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Lexian-Droid2 years ago

I think a dedicated ratings board of some sort would be a neat idea, have age ratings be handed out by them, their real humans, this would prevent people lying about their age ratings. This is a common issue on GameJolt, and quite frankly, I think they got rid of the Mature tag, banning illicit games altogether. Now, don’t quote me on that, but I think I saw an email about that.

Either way, I think it would be a good idea to appoint volunteers into the position of “Age Rater”, allowing them to view games that weren’t rated, where they can look at the project, test the games, and make an informed decision as to what the game is. It would help get a grasp on what the games are, and we don’t have to see dozens of lewd games on the home page anymore.

I know it’s a big, complicated change, but I feel like it would serve as a positive change, while not having such a large impact in the community.

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Ethan Clark (EPICPIKAGUY)2 years ago

If I recall correctly, Game Jolt banned nsfw games because (don't quote me on this) "we have minors on our site and were asked to clean up." Controversy ensued (some think the removals unfairly targeted LGBT+ games,) and itch made this very on brand tweet (Which IIRC Game Jolt quote retweeted and said "itch is a good platform if you want to host nsfw games.)

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Lexian-Droid2 years ago

Well, I don’t know the exact reason, but I reckon that is also a valid reason.

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mid2 years ago

I like the idea, but why restrict it to just Itch, then? Such a board could be independently run.

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No Time To Play2 years ago(+1)

You mean, like the ESRB?

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mid2 years ago

Yes but ESRB is for computer games only, too corporate and I’d hardly call it independent. I also don’t like the actual rating system. Their one pro is that they have some authority, but even that is only for North America.

What my ideal would be is just an externally verified list of content warnings, that are not ultimately reduced to a single character. Next to each item would be either “light”, “medium” or “heavy” modifiers. Separate into categories mandated by law like 18+ vs not 18+, but leave the actual rating to adults.

I don’t think you can have enough rating boards.

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Lexian-Droid2 years ago (1 edit)

I personally don’t see an ethical reason for creating an independent rating board, especially to the tune of the ESRB.

The whole idea is basically GameJolt’s solution: “DGRS”

It’s a rating board they created, my idea was basically, this, but mandated by Itch.io themselves, and not user selected.

The truth is, the ESRB is government mandated, on console games, you can’t not have an ESRB rating and sell your game on disks, and in truth, they don’t really have a place on Itch.io, because Itch.io is a private company and doesn’t have to abide by any sort of consumer protection laws, in the sense of adult content. However, the idea of a ratings board for itch.io is really needed for the sake of the customers, so at the end of the day, it really only depends on if they want to add it themselvs or if they don’t want to.

The ESRB would also require you to submit it and go through what million-dollar companies need to do, most indie developers can’t afford those fees.

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mid2 years ago (1 edit)

I’m not sure if you meant to reply to me. My point is that I don’t enjoy the way ESRB does it, so we end up agreeing in many places.

I would think having a ratings board run by Itch would mean restricting it solely to games hosted on Itch. If that won’t be the case I’m all for it.

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