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It is still censorship in my opinion, and any from of censorship, corporate or government, should not be allowed.
Media should be
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EDIT: Also, the people who rate games are kept secret from the public, so no accountability, which makes it even worse.
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Who decides which rating a game should get?
Each ESRB rating is based on the consensus of at least three specially trained raters who view content based on numerous criteria. Raters must be adults, and typically have experience with children through prior work experience, education or by being parents or caregivers themselves. They rate games on a full-time basis, although they may be assisted by part-time raters when necessary. While they are not required to have advanced skills as computer and video game players (since their job is to review content and determine its age-appropriateness, not to assess how challenging or entertaining a particular game is to play), they do gain or further develop these abilities since they are also required, time-permitting, to play the final version of games (after their release) when they are not busy assigning ratings. To eliminate the risk of outside or industry influence, the identities of ESRB raters are kept confidential, and they are not permitted to have any ties to or connections with any individuals or entities in the computer/video game industry.