"Had the industry not taken the measures it did at the time—when there were Congressional hearings and a lot of pressure to come up with a standard—had they not done that, I think the government would really, frankly, have had to step in because of the general concern about video games and now there were [sic] more mature games," said ESRB President Patricia Vance of the 20 years the institution has been rating games.
With so many different gaming platforms and thousands of games rated in the organization's history, Vance thinks that the perception of video gaming has changed over time.
"Many people in the government as well as in general public assumed that all video games were for kids," Vance explained to GamesIndustry.biz. "That clearly had begun to change [by the time Vance joined the ESRB], and I think it was timely on the part of the industry to come together and create these standards that became the ESRB."
The full interview with Vance offers details on how many parents are aware of the ESRB system and how many actually pay attention to it when purchasing games for their children, though Vance says that enforcement within the industry has proven strongest in improving how video game ratings work.
"Over time, the levels of policy enforcement improved dramatically. And it didn't just happen; it happened because of a lot of the work we were doing, and a lot of support from the top of each of those organizations," Vance said. For more, follow the link below.
