http://www.tigrs.org/

Now, I'll let Gameproducer take over: http://www.gameproducer.net/2007/03/16/tigrs-the-independent-game-rating-system/

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TIGRS is different from ESRB in 2 major ways. First of all: it’s free. ESRB ratings cost a too big pile of money for casual games to get a rating, with TIGRS everybody can get their game rated. Secondly: it’s rated by developers.

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very cool i'd love to use it when i get the chance.

julz

Yeah, but it wouldn't carry the clout of an ESRB rating. Here's why:

<table><tr><td><a href="http://www.tigrs.org/rating.php?data=13333312332222" target="_blank" style="cursor: hand; color: black; text-decoration: none; background: none;" title="Click for more information about this rating"> <div style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold;"> <div><img src="http://images.tigrs.org/ratings/tigrs-vertical-family-crystal.gif" style="width: 172px; height: 73px; border: 0px;" alt="This game is Family Friendly. Rated by TIGRS&trade;" /></div> <div style="background: #fff; border: 4px black solid; border-top: none; float:left; padding: 4px; width: 156px; text-align: left;"><div style="float: left; margin-right: 8px;">Strong Language<br />Intense Cartoon Violence<br />Intense Fantasy Violence<br />Intense Realistic Violence<br />Blood and Gore<br />Sexual Violence<br />Nudity<br />Strong Sexual Content<br /></div><div style="float: left; margin-right: 8px;">Mature Humor<br />Alcohol Use<br />Tobacco Use<br />Drug Use<br />Real Gambling<br /></div> </div> </div></a></td></tr></table>

Ooops, you can't see that. Basically, you can select all the worst violence and sex for your rating and put a family friendly smiley on it. It looks like an independent rating, when in fact you could just make one up in Photoshop.

that's true, and i did that myself when i was checking out but you also instantly lose all credibility as soon as someone gets it and sees how inappropriate it is. of course, they will look at the stuff like "Mature Humour" "Nudity" "Intense Realistic Violence", etc, and probably ignore the "family" rating anyway. if you neglect to put those in, and you rate yourself unrealistically, you forfeit credibility and trust with consumers, potentially losing heaps of sales -- of course it might serve simply as a little more publicity to attract the attention of your more mature audiences, who won't be swayed by kids' parents complaining that it was too mature

after that short debate with myself, i agree with you A.Russell i think most indie developers stretching out for any sales they can get will be honest, but more than a few developers might think it's worthwhile to lie.

julz

Withholding information isn't quite lying. But yeah, perhaps it's best to simply stick to what customers should know about the game.

Cheers

R* "withheld" information about Hot Coffee and then "lied" about it.
Certainly didn't affect their sales (since the rest of the game was solid), but the industry took a nasty PR hit thanks to it.

And keep in mind that what R* can get away with would SINK most other companies...

well i think its bull**** that Rockstar even got in trouble for that, as it was a user mod that unlocked it, but that debate should probably be a debate for a different forum

The point is that the ESRB ratings are based on ALL the content that's in the game, not just what can or can't be locked. Obviously Hot Coffee was more than just a reskinning and thus they "misrepresented" to the ESRB to get a lower rating and then flat out lied when they stated that Hot Coffee was a pure mod.

I only bring this up in this thread to emphasize that a rating system is only as good as the level of enforcement and the willingness of the people to participate in it. If an Indie Rating doesn't have a squad of people in charge of reviewing games AND the public support to abide by it, then it will amount to nothing (which is pretty much what the ESRB is among game developers... more important to the marketing team than the development team)