ESRB Prototyping

OVERVIEW

This blog is to serve as a hub for review and critique of my Senior Final Design Project. The goal is to improve on the ESRB's intent to inform parents of the severity of content in video games by redesigning the content warning labels on game packaging and creating a short commercial encouraging awareness.

Research indicates that we are facing the largest gap in 10 years between parental awareness of the ESRB and parental use of the warning system.  Also, investigation shows very little changes in the design since its implementation despite the rapidly advancing nature of the gaming industry. Children under 18 account for only 19% of gaming revenue in a multi-billion dollar industry, and may be overlooked as content is shifting towards a more adult audience.

By utilizing colour coding and visual indicators instead of just text, I hope to provide a less vague indication of the content in video games and encourage parents to take an active role in overseeing the media children intake when still minors.

Content Descriptors

The following is a list of content descriptors currently used to identify the content in video games. Note the number of descriptors that are vague, or seem to mean the same thing. Do you think customers can easily distinguish from the game box the difference between a game with Sexual Content, Sexual Themes or Suggestive Themes? Can Crude Humor be Mature Humor and vice versa?

• Alcohol Reference - Reference to and/or images of alcoholic beverages
• Animated Blood - Discolored and/or unrealistic depictions of blood
• Blood - Depictions of blood
• Blood and Gore - Depictions of blood or the mutilation of body parts
• Cartoon Violence - Violent actions involving cartoon-like situations and characters. May include violence where a character is unharmed after the action has been inflicted
• Comic Mischief - Depictions or dialogue involving slapstick or suggestive humor
• Crude Humor - Depictions or dialogue involving vulgar antics, including “bathroom” humor
• Drug Reference - Reference to and/or images of illegal drugs
• Fantasy Violence - Violent actions of a fantasy nature, involving human or non-human characters in situations easily distinguishable from real life
• Intense Violence - Graphic and realistic-looking depictions of physical conflict. May involve extreme and/or realistic blood, gore, weapons and depictions of human injury and death
• Language - Mild to moderate use of profanity
• Lyrics - Mild references to profanity, sexuality, violence, alcohol or drug use in music
• Mature Humor - Depictions or dialogue involving "adult" humor, including sexual references
• Nudity - Graphic or prolonged depictions of nudity
• Partial Nudity - Brief and/or mild depictions of nudity
• Real Gambling - Player can gamble, including betting or wagering real cash or currency
• Sexual Content - Non-explicit depictions of sexual behavior, possibly including partial nudity
• Sexual Themes - References to sex or sexuality
• Sexual Violence - Depictions of rape or other violent sexual acts
• Simulated Gambling - Player can gamble without betting or wagering real cash or currency
• Strong Language - Explicit and/or frequent use of profanity
• Strong Lyrics - Explicit and/or frequent references to profanity, sex, violence, alcohol or drug use in music
• Strong Sexual Content - Explicit and/or frequent depictions of sexual behavior, possibly including nudity
• Suggestive Themes - Mild provocative references or materials
• Tobacco Reference - Reference to and/or images of tobacco products
• Use of Drugs - The consumption or use of illegal drugs
• Use of Alcohol - The consumption of alcoholic beverages
• Use of Tobacco - The consumption of tobacco products
• Violence - Scenes involving aggressive conflict. May contain bloodless dismemberment
• Violent References - References to violent acts

Organising Content Descriptors

I organized the content descriptors into 9 categories, and tried to best match the content to colours. I struggle with a colour for gambling and a put asterisks near the descriptors that don't currently exist, but I think are relevant to a parent, ie. sexual solicitation and gambling game mechanics.

I think that colour will differentiate the different issues from each other, and I experimented first with a design that used individual colour bars to represent each descriptor. It looked ok by itself:

But once I tried in on a back cover, it looked REALLY ugly and really out of place. It didn't match the style of the busy back cover, and definitely required some updating. I don't like the big white block background, but I do think the white and red draw your eye, which is important.

Look at the Back

This is the back of the popular game Halo for the xbox360.  Halo is a sci-fi shootem-up that currently has the same maturity rating as Saints Row 3, a game about fighting drug cartels. When viewed next to each other, they have different content descriptors, but they are both M-rated games.

My intention is to redesign the warning labels to better emphasize that not all M games are created equal and encourage parents not to rely on the 6 categories of ESRB ratings alone to judge the content of the games. The image below is from the ESRB's website, indicating where the warnings are currently placed.

Reworking the Warning Label

In my reworking of the labels, I decided to try a darker background. I thought the 'M' should glow to draw your attention like the other information on the box shown below.

I also decided that since the letter warning should be shown on the front and the back of the box, that I would redesign the labels to wrap-around the spine. This way, if the game are stacked vertically, back-to-back, game employees and parents would be able to identify the rating at a glance. This was my next design for the ESRB rating.

This design lets the M stand out more than the big white block around it in the other design. It blends in better when actually seen on the box. The colour bars are a bit distracting, and after feedback from several people, game employees and gamers, I'm reconsidering attaching colours to each content descriptor and instead, attaching a specific colour to each of the 6 ratings, like E for everyone and M for mature.  I also had an EB employee point out that the location on the spine that I placed the 'M' is where the developer's logo goes. This led to this new design:

This design is ALL red because that would be the colour at the top of the scale for severity. An E for Everyone game would be designed in all green, EC for Early Childhood would be a soft baby green or blue, and so on. Also, the colour is carried over to the spine without interfering with the spot that the game developer's logo would go, while still identifying the rating. I think this design is the best so far for integrating into the design of the back covers while still drawing attention to the rating and content descriptors.

Rough Prototyping

I did some paper mock-ups utilizing gold as well as red to draw attention, and embellished the front and back with my icon.  Some user-testing input was that the "M" was too big, the QR code should be on the front as well as the back, and that maybe something over the plastic, like a sticker, or something sealing the games would be valuable.

I went on to print this design for purposes of final prototyping. It used the red to indicate the warning and the gold to draw attention across all platforms. I did find a way to sneak a gold M onto the spine without interfering with the title and developer information. I also removed the gold stripe from the front and used it as a sticker over the cellophane instead.

Retail Environment

These are a few shots of the printed prototype in the actual retail environment. I spoke with both the employees and shoppers in a local EB and Futureshop. They were asked if it drew their attention more, if the scale made sense and if they had any useful advice on improving the design. The photos include placement next to current rated M games and placement in the "Family" section. Feedback from testing included:

"The M is too big and so is the QR code, but that's ok because it doesn't need to be that big."

"Anything that would help and explain it (the ESRB) to parents is good. We get dirty looks from the kids."

"One thing that would be helpful is letting parents know it is a CONTENT rating and not a difficulty rating. Lots of parents just think it indicates an age recommendation based on how hard it is."

"Check out Australia and Germany's ratings. In Germany, there's no killing. And no Nazis. You're not allowed to see Nazis there. And stuff gets banned in Australia, like all the time,  like Manhunt 2."

"The current black rating doesn't draw any attention, you have to really be educated, you have to be looking for it to see it's there. The red is a good choice. And seeing it on the spine is good."

"Having something on the spine will really help us organize. It would make it easy to see if one was in the wrong place."