ESRB Speaks

[Kalyx triaD]

A while ago I sent the ESRB rating organization a hard worded letter in response to Fallout 3 trailers being pulled from a website because they were violent. The website says they were forced to take down the trailers by publisher... who was forced by the ESRB. So in a tiny fit of rage I sent a letter that - looking back - kinda came off as a death threat. Still the ESRB hollered back with this response:

Originally Posted by Extremely Shitty Ratings Bitches Dear Jean, Thank you for your message. The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) receives many inquiries from consumers, and we do our best to respond to each one as thoroughly as possible. Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in response. In regard to your inquiry, please know that the ESRB is not a censorship organization, and has no direct oversight of third party websites. ESRB is a self-regulatory body which enforces rules and guidelines adopted by the entertainment software industry in the United States and Canada . The notices issued recently by a game publisher to third party websites are simply a part of publisher compliance with those industry-adopted guidelines, which every publisher voluntarily agrees to comply with upon submitting their games to ESRB for rating. The ESRB's Advertising Review Council (ARC) regularly monitors game ads and trailers to make sure that they adhere to industry-adopted Principles and Guidelines for Responsible Advertising Practices which were established in 2000. Since 2005, ARC guidelines have required that trailers for M-rated games on publisher websites be displayed behind an age gate to help restrict viewing to those visitors who are 17 and older. Game publishers are also required to use best efforts with respect to ensuring the presence of age gates on third party websites that display their M-rated game trailers. If a third party website insists on carrying a trailer for an M-rated game without placing it behind an age gate, our guidelines require the publisher to request that the trailer be removed and/or provide an edited version to be used in its place. However, the mere presence of an age gate does not permit a publisher to simply put whatever content it wishes into a trailer. All trailers must still conform to ARC's Principles and Guidelines, which prohibit the display of excessively violent content or any content likely to cause serious offense to the average consumer. When ESRB notifies a publisher that the content in a trailer is in violation of these ARC requirements, or that there is an age gate issue on a third party website, that publisher then must notify the website in question to rectify the problem. The strength of our self-regulatory system lies in its unique ability to independently evaluate publisher compliance with a wide variety of industry-adopted rules and regulations, and enforce instances of non-compliance. The interests of parents, gamers and other consumers are best served by having an effective self-regulatory body, whose actions are objective, judicious and fair. We appreciate your taking the time to express your opinion on this issue, and hope that you better understand our actions. Regards, Entertainment Software Rating Board Want to stay informed about the games you’re interested in? Sign up for either ParenTools or GamerTools, our customized, biweekly newsletters which feature a customized list of our most recently rated titles complete with rating summaries, along with the monthly top-selling titles, news, articles and more.

That last part cracked me up.

But really, are these 'independant' watch dogs sticking their all-too-influencial hands in matters not within their ethical reach?