Noclip, a video game documentary series on YouTube, recently released a documentary about the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB). This is the first time in ESRB’s 25 year history that they have agreed to allow media to enter their doors. “How Does the ESRB Rate Video Games?” gives a sneak peek inside the offices of the ESRB, chatting with Patricia Vance, president of the ESRB and other senior staff. Notably missing from the documentary are the ESRB raters, as they must work under anonymity to protect themselves from publisher influence.
The three main topics explored in the documentary include:
The process for rating games.
The enforcement of advertising standards in video game marketing material.
How, if at all, the ESRB has evolved with the times (i.e. adapting to new challenges such as digital distribution, indie self-publishers and loot boxes).
Some key highlights from the documentary:
The whole process of rating usually takes 45 minutes, in which a team of 3 raters are asked to rate individually and come together to discuss the rating. Surprisingly, the raters don’t play the game, but instead, view game clips submitted by publishers through the digital submission forms.
They rely heavily on publisher disclosure of the pertinent content, but do engage with the game post-release to ensure compliance (especially with long-form games), as well as reviewing the specific game once every few years to adapt to any ESRB changes.
The ESRB’s Advertising Review Council (ARC) enforces ESRB guidelines in video game marketing materials such as trailers, commercials and print ads (Fun fact: Dave Gossett, the Director of Advertising Review Council (ARC) does the voice-overs for the ESRB ratings).
Although a game may contain violence, publishers are not allowed to include certain types of violence in their marketing material according to the ARC Guidelines (i.e. marketing material may not depict characters being shot and no blood can be shown), but the material must still accurately depict the type of content that audiences can expect in the game.
To tackle the growing volume of mobile games being released internationally, the ESRB along with other international regulatory rating bodies created the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC), a semi-automated rating process, where publishers submit details about their game digitally and are then simultaneously given ratings for each participating region.
In this documentary, the ESRB briefly addressed the issue of loot boxes and their decision to not disclose or label it as gambling. Vance replies that due to the demands for the public to disclose loot boxes, they conducted research on loot boxes and discovered that parents did not know what they were. When informed, parents expressed concerns relating only to spending.
“Now, gamers may be concerned about [how] it looks and feels like gambling. Why don’t you ESRB, call it gambling? It doesn’t fit into the criteria of either simulated gambling or gambling, so that was not an avenue that we were going down.”
This sparked heavy discussion in the comment section, with viewers critiquing ESRB’s stance on loot boxes (with many believing that this is due to corporate lobbying) as well as Noclip for not pressing the issue with ESRB further. In the last two years especially, ESRB has received a lot of criticism for their failure to disclose loot boxes as gambling. The controversy led to ESRB adding an “in-game purchases” descriptor to their labels.
Despite the mixed reviews on this documentary, I feel that it has along with the resulting feedback from viewers has provided necessary insight into the growing discourse and public perception of video game ratings and loot boxes.
For more information on ESRB and the loot-box controversy:
Hey guys! To follow up on my group’s presentation on Wednesday, I thought I’d post a link to the first season of Anita Sarkeesian’s ‘Tropes vs Women in Video Games.” Enjoy!
It appears as though Zoe Quinn is back in the news, and is once again receiving backlash. Quinn and another female developer, Albertine Watson, accused Alec Holowka, who was behind Night in the Woods, of emotional and sexual abuse while they were working together several years ago. It appears as though Quinn, after seeing another woman come forward about the abuse she endured at the hands of Elder Scrolls composer Jeremy Soule, decided to discuss her experience with Holowka online. Shortly after, Holowka was let go from the company behind Night in the Woods, and unfortunately committed suicide this August, a few weeks following their dismissal.
Quinn is now once again experiencing a tremendous amount of harassment about Holowka’s death – I actually noticed in the comments for an old BBC interview Quinn gave, she was being accused of cyberbullying a man to death, and even called a ‘murderer’ by quite a few individuals. It actually appears as though Holowka’s family members also requested that the public “not use their grief to harass people,” though this wish is clearly not being respected. She is begin accused of ruining and effectively ending his life.
This article makes an interesting argument about the hypocritical reactions to these women’s stories of abuse and the effect that most likely would have had on their mental health, versus the out-pour of concern about the negative impact their complaints would have on their alleged abusers.
Streaming sites like YouTube Live and Mixer are using exclusive contracts with popular streamers to increase traffic to their respective platforms. This week YouTube Live announced that Jack “CouRage” Dunlop, a popular Fortnite gamer will begin to exclusively stream with them beginning on November 5th. In addition, Lachlan Power has exclusively signed to YouTube Live after being popularized on Twitch.
This news comes after Mixer has made similar strides to sign popular streamers like Tyler “Ninja” Belvins to their service.
We will be exploring the issue of video game modifications (“mods”) this week. A mod is an altercation to the video game by users or players. Mods can be in the form of changing code or physically adding to the system and its accessories. As mods are often user-generated, there are many debates surrounding their intellectual property rights and whether mods count as cheating. Mods are so prevalent in the gaming community, gamers often have a specific name for the modified version versus the original version.
As there are many issues to discuss concerning mods, we have decided to limit it to the following main topics:
An explanation of what mods are and their origins.
Legal ramifications of modding to create entirely new games in their own right: We will be focusing on Project M and Dota 2 to highlight these issues. Additionally, we will explore the potential intellectual property and contract law ramifications surrounding the creation of content in-game that is mediated by built-in creator features, and that are later commercialized.
Mods for the purpose of creating art: Artists are now using the video game format to create film and other artistic works. We will be highlighting the legal ramifications of using a mod to create artwork with respect to the legal rights. To do this, we will be looking at specific case studies of films made from Grand Theft Auto V.
An inside look of the company’s response: Companies have now responded to mods in many ways. Some liken mods to cheating and have banned users from playing the game. Since gaming is becoming a spectator sport and companies often host events, we will be looking at the regulatory and legal framework in which companies operate, particularly for League of Legends and Smash Ultimate. This analysis will look at where the established rules originate from, the separation of powers in the gaming sphere, and the concerns of modding in the competitive gaming industry.
Lastly, we will be looking at controller modifications for persons with disabilities: Although controllers are created for the masses, we will be looking at the history and implications of controller mods to include persons with disabilities over the years.
As mentioned in class, China is currently the world’s largest gaming market. The government has introduced new guidelines applied to all online gaming platforms operating in the country. They appear to be tackling video game addiction and aimed at creating a “clear internet space” and “protecting the physical and mental health of minors.”
Under the new rules, gamers aged under 18 will be banned from playing online games between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. On weekdays, minors can only play for 90 minutes, while they may play up to three hours per day on weekends and public holidays.
The guidelines also place restrictions on the amount of money minors can transfer to their online gaming accounts. Gamers aged between eight and 16 years old can only top up 200 yuan ($29) per month, while the maximum amount for those between 16 and 18 will be 400 yuan ($57).
Now 90 minutes on weekdays is quite a substantial limit, as 1 match for most online games such as LOL, Dota, CS GO etc would last around 40 minutes to 1 hour. It would be reasonably easy to enforce as in China, you need real-life ID to register an account – arguably it can be bypassed by creating multiple accounts, but that may take away the aspect of grinding for one account. Something to note, most MMORPG games in China already limit how long someone can play, whereby there is a limit on experience points and rewards for playing after the time limit.
I got the chance to play it a few times and it lives up to the hype that is circulating around it. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare is half prequel, half reboot to the Modern Warfare franchise. For the multiplayer, they opened up the maps making it way bigger than before. This obviously has its repercussions because players are more inclined to ‘camp’ and play the long game. The old Call of Duty games (as I remember) involved a lot of ‘run and gun’ play that frowned upon campers but in this game its almost as if you have to camp.
Activision announced that its first three days on the market were the best for any game in the series this console generation, and it has also become the top-selling new game release of 2019. Gamers already brought in more than $600 million in worldwide sell-through and topped PS4 digital pre-orders and three-day digital sales records. And to top it all off, you now can play against friends on other platforms. For the first time, Call Of Duty is launching with crossplay between PC, PS4 and Xbox One, with a variety of options to make sure you’re not going up against mouse-and-keyboard players with a controller if you don’t want to. That means you can play with your friends who don’t own a console, or with your brother who owns an Xbox One instead of a PS4 like you. It’s terrific.
Check out theVideos of Interest to Law 423 on YouTube 
Communications Law
Join the Community!