no age restriction for some games

[r-cane]

We had the discussion started by some outlandish claim in another part of the forum, but after some digging and the discussion making a turn we realised that some games on steam have no age restriction banners. What`s up with that? I dont think thats a good look on neither steam for being okay with that, not certain publishers like KLEI to not let their games get rated. I dont think it`s illegal per se, because in the country I live in it seems to be voluntary to put content ratings on a digital product, but still I think it is showing a lack of care for the protection of minors.

[76561198407601200]

Escrito originalmente por r-cane:

We had the discussion started by some outlandish claim in another part of the forum, but after some digging and the discussion making a turn we realised that some games on steam have no age restriction banners. What`s up with that? I dont think thats a good look on neither steam for being okay with that, not certain publishers like KLEI to not let their games get rated. I dont think it`s illegal per se, because in the country I live in it seems to be voluntary to put content ratings on a digital product, but still I think it is showing a lack of care for the protection of minors.

Report the game if you feel it is violation.

[r-cane]

I`ll try to give you the benefit of the doubt that you are not trolling, so I`ll reply.

Escrito originalmente por miakisfan:

If there is a game here that Steam allows on here then it has passed THEIR rules and regulations. It doesn't have to pass yours.

Which I didn`t demand, so I dont get your point.

Escrito originalmente por miakisfan:

BTW limiting what others can say in a topic because of your feelings isn't good enough. You don't own this board nor this topic.

Which I didn`t do, so I dont get your point.

Escrito originalmente por miakisfan:

It is up to the parents (I know that bothers you and there's another topic if I want to discuss this) to watch what their kids do online BUT if you ignore the elephant in the room just to get your point across it only works for you and the vocal minority who only care about this.

If you already know that this is not what this post is about, then why do you claim that ignoring an argument that isn`t what this is about is just to bring my point across. If this post would be about questioning why there are less green balloons then red ones and someone states that balloons should be cheaper, ignoring this (or rather pointing to a different thread were it`s actually about the pricing of balloons) is simply a way to try to keep a topic from being derailed.

Escrito originalmente por miakisfan:

Sorry but I am not going to agree with you on this.

Which is completly fine. We dont need to have the same opinion on this matter. As long as we keep the discussion civil I`m completly okay with that and am actually happy to hear other opinions on this matter.

Escrito originalmente por miakisfan:

Removing those games ....

Which again, I didn`t said should be done, so again, I dont get your point .

Escrito originalmente por miakisfan:

Here's a suggestion OP ... find a legal way to make sure when kids are online on Steam they are forced to give their real ages so it doesn't ruin gaming for everyone else. Win-win.

Here`s my suggestion. Multiple brains have more computation power then one. So I should post some kind of written post somewhere where other people could read it and come together to think of a way to do it. ... Now if only there was some kind of forum for that..

[Paratech2008]

There are parents who buy M rated games for kids, exactly how do you fight that?

Parents are responsible for setting up accounts for minors.

[r-cane]

Escrito originalmente por The Living Tribunal:

Escrito originalmente por r-cane:

We had the discussion started by some outlandish claim in another part of the forum, but after some digging and the discussion making a turn we realised that some games on steam have no age restriction banners. What`s up with that? I dont think thats a good look on neither steam for being okay with that, not certain publishers like KLEI to not let their games get rated. I dont think it`s illegal per se, because in the country I live in it seems to be voluntary to put content ratings on a digital product, but still I think it is showing a lack of care for the protection of minors.

Report the game if you feel it is violation.

What game? The OP is not about one specific game, or I would have named one specific game. It is about the question WHY certain games dont have a rating, and WHY the publishers think this is a good idea, and WETHER others here think that games SHOULD have a rating, so that parents have an easier way to deciede which games their children should play, and which not.

[r-cane]

Escrito originalmente por Paratech2008:

There are parents who buy M rated games for kids, exactly how do you fight that?

Parents are responsible for setting up accounts for minors.

Not what this post is about, but to answer your question, not with methods you can implement here. The only way to fight that would be to report them to the authorities if you should get knowledge of this. Wether someone would do that is up to them, but if they dont, they basicly agree with what the parents are doing.

[Paratech2008]

Escrito originalmente por r-cane:

Escrito originalmente por Paratech2008:

There are parents who buy M rated games for kids, exactly how do you fight that?

Parents are responsible for setting up accounts for minors.

Not what this post is about, but to answer your question, not with methods you can implement here. The only way to fight that would be to report them to the authorities if you should get knowledge of this. Wether someone would do that is up to them, but if they dont, they basicly agree with what the parents are doing.

I think you missed my point, If you don't want kids getting games they shouldn't be allowed to play, it starts with the parents.

[r-cane]

Escrito originalmente por Paratech2008:

Escrito originalmente por r-cane:

Not what this post is about, but to answer your question, not with methods you can implement here. The only way to fight that would be to report them to the authorities if you should get knowledge of this. Wether someone would do that is up to them, but if they dont, they basicly agree with what the parents are doing.

I think you missed my point, If you don't want kids getting games they shouldn't be allowed to play, it starts with the parents.

Yeah, and my point is "It would be way easier and therefor would help in making sure that kids wont play games they shouldn`t if companies (publishers and steam) would give the parents a handy tool to see wether a game would be appropriate or not, instead of the parents having to spend hours researching every game their children would want to play.
If that wouldn`t be the case, noone would have ever created age ratings (beyond the 18+ ones that are usually mandatory) to begin with, because they are in most cases voluntary. However, most countries have seen the point in such ratings, and therefor have implemented some kind of rating system, only for companies to not use them.
Ben Lubar for example made a good point, that companies may have an economic interest not using them, because the rating agencies want a 4 figure sum to rate your game. If you would have to pay that amount for every rating agency you would be in a low 5 figure cost. Not extremly much if you have a high budget game, but a lot more the less your game did cost and the less it creates revenue.
I guess a well known game would benefit more from a rating, not just because it costs less percentage, but also because there probably is just a certain amount of parents who would not buy if it is unrated. Therefor, if you have a well known game and 100k parents are unsure wether to buy it for their children and 10% decide based on the existance of a rating to do/not do it, it pays for itself, while if you have an indie game with only 5k parents and 10%, you would have only 500 parents x 20€ (I guess that would be a normal price for a lot of indie titles) so 10k € extra income for roughly the same cost for the rating.

[Crashed]

Escrito originalmente por r-cane:

Escrito originalmente por Paratech2008:

I think you missed my point, If you don't want kids getting games they shouldn't be allowed to play, it starts with the parents.

Yeah, and my point is "It would be way easier and therefor would help in making sure that kids wont play games they shouldn`t if companies (publishers and steam) would give the parents a handy tool to see wether a game would be appropriate or not, instead of the parents having to spend hours researching every game their children would want to play.
If that wouldn`t be the case, noone would have ever created age ratings (beyond the 18+ ones that are usually mandatory) to begin with, because they are in most cases voluntary. However, most countries have seen the point in such ratings, and therefor have implemented some kind of rating system, only for companies to not use them.
Ben Lubar for example made a good point, that companies may have an economic interest not using them, because the rating agencies want a 4 figure sum to rate your game. If you would have to pay that amount for every rating agency you would be in a low 5 figure cost. Not extremly much if you have a high budget game, but a lot more the less your game did cost and the less it creates revenue.
I guess a well known game would benefit more from a rating, not just because it costs less percentage, but also because there probably is just a certain amount of parents who would not buy if it is unrated. Therefor, if you have a well known game and 100k parents are unsure wether to buy it for their children and 10% decide based on the existance of a rating to do/not do it, it pays for itself, while if you have an indie game with only 5k parents and 10%, you would have only 500 parents x 20€ (I guess that would be a normal price for a lot of indie titles) so 10k € extra income for roughly the same cost for the rating.

Likely Klei doesn't pursue ratings for some games because they are an indie developer and not all their games are published on game consoles.

[Ben Lubar]

May I ask what you found offensive in a Klei Entertainment game?

[Kargor]

Escrito originalmente por Ben Lubar:

May I ask what you found offensive in a Klei Entertainment game?

People like him will always find something to complain...

He didn't even give the actual game name, just making random claims. As an example, I have only played on Klei game to date, "Mark of the Ninja". And if you check out the trailer you'll see that it DOES even have an M-rating. I don't know whether they have other ratings too -- to my knowledge, from a legal perspective, an ESRB-rating means nothing in Germany. Regardless, they did obtain a rating...

[Over It]

Escrito originalmente por ReBoot:

Escrito originalmente por r-cane:

We had the discussion started by some outlandish claim in another part of the forum, but after some digging and the discussion making a turn we realised that some games on steam have no age restriction banners. What`s up with that? I dont think thats a good look on neither steam for being okay with that, not certain publishers like KLEI to not let their games get rated. I dont think it`s illegal per se, because in the country I live in it seems to be voluntary to put content ratings on a digital product, but still I think it is showing a lack of care for the protection of minors.

... yeah, because a minor would TOTALLY provide their real DOB when buying a porn game. Right? RIIIIIGHHTTTTTT?????

It's not about protection of minors, first & foremost. Second, Klei got literally 0 porn games. Third, it's still up to parents to take care of their children. No-body is obliged, morally nor legally, to let their child onto the internet unsupervised. Parents doing that are the problem, not the lack of banners.

You're unmarried and childless. Mouth closed.

[Piston Smashed™]

Escrito originalmente por Over It:

Escrito originalmente por ReBoot:

... yeah, because a minor would TOTALLY provide their real DOB when buying a porn game. Right? RIIIIIGHHTTTTTT?????

It's not about protection of minors, first & foremost. Second, Klei got literally 0 porn games. Third, it's still up to parents to take care of their children. No-body is obliged, morally nor legally, to let their child onto the internet unsupervised. Parents doing that are the problem, not the lack of banners.

You're unmarried and childless. Mouth closed.

What has being married got to do with the price of bacon?

[Crashed]

Escrito originalmente por Kargor:

Escrito originalmente por Ben Lubar:

May I ask what you found offensive in a Klei Entertainment game?

People like him will always find something to complain...

He didn't even give the actual game name, just making random claims. As an example, I have only played on Klei game to date, "Mark of the Ninja". And if you check out the trailer you'll see that it DOES even have an M-rating. I don't know whether they have other ratings too -- to my knowledge, from a legal perspective, an ESRB-rating means nothing in Germany. Regardless, they did obtain a rating...

That particular game was published on consoles and thus the manufacturers forced them to obtain a rating. Steam doesn't require ratings from these industry run groups because Valve is independent.