A Contradiction in Adult Terms

My wife's best friend is very strict about what games her kids, who are 11 and 13, play. I am okay with this for the most part, because I believe you should know what your kids do and play. My issue is that she goes strictly by the ESRB rating, and makes no allowance outside of that.

I understand that without knowing a game's content it is difficult to make an informed decision about what games one should let their children play, but I think there is some room for discussion, and the need for flexibility in that process. After all, by severely restricting the games they play, I think she is driving the kids to play those particular games elsewhere without her knowledge, and they are less likely to pay attention to her rules than if she said "I will allow you to play THESE games, but THIS one I find very inappropriate because of X, Y, and Z, and I ask that you please not play it."

Perhaps I am naive, and the kids will play whatever they want at their friend's places anyway, but I think respect and communication go far.

This brings me to a game I have been playing lately called Persona 4. This is a 'Mature' rated game, and for good reason. The list of content has such things as Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Alcohol References and Violence, all of which it has. (What is partial nudity, though. Isn't that like being a little bit pregnant?) I have no problem with the rating. It is a rather mature game. But what does that really mean?

I pulled some relevant definitions from Dictionary.reference.com:

–adjective
1. complete in natural growth or development, as plant and animal forms: a mature rose bush.

3. fully developed in body or mind, as a person: a mature woman.

4. pertaining to or characteristic of full development: a mature appearance; fruit with a mature softness.

7. intended for or restricted to adults, esp. by reason of explicit sexual content or the inclusion of violence or obscene language: mature movies.

8. composed of adults, considered as being less susceptible than minors to explicit sexual content, violence, or obscene language, as of a film or stage performance: for mature audiences only.

–verb (used with object)
13. to bring to full development: His hard experiences in the city matured him.

–verb (used without object)
16. to come to full development: Our plans have not yet matured.

I realize that 'Mature' in this sense is intended as in definition #7, that is 'intended for or restricted to adults', but let me tell you something about Persona 4...

P4 is about a high school student fighting monsters and saving the world, which is typical RPG fare. Where it deviates is in the inclusion of elements from Japanese dating sims, where one talks to people and develops relationships with them over the course of the game. Typically in a dating sim, they are female, but here there are people of all types, and while there are love interests in the mix, many of the relationships have no sexual aspect in the slightest.

What makes this more interesting is that over the course of developing these ties, you discover... depth. There's the class clown who hides his anxieties beneath his jocularity. There's the punk who, because of how sensitive he is, and the fact that he is good at 'feminine' tasks, questions his sexuality. There's the teen Idol (actor/celebrity) who wonders who the real person is behind the acting. There's the young wife who is having trouble relating to her stepson, and the flirtatious nurse who can't remember why she chose her career, and on, and on.

This is a game about finding out who you really are, and how much of who you are is what you decide to be. This is a game about finding out that everyone else has the same hang-ups and worries as you do. This is a game about growing up... about MATURING.

Despite this being a Mature rated game, this is a game I think I would want my teenagers to play. Hopefully they would see and understand the themes presented in the game, and relate to them, and mature a little from the experience. Compare this to a typical shooter, where the whole game is 'Kill X' or 'Don't BE killed by X'. Isn't there a difference? Is it fair to rate both 'Mature'?

I don't blame the ESRB for this, for they have an impossible task. Play a game and rate the content, that is their job, but to themes have an mitigating or occasionally detrimental effect? Would parents see the difference, or even care?

For now, I'm glad I don't have kids, so that burden is not yet mine, but when I do, I am in a better decision than most to do actual research, and not just look at the rating.

I hope I always take the time.