To clarify: the ESRB is the rating arm. The ESA that runs it? That’s the lobbying arm.
Comment on PEGI gives Balatro an 18+ rating for gambling imagery
tb_@lemmy.world 4 days agoNot entirely sure about the European PEGI, but the American ESRB is funded by the same companies that it regulates. It was created after the outcry about violent games and was the industry self-regulating to avoid the government getting more involved.
It is a lobby group for the industry, for better and in this case very much for worse.
I assume PEGI is little different.
KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 4 days ago
tlou3please@lemmy.world 4 days ago
In fairness, I would much rather that than governments directly controlling access, creating an additional form of direct censorship.
Not saying what we have now is great or anything though. I’m not exactly defending it.
HawlSera@lemm.ee 4 days ago
That’s basically why the ESRB was created, it was “Self-Regulate, or we’re just going to ban 80% of games on the market as a scapegoat for Columbine!”
JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 days ago
Luigi Mangione played Among Us, an assassination game!
tb_@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I largely agree, but the interests have gotten misaligned. Back then it was the threat of regulation which changed things up, I think the governments should do a little more of that.
ricecake@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
Eeeeh, at least then there would theoretically be public accountability. The FCC has limited censorship power that they’re generally unobjectionable with.
I’m honestly more concerned with the censorship from private enterprises than with government consorship currently. Less accountability and less recourse.
It also really only becomes censorship if the rating system is used to prohibit speech. If we instead made it more like the nutritional guidelines on food it could instead give more of a content breakdown than setting an arbitrary age.
the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
i got curious and looks like PEGI is somewhat similar at least. The ISFE is a self-regulating/co-regulating (w/e that means) body. There seem to be some kinda independent audits but… Looks like they don’t audit so good, if this article is evidence
tb_@lemmy.world 4 days ago
but… Looks like they don’t audit so good, if this article is evidence
That’s the whole issue with it being a lobby group. It makes them a ton of money, so they are incentivised against making a rating for it because that would draw more attention/limit sales.
And that’s where the whole government lobbying part comes in.
the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
Right i was just clarifying pegis setup for everyone as i’m a yank and didn’t know before looking either
saltesc@lemmy.world 4 days ago
PEGI and many other groups are private groups. They’re not an authority of any form. They’re not associated with government, public regulation, or public election. They’re a group of people that create their own standards outside of the ISO or any actual regulation representing the public.
Some countries do have actual public systems, but many just have these private groups that know best.
2pt_perversion@lemmy.world 4 days ago
They’re private groups that do the ratings but ESRB is enforced by laws in some Canadian provinces for instance and PEGI is enforced by law in some European countries. They do have a de facto authority in those places as a publisher can’t just decide to disregard their ratings and sell to minors anyway or something.
LorIps@lemmy.world 4 days ago
In Austria PEGI is “enforced” in Vienna while USK is “enforced” in Salzburg (and Germany, the reason why they buy all their games here). And PEGI might be shit, but USK is a million times worse.
___qwertz___@feddit.org 3 days ago
USK rated Balatro with a minimum age of 12 because of “elements resembling gambling”. Sounds more reasonable to me than the PEGI rating.
Takumidesh@lemmy.world 4 days ago
This is all well and true, but it’s important to note that these organizations exist as a sidestep to regulation, they are formed by industry outsiders as a promise to the regulators that they will be honest about how they rate games (or movies or music) so that the government doesn’t actually get involved and do it’s job.
It’s a form of regulatory capture that allows the industry itself to decide what is harmful to us.
It’s basically the definition of conflict of interest.