US parents want universal ratings says study

[wraggster]

A new study to be published in the July issue of Pediatrics magazine suggests US parents want a new universal rating system for all media.

"Our studies revealed that parents not only want changes to the ratings, but that they would support the creation of a universal system," reports the paper Parents' Evaluation of Media Ratings a Decade After Television Ratings Were Introduced.

"Given that we are well on the way to digital 'convergence,' where one can watch movies, television shows, or video games all on the same device, it seems that the time may be right to begin seriously considering taking this next step to improve media ratings." It also suggested one of the reasons for the demands was that parents find current systems inaccurate and confusing.

The research was the work of Douglas A. Gentile, Julia A. Maier, Mary Rice Hasson, and Beatriz Lopez de Bonetti, and collated the opinions of over 2,300 adults.

The study is somewhat contradictory to findings published by the Entertainment Software Association earlier this month, which reported that 98 per cent of US parents were confident that the ESRB ratings were "accurate".

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-06-21-parents-want-universal-ratings

[JLF65]

That's the problem with surveys - you can get them to say whatever you want merely by changing the wording of the questions and by picking where and when to ask them. Surveys are nearly always worthless on the face of it.

[Qmark]

This will never happen. The MPAA, ESRB, and whoever the hell does the television ratings will never release their own exclusive monopolies and derived revenue streams.

[Fonixx]

You got parts of Asia and Africa becoming more Democratic so they'll have their own regulatory boards which are obviously skewed towards religious beliefs, and places like Australia where their government seems to be more interested in becoming world leaders against game violence than using real common sense, so even if you ignore all the separate boards wanting to hold onto their own power you've still all this political and social crap to deal with, so anyone thinking a single ratings board is a good idea really knows nothing about the way the world works.