by Jack DeGonia ’19

Many parents seem to believe that video games are too graphic for their intended audience, when in reality they receive much more harsh ratings than movies and TV shows do.  Games where there is any sort of violence or swearing receives a mature rating, the equivalent of “R,” while a movie can still have this material and receive a PG-13 rating. TV shows get this kind treatment as well with shows like “Game of Thrones” receiving an “R” rating while it contains prolonged scenes of intense violence and graphic sexual content, the exact requirements to receive an Adults Only rating for a video game, the equivalent of NC-17.

The unfair treatment towards video game can be amended one of two ways: making other media sources ratings more strict, or making video games ratings less strict.  It would be much more conducive to adjust the ratings of video games to be more similar to those of movies and TV shows. The actual amount of mature content in video games is, in most cases, less than that of their counterparts in other forms of media.