Different Values
May 1st, 2008 trobert9
While once more reviewing my import games from Japan, I noticed one thing I found quite interesting. The rating system in Japan is of course a little different from the ESRB we have here, but what surprised me was what the games were being rated on. The different rating of the ESRB are eC (early childhood, 3+), E (everyone, 6+), E10+ (everyone, 10+), T (teen, 13+), M (mature, 17+), and AO (adults only, 18+). The ratings for Japan are A (everyone), B (12+), C (15+), D (17+), and Z (18+). One thing is immediately striking here, that Japan does not separate the younger ages here like North America does.
With closer inspection though, of the different qualifiers for ratings and games with those qualifiers, one can see that the ESRB and CERO (Computer Entertainment Rating Organization) and therefore North America and Japan have different views on moral values. While in North America sex is the biggest factor that can immediately skyrocket a game’s rating, in Japan the most restrictive is violence. Explicit sex will still move a Japanese game to the Z rating, but sexuality and partial nudity are not as important to them, still appearing in even a few A rate games. Violence is by far the most regulated overseas, with more game games being bumped up to the D rating for gory content that here is mostly overlooked and can land in a T rated game. I had heard that Japanese broadcast television is the same way, with sexual content on everyday programs (including nudity), while explicitly violent shows are the ones not shown until late at night or on pay channels, and these ratings are the proof.
This also really adds context to the international jabs at Americans for being violent people. I remember back in the nineties there were a lot of people saying that Generation X was being desensitized to violence by TV, movies, and games like Doom, and I guess they’re right. Violence seems almost mandatory in games to me, while sexual content is a bit more of a rarity.
Entry Filed under: Game Log
1 Comment
1. sgrimes | May 1st, 2008 at 2:40 am
Another point of interest is the striking disparity between M(17+) and AO(18+), at least in terms of cultural taboos. There has only ever been one game rated AO for violence (Manhunt 2, prior to its pre-release edit), thought it’s pretty generally accepted that had Thrill Kill been released, it would have garnered an AO. Still, AO has historically been reserved for explicit sexual content. Now, you can get into all sorts of debates as to whether sex is worse than violence or vice versa, but the more glaring issue is the fact that only one year exists between M and AO. One. Year. Are we really to believe that there is this ungodly huge difference between 17 and 18 year olds? That exposed nipples will turn 17 year olds into sexual deviants, but are perfectly fine for 18? That 18 year olds can handle hacking off a man’s testicles, while the 17 year olds would be grabbing for their barf bags? It’s really a pretty ludicrous statement, but that’s the logic the ESRB works under. You see the same thing all the time in the movie industry, too. For example, "Lust, Caution" garnered an NC-17 for explicit sexual situations, but Hostel 2 and Saw IV both managed R ratings with minimal edits. That, if I may say, if messed up. The fact that sex = AO in America can probably be chalked up to the fact that our country was first colonized by the crazies that the European puritans thought were too radically conservative. Suffice to say, the US is far less open about sexuality than other Western nations.