ESRB Introduces Ratings For Downloadable Games

Anyone familiar with the Entertainment Software Rating Board's ratings, which offers summations of a game's content, as it pertains to potentially objectionable material, mostly for the benefit of parents and like parties, knows the deal: when a games goes online, all that stuff goes out the window.

Which is why the ESRB has just revealed a brand new rating system, which acknowledges the fact that many downloadable titles offer an unpredictable experience for the player, reports Joystiq.

The service has game makers fill out a brief online questionnaire that asks them to identify possible adult content in their content, like always (which is ultimately the one thing most people like parents are about). But now they also ask for any "Interactive Elements". 

If a game sends user information to a third party, then it will receive the Shares Info label. If a game has the player's physical location visible to others, then it gets the Shares Location label. And finally, if a game has a player interacting with others in any form or fashion, from communication to sharing user-generated content, then it gets the Users Interact label.

In the past, when such instances came up, the ESRB (and game makers alike) were all able to put their hands up in the air and go "hey, we can't predict what happens, don't look at us!" So this enhanced level of clarification is sure to be welcome to some.