In a short editorial I wrote last week, I said that the ratings handed out by the Entertainment Software Rating Board wasn't doing it's job and that they lacked consistency.

Today ESRB president Patricia Vance, disagreed:

To the Editor:

The ESRB takes issue with Brian Crecente
s editorial
Why Game Ratings Need Fixing
. While Mr. Crecente is free to disagree with the ratings assigned to various Tom Clancy games, the fact is that parents overwhelmingly agree with ESRB ratings. According to a recent study conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, parents agree with the ESRB ratings 83% of the time or thought they were too strict 5% of the time. Each game carries a rating symbol standing for age appropriateness and content descriptors that indicate what may be of interest or concern to a parent. Content descriptors are assigned taking into account context and the age appropriateness of the individual game. The rating system enables parents to quickly decide on a case-by-case basis if a game is appropriate for their family.

Each game submitted to the ESRB is rated upon obtaining consensus from a minimum of three independent raters who have no ties to the industry. This rating process has proven to be effective since the inception of the ESRB over 10 years ago and we
re confident that our rating information will continue to provide parents with insightful and useful information about game content.

Perhaps if Mr. Crecente invested more time in understanding how the ESRB rating system works and reviewed all of the pertinent content our raters are exposed to, he would come to the same conclusions as the raters.

Patricia Vance
President
Entertainment Software Rating Board

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