Your Money Matters; FTC alert helps consumers decode video game ratings before purchase

Michigan Chronicle, August, 2005

Michigan Chronicle

08-09-2005

A new publication from the Federal Trade Commission will help consumers use rating symbols on video games to decide whether a particular game is suitable before they buy or rent it. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 83 percent of children aged eight to 18 live in homes with a video game console. The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) maintains a two-part rating system for video and computer games. A rating symbol such as E or M on the front of a game's box suggests age-appropriateness. Descriptors, such as "blood and gore," appear on the back of the game's box and explain why the game was given the rating it received. The ESRB also maintains a Web site, www.esrb.org, where visitors can enter the name of a game to see its...

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