One of the real problems in regulating video games is that people can't get over the idea that video games are for children. As a result, I think adults sometimes ignore the ratings in a way they wouldn't if buying a DVD; they figure that M must mean the game is appropriate for mature preteens or something.
It probably doesn't help that the rating scale is unfamiliar to non-gamers. Plus people aren't sure yet what to do about the effect of participation on the OK-ness of different sorts of material. Plus our culture's strange value set around the relative acceptability of sex, violence, and gore. I have to admit I'm sort of shocked that Diablo II is rated M. The ESRB isn't exactly keeping their powder dry there.
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It probably doesn't help that the rating scale is unfamiliar to non-gamers. Plus people aren't sure yet what to do about the effect of participation on the OK-ness of different sorts of material. Plus our culture's strange value set around the relative acceptability of sex, violence, and gore. I have to admit I'm sort of shocked that Diablo II is rated M. The ESRB isn't exactly keeping their powder dry there.