The Killing Starts at Midnight and the ESRB is Pulling the Trigger

Well folks, I have to say that this might make me lose credibility as a hardcore gamer. I enjoy adult/mature video games, graphic violence, sexual content, and full on gore. However, in spite of this I am in support of the ESRB rating system. While I do feel there may be some flaws in how a game rating is determined I feel for the most part that the rating system is pretty accurate and sadly necessary.

What has brought this on is the recent controversy surrounding the game to be released tonight, Manhunt 2. Initially when presented to the board, the game was full of so much graphic violence and sexual content that the board gave it a unanimous AO (Adults Only) rating. I am not in any way surprised by this and I tend to agree with the rating. I am a little disappointed that Rockstar decided to throttle it back a bit to get the M (Mature) rating, but I understand why.

An Adults Only rating bans a game from being carried at certain retail stores. While I agree that the game should be labeled as a game for adults only, and that anyone under a certain game should not be allowed to purchase the product, I do not agree that the title should pose a limitation on WHERE the game should be carried.

An AO rating is similar to an NC-17 rating on a movie. The rating does not prevent a movie theater from showing the movie, but the theater has to adhere to a strict code in not knowingly allowing anyone under the age limitation access to it. I do not feel children should be given access to the game (without parental guidance) and neither should they be allowed to go See showgirls. But I think it's crap that something limited to ages 18+ is not allowed to be sold in a retail store. It just doesn't make sense to me that I can walk into a Wal-mart and buy cigarettes which have been proven by the surgeon general to cause cancer and kill people, but they refuse to sell a violent video game with an adult rating because "some" studies "may" show that it will cause violent tendencies in an audience that it is not intended for.

Let also focus on that last phrase "...an audience it is not intended for." Unlike cigarettes, this game has not been marketed at all towards younger audiences. I didn't even know this was coming out until a short time ago when I found an online article talking about it. That's because Rockstar hasn't even advertised it. Despite what you think this company has integrity to their customers. Rockstar doesn't want children to play this as much as the ESRB doesn't. But that shouldn't mean that their adult audience should be limited as to where they could get the game. Sales would have suffered greatly if the game couldn't have been purchased by normal means.

I hate to say that I don't have a great wrap up for my argument. Only that censorship HAS gone too far. I believe in censored versions of things as long as the uncensored versions are available for those who want to see/hear them as the artist intended. I believe in a rating system for movies and games that allows people to understand the content of something before they see or hear it. But I do not believe in someone deciding for me what I am ALLOWED to see, hear, or play. I think that by rating something or making an extra version that is suitable for a larger audience is okay, but for the ESRB to dictate to the consumer market that anything should be banned that isn't 100% proven to be harmful is overstepping a boundary.

I will be buying Manhunt 2 tonight at midnight, and I will enjoy it. I will be sad that much of the content will be missing. Though it doesn't mean much, I nod my hat to the developers, writers, artists and programmers who a portion of thier hard labor will be missing forever. Just please don't make the same mistake that you did with the hot coffee mod.