Introduction

In 1993 Sega of America created the Video Game Rating Council to rate all video games released for the Sega Genesis, Sega CD, Sega Game Gear, and Sega 32X. The policy was created in response to public criticism of the Digital Picture 's Sega CD 1992 game titled Night Trap and the announcement that the Sega Genesis version of ultra-violent arcade game Mortal Kombat would be uncensored. Depending on a game's content, the Video Game Rating Council would give a game one of the following ratings:

• GA (General Audience)

• MA-13 (Mature Audiences 13+)

• MA-17 (Mature Audiences 17+)

Before the Video Game Rating Council

From 1989 - 1993, Sega did not have a formal rating system, but did allow games to be released on a Sega system with blood and partial nudity in them. These games had to include a parental advisory label on them that was often in small print. Yet, if you look at the original game boxes and advertisements for Sega Genesis games such as Techno Cop , Storm Lord , and Splatterhouse 2 you will some reference that the game is intended for mature audiences.

While Sega allowed blood in games, its policy on nudity and sexuality was less clear. Sega did not allow nudity, and in fact sued Razor Soft when they tried to release Storm Lord for the Sega Genesis without drawing in some clothing for the nude female fairies in the game. However, Sega did allow female characters to appear in games with clothing that was revealing or sexually provocative.

Problems With the Video Game Rating Council

The Video Game Rating Council was a good idea, one that Sega of America is not given due credit for. However, by the time that the policy was implemented and tweaked it was already being phased out to make way for the [Entertainment Software Ratings Board]. Some of the major problems were as follows:

• The ratings were large enough to read, but unless you read the video game news magazines then you had no idea what the ratings meant. The educational campaign and efforts by toy stores to enforce the ratings started too late and for a while it looked like their might have been three different ratings system being used for video and computer games.

• The process by which a game got a rating was never transparent. It was never entirely clear who sat on this council, what standards did they use to rate games and how independent the Video Game Rating Council was from Sega of America.

• The rating system did not seem to impress critics of Mortal Kombat I and Night Trap. People within the video game industry saw it as a historical step, while people outside of the industry ignored it or saw it as a marketing gimmick.