CTIA is a major wireless industry trade group and it’s announcing a rating system for apps so that customers/users/parents know when an app has sex or violence in it. The system will be administered by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, which has rated videogames for many years. Apple and Google, however, don’t seem to be on board with CTIA’s plans. Bloomberg quotes a Google spokesperson who says the company already has its own system for Android apps and its working fine. Apple had no comment but hasn’t embraced the system. Microsoft and all four major wireless carriers are participating. Microsoft has an app store for its own apps, AT&T, and Verizon have Android app stores.
The way these things will be rated is kind of interesting (from Bloomberg):
Under the CTIA program, developers submitting mobile applications will answer online questions including whether the app includes violence and sexual content, contains social networking features and permits sharing of user location data. Once the questionnaire is completed, the app will receive its rating within seconds, CTIA said in a statement.
So it’s self-reporting. If you want to pack your game with gore and then say it has none, you get an Everyone rating, although you then run the risk of complaints.
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