The Controversy Of The ESRB Rating System

The origins of the video games we know today can be traced all the way back to the 40s, however, video games didn’t make their mainstream breakthrough until the early 70s with the classic Pong, which was the first commercial success for video game industry. As time progressed and the video game industry grew, the simple graphics and complexity became realistic and intricate.During these years, video games earned the reputation of being addicting, influential and potentially dangerous.Some game developers started leaning toward the violent side of entertainment, releasing games such as Death Race, Custer's Revenge and SplatterHouse, which could potentially draw in a mature and larger audience.Years later, with the release of Mortal Kombat by

Two years later, the ESRB Rating system was created in response to the overwhelming controversy of video game violence.The ESRB rating system job is to evaluate and explain the content found in a video game. The rating scale itself consists of six ratings, Early Childhood or EC, Everyone or E, Everyone 10 and up or E10+, Teen or T, Mature 17+ or M, and Adult Only 18+ or Ao.The point of this new system was to allow parents give parents the knowledge of what they were purchasing for the children, and it denies minors from purchasing Mature games by themselves.However, as the 90s continued, these reports of video game addiction and their translation into violence only became more clear. On April 20th, 1999, a massacre took place at Columbine High School that took the lives of 13

Simulations in most aspects are a great ability because it allows one to interact and view their choices and results while being a safe environment unaffected by any consequences.However, if one were to take part in the simulations over and over, it becomes normalized to them. And that is the danger, coming to a point where one cannot distinguish reality from simulation anymore.But, do video games only have the possibility of affecting the human psyche negatively? Although unregulated video game exposure can promote antisocial and aggressive behavior and desensitize humans, the fact of the matter is, the positives outweigh the negatives with video games providing cognitive benefits, aiding in physical rehabilitation and acting as a stepstone for social, educational, and entertainment interaction.