Rating Video Games

Today is the kickoff of the holiday shopping season, and, in keeping with that tradition, millions of parents here in California and across the nation will make treks to neighborhood shops and malls. Those expeditions often will include stopovers at stores where video games are sold.

A lot of these games are simply great fun. But, as state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren points out, some are no laughing matter. That’s why he has written to major video game manufacturers and retailers to urge them to display self-restraint in marketing games that depict violence.

Violence is already far too common in television and movies. Most U.S. children have watched countless acts of violence by the time they reach 18. Now graphically portrayed mayhem is showing up in video games, too. Mortal Kombat, for instance, one of the most popular, includes images of a severed head impaled on a stick and a beating heart ripped from a human body.

Some companies already have imposed a voluntary, movie-style rating system for their game cartridges. Foremost among these is the video game giant Sega, the Redwood, Calif., firm that licenses Mortal Kombat, among many other games. A team of psychologists, sociologists and educators rates the games as suitable for a general audience (GA), for teen-agers over 13 (MA-13) or for mature audiences over 17 (MA-17).

More companies should consider marking their products with appropriate warnings, as the motion picture industry does for films that contain excessive violence and/or sex. Of the 73 million game cartridges sold annually, two-thirds are believed to end up in the hands of children under 15.

Ultimately, parents are responsible for what their children see, hear or, in the case of video games, play. But that doesn’t mean game companies don’t have a responsibility as well, a responsibility to exercise good judgment. Sega’s leadership should be applauded--and promptly copied.