the rating shouldnt really matter....
do they really enforce it.. like seriously..
a 8 year old shouldnt be playin those really violent games.. but if a 15 yr old goes to buy GTA or wut ever..... the retailer aint gunna say show me your ID...
and if he does.. Any average Joe will buy it for yeh.......

Well yeah, that is very true, but the same goes with alcohol. Kids can get others to buy it for them. I have heard minors being asked for ID when purchasing games, but I'm not sure if this is the same with all retailers.

Here in Australia, the ratings system sucks. The thing that really annoys me, is that if a game all of a sudden gets an 18+ rating, then it is taken off the shelves. Effectively it becomes banned and you can no longer purchase the game in Australia. In my opinion, this is ridiculous.

This same thing happened recently with the latest GTA:San Andreas game. It had been on sale for at least a year for the PS2 and was available on the PC for quite some time. Then all of a sudden it becomes 18+ and you can't buy it in Australia. Considering that most people want to play the game, and the fact that a lot of people were going to wait until the price for the PC version went down before buying. Its almost as though they are trying to promote piracy. Lets face it, they have now made this the easiest way that you can get your hands on a copy of the game without having to order one from offshore.

I really don't know about this ratings system. Over here it is screwed but I can't speak for other places. The idea of having ratings for games is good, but banning games is plain stupid. We should be at least given a choice on what we want to purchase, banning a game is not going to help anyone.

Well, you might say that videogames make kids violent, but I've read an article pretty recently in The Economist analysed that and revealed that actually crime rate has decreased in the last few years while videogame use has increased. They say that videogames prepare kids for certain situations in life, and although virtual they give the kid an idea of what the consequence can be. So videogames can result in being a positive thing after all... and removing the rating system is just plain retarded. It doesn't help anyone. Eventually the games will have to be rated like it or not.

It never ceases to amaze and at the same time disappoint me ,humankind contradicts itself in such ways.. and come to such ilogical solutions for such small problems.. well I'm 18 now.. at least this wont affect me.

But what bout the poor kids!! that will be forced to only play disney videogames!! their minds will rott even worse!!! I'd rather let my son play halo than crappy games..
jk

videogames dont make people violent. , but I guess its easier to always blame someone or something.

And what is removing the ESRB rating going to accomplish. And what is the rest of the world that abides by the ESRB rating system going to bow down to the United States. The only area that would feel the effect would be the United States.

This rating system was put in place for a reason and should still remain, as we already know there are video games out on the market that are so violent that it would be best to keep them out of the hands of adolesence. Without a system such as that it would allow anyone to purchase these games.

Parents aren't going to keep there children away from these games that is what this system is attemting to do.

This whole thing reminds me of the same situation with the music industry. Looking back, I do not see how it made any difference. Without actually regulating the industry, I dont see any effect those silly politicos would actually have on the average gaming community. Lets face it, the kids will always be able to get their hands on the goods, wether it is next GTA game or the next 50 cent album. Banning questionable games off the shelves, while keeping Hentai DVDs in Sam Goodys? Yeah, that'll fly well with corporate lawers that stand to loose major cash.