Hey now...

I agree with the fellows over at Penny Arcade.

1) Rockstar games produces little content of any value whatsoever. Their parent company, Take Two is almost as bad. If it wasn't for "Pirates!" I'd have them whipped along with Rockstar. "Insane Golf," anyone?

2) The ESRB definitions are vague and seem dedicated to some obscure voodoo dance themselves. It has long been a criticism that, in popular culture, violence is more acceptable than sex. An RPG that implies sex, but has no violent content (what're the odds?) would probably be given a higher rating than one that implies violence, but has no sex. See also the game "Singles," a "dating sim" in which the players objective seems to be to have sex. Then look at the "Hitman: Contracts" content. I'm pretty familiar with the game, and most of it is open ended. Assumably one could play "Singles" without actually having intercourse, but it's got an "AO" rating, so the possibility merits the rating... and you can open a serious can of whoop-ass in any of the "Hitman" games. Contracts is the most recently released. All of them, to date, has an "M" rating.

Neither of them seem appropriate for kids. I could handle either at 16 fairly well, and I know which one I'd want to play (the one with sex in... duh), but I realize that I might be considered an exception. So, I checked out this review by what seemed to be a 12 year old girl.

A quick search on the esrb page reveals that all AO games have sexual content and no violence. I'm not opposed to the sex games getting the AO label, what I'm looking for is balance. Nudity is not as bad as gunfire, from my point of view. The question is, how old should you be before you can be allowed exposure to it without risking psychological damage or developmental harm?

I dunno. I'm not a psychologist. But I'm willing to bet that neither strong violence nor sexual content are really something that kids should be exposed to. Here I'm thinking there should be a new ESRB code: E 15+. Drop "M". Really, what good is it? Delay the purchase of sex games for a year? When 12 year olds can get it?