All political and freedom of speech stuff aside what are the facts about game ratings?
Well the fact is game rating is a major need now for publishers, many retail outlets like Wal-mart are requiring ratings. There are two main ratings agencies the ERSB (Entertainment Ratings Service Board) which is a secretive panel (a la the MPRA, motion picture ratings agency) and was formed by the major software publishers with the cooperation of SEGA and Nintendo. In response to the fees and process that the ESRB used a group of PC oriented small publishers formed the RSAC or (recreational software advisory council) which has a much cheaper process which includes a program you run that generates a filled in questionaire to submit for a rating from the RSAC. Right now the RSAC is trying to push for it’s ratings process to be acceptable as well as the ESRB, citing the need for the RSAC for smaller publishers. In a cooperative move the CGDA (The Computer Game Developers Association) has endorsed the RSAC process. If you haven’t been on CompuServe’s Game Developers forum you might not k
