ESRB Prez Vance Discusses Rating Process and More

The ESRB is constantly under fire from various opponents of the games industry, and with the recent controversy over Manhunt 2 and its M rating, ESRB President Patricia Vance revealed much of the ESRB rating process in an interview with Gamasutra. Various details included the number of full-time raters they have (six), the number of raters per title (three), and the difficulties of rating seemingly harmless content.

“Generally speaking, things like language — bathroom humor, plays on words, slang — fictitious or non-descript substances, or use of religious imagery can often be tricky. The presence of sensitive social issues in games, like sexual or racial stereotyping for example, have also led to internal debate about how best to address them from a ratings standpoint.”

She continued, “Though it might surprise people to hear it, low-level or cartoon violence actually tends to be something that receives a lot of thought and discussion. Take for instance an animated character that smacks another over the head with a frying pan. Is that Comic Mischief or Mild Cartoon Violence? To a degree, that’s going to depend a lot on the depiction itself.”

Read the full interview here.