You go and pay some of the biggest mouths in the industry to do your talking for you.

It all started around 54 years ago when the CCA was created in response to “public concern” that was stirred up in the early 50’s. As a result we had the first self censorship in the entertainment industry. This also started a trend followed by movies\tv in 1968 and the gaming industry in 1994. What was the result of this rating? Well a bunch of letters most parents don’t pay attention to. I can almost gauruntee 99% of you reading this have either seen a R rated movie before you were 13 or played an M rated game before you were 17.

Probably the most popular topic in a gaming web comic is the ESRB rating system. Whether they are making fun of how the rating works or that parents will buy their kids whatever game they want without ever bothering with the rating. So what do those lovable politicians blame for exposing children to bad influences and making them turn to a life of sin? Video games of course. That is why I am so torn by hearing the ESRB has hired those lovable Penny Arcade guys. Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik are known for anything but being considered towards the public, whether is swearing in every other strip or creating the lovable fruit fucker.

The PA guys plan to create ads geared towards the actual consumers of the games instead of the public in general. The campaign is comprised of five print ads that include original characters representing the ages of various rating categories, and will be rolled out sequentially throughout the summer. The first ad features a girl around seven that loves video games and whose parents use the ESRB ratings to help them choose. The second ad introduces readers to the Andersons, a dad and son who play games together. The series progresses with characters of increasing ages and seeks to capture the way each age group views games and ratings.