Ratings group offers to help with CA game restriction law

California's recently adopted game restriction law, which prohibits the sale or rental of violent games to anyone under 18, was designed to stand apart from any ratings system, but that's not stopping PSVratings from offering its help to the state anyway.

When California Assemblyman Leland Yee drafted AB1179 without reference to existing ratings systems, he did it intentionally. He had issues with the Electronics Software Ratings Board, specifically that it was created by the Entertainment Software Association industry lobbyist group. Yee said that was a conflict of interest, "a case of the fox guarding the henhouse," so AB1179 was drafted to define what constitutes a violent game in detail specific, clear, and objective enough to stand up to inevitable legal challenges.

As an independent ratings group, PSVratings is offering its services to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to create a system based on what is and isn't illegal to sell to children in California.

"I applaud the governor's efforts to work to make sure young people in California are not exposed to harmful video game content," stated PSVratings president David G. Kinney. "Unfortunately, the current video game ratings that you see on the video game boxes themselves may leave retailers and parents confused and defenseless when it comes to figuring out which games kids are not allowed to buy."

While parents should have no problems identifying which games children are not allowed to buy (they'll be marked by a 2-by-2-inch sticker with a "solid white '18' outlined in black" on their front covers), it's not clear who's going to tell the retailers which games must carry the label.

PSVratings' existing system describes content for movies, television, and games with a stoplight-inspired system. Three green, yellow, or red-colored circles behind a P, S, and a V indicate the level of profanity, sex, and violence in a product. A gray circle means none of the offending content is present. PSVratings doesn't suggest which levels of profanity, sex, and violence are appropriate for which audiences. It bills itself as a wholly objective ratings system, but ultimately includes descriptors where it is difficult, if not impossible, to draw clear lines (disrespectful behavior, substance abuse, harassment, sexual innuendo).

More information on the system can be found at PSVratings' official Web site. The ratings themselves are available by subscription ($19.95 a year) at the Current Attractions family media guide site.