really a parent" certainly thought so. "Yes, I don't want my son, the son that I really have, playing those awful violent games," he said, pressing on his waxy-looking mustache nervously for emphasis. "When I have a legally-obtained beer with my adult friends at adult parties, we often talk about the ratings of games being played by our children, our real children ... the ones who are not us. Now, if you'll excuse me I hear my mom honking. Wait, no -- my wife. It's my wife honking. The wife that I have."
