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Forums - Gaming - Should iPhone/Touch Games be evaluated by the ESRB?

 

Should iPhone/Touch Games be evaluated by the ESRB?

Yes 11 47.83%
 
No 9 39.13%
 
Indifferent 3 13.04%
 
Total:23
jarrod on 05 May 2010
famousringo said:
jarrod said:
famousringo said:
As I understand it, participation in the ESRB is voluntary.

Since I'm pro-indie game development, I say ESRB ratings should in no way be mandatory for games in Apple's App Store.

App Store is a closed platform though, Apple themselves aren't really "pro-indie game development" when you get down to it.

I don't see what being 'closed' has to do with it.

Apple gives away dev kits to anybody who owns a Mac and provides fast, easy access to a large and highly monetized distribution network for a $99 fee and 30% of revenues. An indie developer on an 'open' PC platform has to figure out his own methods for distributing his product and taking payment, and those are huge barriers for people who are better at programming than they are at business. In this respect, the 'restrictive and closed' platform is much more accessible than the 'open' PC platform where a developer is free to solve all these problems himself.

The whole reason why people piss and moan about the thousands of crappy games on the App Store is because the barriers to entry are insanely low for indie developers. Adding a requirement for ESRB rating would multiply up-front fees by an order of magnitude while requiring more planning on the part of the developer.

True, but you still have a giant corporation (Apple) wildly profiting and skirting industry standards with their wholly owed, closed platform.  Not that others don't as well, Microsoft does basically the same thing with XNA/XBL indies.  I'm actually curious why there isn't more criticism of them by industry watchdogs?  

 



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Ryudo on 05 May 2010

Twes is this what you're trying to say?

 

 

Sega tried controlling thier games with it's in house ratings system and Nintendo on the NES had it's closed house controlled what can be licensed and released on it's platform.



twesterm on 05 May 2010
Ryudo said:

Twes is this what you're trying to say?

 

 

Sega tried controlling thier games with it's in house ratings system and Nintendo on the NES had it's closed house controlled what can be licensed and released on it's platform.

Not at all what I'm trying to say.

I'm saying it's cost prohibitive for iPhone games to get rated by the ESRB and Apple doesn't need to because they already police their contect very[/v] strictly (though not exactly quality).



 

Ryudo on 05 May 2010

Actually that sounds exactly what Nintendo did and Sega did in the 80's -90's

The seal is often confused with actual quality of games,it wasn't. It was to keep out unofficial games on the system and must go through Nintendo first then be licensed. Sega soon followed but also rated in house.

When ESRB was proposed Sega tried to argue in court and so did Nintendo why they didn't need it.

Apple should follow the same rules as anyone if they ever want to be considered in the same playing feild as Nintendo,Sony,MS. Jobs has already thrown up the fighting words against PSP and DS. No one is taking him very serious yet.

Until they follow the same track everyone else does,he can keep his little silly iphone/ipad  games that are fun for 10 min breaks.