The ESRB Experience
by Matthew Jessick · in General Discussion · 11/29/2007 (2:20 pm) · 1 replies
There was another thread that touched on the topic of getting an "ESRB" rating for a game and advertisements. Rather than hijack that thread, I wrote up a summary of my experiences here. Note also that my experiences with the ESRB were with a small self-publishing developer working as a designer/producer/coder type in charge of game content and developing the ESRB submission. We had a marketing person that actually handled the day-to-day interactions with the ESRB and transmitted the actual submissions.
I've always had good results from the ESRB process (3 titles so far.) This even includes a case where they wanted a higher rating than we were prepared to accept and so we made changes to reduce the amount of gore a bit (for a hunting game). What is important to note is that in the end, everyone in the process really wants (or SHOULD want) exactly the same thing: the most appropriate rating.
Up until a year ago (Note: I haven't been involved since then and it changes periodically), the process was pay your money and submit 3 VHS video tapes and IIRC a questionaire of all "pertinent gameplay" (as defined by the ESRB - see their website). E.g.: all the things that could potentially cross over the unwritten lines that would require a higher rating or "descriptor" (e.g.: "Mild violence"). They use the physical video tapes to send out to members of their review team. The process takes several weeks (perhaps a month, IIRC, and you can pay more for expedited review.)
We made the mistake of providing a pretty much completed game once rather than the VHS tapes. That just caused more work for everyone since the people in the ESRB office had to take the game, play it, and make the video tapes themselves to send to their reviewers. They may not allow this anymore because it doesn't really make much sense to do it this way. The developer is much more able to get to all the hidden corners of the gameplay where questionable content may reside.
Read their documents carefully, be up front and disclose fully when you prepare your content, get the best-possible-most-informative rating, and everyone will be happy.
In other words, if your game should ever need an ESRB rating: don't be afraid of the process.
I've always had good results from the ESRB process (3 titles so far.) This even includes a case where they wanted a higher rating than we were prepared to accept and so we made changes to reduce the amount of gore a bit (for a hunting game). What is important to note is that in the end, everyone in the process really wants (or SHOULD want) exactly the same thing: the most appropriate rating.
Up until a year ago (Note: I haven't been involved since then and it changes periodically), the process was pay your money and submit 3 VHS video tapes and IIRC a questionaire of all "pertinent gameplay" (as defined by the ESRB - see their website). E.g.: all the things that could potentially cross over the unwritten lines that would require a higher rating or "descriptor" (e.g.: "Mild violence"). They use the physical video tapes to send out to members of their review team. The process takes several weeks (perhaps a month, IIRC, and you can pay more for expedited review.)
We made the mistake of providing a pretty much completed game once rather than the VHS tapes. That just caused more work for everyone since the people in the ESRB office had to take the game, play it, and make the video tapes themselves to send to their reviewers. They may not allow this anymore because it doesn't really make much sense to do it this way. The developer is much more able to get to all the hidden corners of the gameplay where questionable content may reside.
Read their documents carefully, be up front and disclose fully when you prepare your content, get the best-possible-most-informative rating, and everyone will be happy.
In other words, if your game should ever need an ESRB rating: don't be afraid of the process.
Associate David Montgomery-Blake
David MontgomeryBlake