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It might not be much of a concern us gamers here in the S.E.A, but I’m sure most of you know that American gamers and retailers take ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) ratings very seriously. If a game is rated Mature, it shouldn’t be played and will not be sold to anyone under 17 … “directly”. Here, any tom dick and harry could have picked up Grand Theft Auto without any questions asked. But that isn’t my point here for this post.

For those who didn’t know, Manhunt 2 game for the playstation 2, psp and Wii was laid back from the release date because the ESRB gave it an AO (Adults Only) rating due to extreme contents. I never actually experience the actual gameplay of Manhunt but base on what I read, it’s something similar to GTA with a lot more gore and violence. If you look at details between Mature and Adults Only rating, you will notice that the age difference is only 1 year. M is 17+ while AO is 18+. The difference in content between the two would be this phrase “include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.” So no arguments here seeing that the legal age to view such content would be the age of 18 and above. At that age, one should be able to understand and not easily affected by scenes of extreme gore and sexuality.

Now here’s the weird part I always wondered. Why is there always a big fuss about games that holds the AO title? It feels like as if its some sort of taboo word. Game retailers wouldn’t carry them and recently, console manufacturers has declared that they will not allow any 3rd party publishers to publish AO games on their consoles.

It just feels unfair isn’t it? Extreme gore movies are allowed to be sold at retailers but extreme games aren’t. Because personally, I don’t see the difference between the two, in terms of treatment they should receive. As an adult gamer, I feel insulted. I’m at a legal age of playing such games yet it feels seems like I’m not allowed to. I’m pretty sure there are a lot of adult gamers out there. Its not like as if all those who are aged 17 and below are going to stay at that age range forever.

Let’s face it, games are just games; movies are just movies. They are just meant for entertainment and not meant to be taken seriously. Influence from “extreme” games are definitely a key argument to put such games away but aren’t those games meant for adults in the first place? Why is it in the hands of a minor?