This week the Entertainment Software Ratings Board announced Commitment to Parents, an effort geared at bolstering consumer confidence in the current rating system for video games.

Granted that's just my take on the initiative. I spoke with ESRB president Patricia Vance earlier this week about the program and she denied it was spurred by the on-going congressional hearings or Hot Coffee.

Either way, what really matters though is that the industry is taking some steps to tweak one of the chinks in their rating system's armor: retail enforcement.

While the program doesn't really have any teeth, it still does a good job of trying to create a culture of compliance, but building a retail "council" that requires members to follow the rules.

In essence what this does is creates a seal of approval for concerned parents. If you're worried about what your kids buy, just make sure they shop at a retailer that's a member of the ESRB Retail Council.

To be a member of the council, retailers have to enforce the ratings, train their sales staff about the rating system, promote the rating system in the store and through circulars and establish a system for consumer complaints about sales violations.

The most important element of the program is the creation of a mystery shopper program, which will track sales policy enforcement through two audits a year.

Vance tells me that they plan to have mystery shoppers hit about 100 stores from each chain during each audit.
While they will report the overall results of the audit, the ESRB won't break it down by retailer. That's unfortunate, because nothing would help compliance more than the thought of a public drubbing in the press or by politicians.

While I think this is a great step forward, I still think the ESRB has to reexamine the way they rate games. I know there's no easy answer for a medium that can contain such branching storylines and content, but letting developers or publishers choose what the raters see is tantamount to letting the fox guard the hen house. Brian Crecente

Game Industry Strengthens Ratings Enforcement [Rocky Mountain News]