Episode Details

In 1993 the United States Senate was in a moral panic over Mortal Kombat and Night Trap. This episode traces how that pressure, along with retailers like Toys R Us pulling violent games from shelves, pushed fierce rivals including Nintendo and Sega to form the Entertainment Software Association and launch the Entertainment Software Rating Board on September 16, 1994. We look at how a system built as a shield against government regulation became one of the strongest self-regulatory codes in entertainment.

We go inside the rating process, from the detailed long form questionnaire and submitted footage to panels of at least three anonymous raters, and explain why an Adults Only rating functions as a commercial death sentence. We also cover the 2005 Hot Coffee scandal in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the 2011 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, the IARC algorithm for digital storefronts, and the loot box controversy that produced new in-game purchase labels.

• Early controversies from 1976's Death Race to Custer's Revenge on the Atari 2600
• Gray sweat on the SNES versus a blood code on the Genesis and what it proved about sales
• Thrill Kill, Manhunt 2, Hatred, and The Punisher's black and white filter to dodge an AO rating
• Hidden code, up to $1 million in fines, and Oblivion's bump from Teen to Mature
• Why generative AI games may be impossible to rate under a system built for finished products