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GCDC 2007: Factor 5 president says ESRB not taking games seriously

Posted Aug 20, 2007 at 2:57PM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, PC Gaming Tags: ESRB, Factor 5, Julian Eggebrecht, Leipzig

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Leipzig's heralded opening keynote has come to a conclusion, and Factor 5 president Julian Eggebrecht had much to say regarding authoritative hindrances to the development of games as an art form. In his delivery, Eggebrecht said that the ratings board of the game industry wasn't taking games seriously, especially in the art form viewpoint.

In the past, games have often been crusaded as a new form of art, complete with expression of creative content and the ability to interact with that expression. But more often than not, the game industry is besieged by elements from the outside. And even for a simple, sincere campaign to have one game viewed as an art form, there are plenty of other entities who wouldn't share the same views.

Even references to certain topics, rendered in satires, were restricted to some extent. Factor 5's Lair included hidden content of a real-life coffee maker - obviously in reference to GTA's "Hot Coffee" hidden content - but Factor 5 didn't have the liberty to call the cheat as "Hot Coffee" even if they willed.

"Everyone thought it was hilarious...but we couldn't call the cheat 'Hot Coffee', because that would imply we were mocking the authorities investigating Hot Coffee," Eggebrecht added. Later, he pinpointed how easily a game can be plucked from shelves simply because of an Easter Egg that suggested a sexual act, in contrast to movies. He also said:

I would be happy if in games we could talk about homosexuality, but we're not even at the point where we can admit that humans have heterosexual relationships, and that is a real problem - and it tends to show that games are not being seen, even by our own ratings boards, as an art form.

Though much of his speech would be considered flak against the U.S.' Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), he did offer some constructive criticism. He suggested that a new ratings scheme be drawn up to differentiate levels between Mature and Teen, where some games could be viewed as both due to differences in viewpoints. But overall, he said it would allow games to be rendered as art forms, and push the envelope a little further. He concluded:

I hope that we actually can prove that this is an art form. Show me something that proves on all levels that games are indeed an art form - push the violence, but also push the sex, and push it in an artistic way where it's not really gratuitous, but where it gets my thinking brain going.

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I think hes trying to point out the fact that Movies are different from games when they should not be, and no one should hold one medium above another. Stories should be told in any matter the artist so wishes. It is a matter of freedom something so many are willing to go without. While some fight for it others shrug it off.

If the ESRB had more improved rateings to seperate the more adult games without the need to immediately cut them off from the posibility of never being published that would be ideal.

There plenty of movies that have sex in them that have won Oscars and several awards, one that comes to mind is Monster's Ball.

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GCDC 2007: Factor 5 president says ESRB not taking games seriously

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