Organization:Entertainment Software Rating Association

Short description: Age and content rating system in Iran

Not to be confused with Entertainment Software Rating Board.

Entertainment Software Rating Association (ESRA)

Type	Self-regulatory
Industry	Organization and rating system
Founded	2007
Headquarters	Tehran, Iran
Area served	Iran
Website	esra.ircg.ir

former logo

The Entertainment Software Rating Association (ESRA) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings in Iran. The system was established in 2007 by the Iran National Foundation of Computer Games and has the status of a research project.

ESRA Rating marks

Marks		Rating	Description
		Ages 3 and over	This age is one of the ages in which children have a high desire to imitate adult behavior and one of the most important ages in the socialization stage is that the child has a great impact on the environment and internalizes the behaviors. in fact, the cornerstone of every human personality is laid at this age. what the child sees and experiences at this age has shaped many of his mental images and even influences his definition of beauty. many good and bad concepts are formed through the visual and auditory experiences of this period. watching games with traumatic content at this age can have a very serious and great impact on the child.
		Ages 7 and over	This category and its previous category have similar characteristics that they share in some limitations. among these similarities, the lack of personality of both categories and the lack of high level of knowledge and general knowledge can be noted. it is true that the child at this age has learned many new words and his vocabulary has increased, but because he does not yet know the meaning of many words and insults that culturally and age conditions are not possible to explain them to him, it is better to avoid putting games with inappropriate dialogues for him in this age category. cartoon violence should not be a problem for children if they are involved in playing this age suffering, as it can help to drain their excess energy. fear can also be mildly and normally placed in the content of these children's play to satisfy both their sense of excitement and cujankavi and prepare them to deal with such real situations in real life. at this stage, the child has come to a sense that he can understand the virtual concept of the game and not imagine a real life full of scary situations.
		Ages 12 and over	12 to 15 years old is the beginning years of adolescence. in this period, formal logical operations pave the way for the development of abstract thought, and the last structural changes of the psychological organization, which usually begin from 11 to 12 years old, end at the age of 14 to 15. this age is puberty age and biological changes and this is an important distinction from the previous age classes. considering that this period plays an important role in the formation of a person's personality, the existence of discriminatory concepts in the game can also create this attitude in individuals. play computer game and experience some violent movements virtually can drain some adolescents' emotions and respond to some of their needs. this is especially true of the action genre, because it requires a very high accuracy and speed of action that requires a lot of energy from the player. in the case of fear, there can also be a distinction between the world of reality and the fantasy world. considering that this period is also called identity crisis period and the most important questions of adolescents about what is the world and who itself, it is recommended to avoid showing games with ideological content for them because they have not yet reached the stage of personality stability and are susceptible to accepting many ideas opposed to social norms.
		Ages 15 and over	The final years of adolescence (15 to 18 years of age) are the time to meditate and contemplate and promote inner existence. exploring existence is an introduction to identity search. incidence of sexual desire and desire to communicate with the opposite sex, academic failure, substance abuse, delinquent behavior, depression, etc. some of the issues are adolescence. this age category, because it has more linguistic and cognitive skills and is socially exposed to more serious roles and choices, can have more freedom than the previous categories in the game. the formation of personality, the existence of freedom and exposure to various choices are among the characteristics of this category and its audit from the previous ranks. by entering this age category, individuals have achieved a great deal of self-definition and their personality has been formed, so they can play including inappropriate dialogues, fear, violent cartoon, fantasy and real play, and neutralize their negative effects with their awareness.
		Ages 18 and over	This age category is located entirely after the legal age, the person's personality is formed, the school period has ended and almost the perspective of one's life has been identified. this is his audition of his previous ranks, so it is anticipated that people in this age category can watch many computer game with different content and will not have any particular problems.

Content icons

Content Icon	Description
Tobacco and Drugs	This pictogram determines the intensity of the game's influence on audiences in the field of tobacco and drugs. one of the game scenes that increases the score of this pictogram is the presence of tobacco and drugs, the amount of repetition of existence or use of tobacco, etc. noted. the important thing that families should be careful about this pictogram is that due to the player's empathy with the main character of the game, the use of the main character of the tobacco increases the score of this pictogram compared to the use of non-main characters of the game.
Game Skills	This pictogram determines the skill required to play the game, and the audience will find it difficult to play the game according to the score for this pictogram. for example, it is possible to have received a category 3+ game (suitable for all ages), i.e. it lacks damaging content, but the style of play is such that playing the game requires high skill and is not suitable for beginner players. through this pictogram, families can prepare more suitable games for their children and young children.
Fear	This pictogram determines the severity of fear in each game. limitations of visibility and darkness, environments and ruin spaces, ambient noises with uncertain source, exposure to all kinds of monsters, sudden events, etc. one of the criteria that determines the intensity of the influence of fear elements on players. repetition and variety in the game's horror scenes increase the score of this pictogram. families whose children are experiencing stress and enduring anxiety can choose a more suitable game for their children by paying more attention to fear pictograms.
Violence	This pictogram determines the intensity of the violence in each game, and the higher the score, the greater the intensity of the impact of violent scenes on players. among the criteria that can be mentioned in the increase of the score of this pictogram are repetition and variety of violent and violent scenes, the amount of splashing and the volume of blood in the game, the use of various firearms, fights and conflicts from person to person, etc.
Language	This pictogram determines the severity of social anomalies in each game. among the criteria that increase the score of this pictogram are the type and rate of repetition of inappropriate words in the game, abnormal music and behavior outside the customs are also effective in increasing the score of social anomalies. if inappropriate words and behavior outside the custom are performed by the main character of the game, the intensity of the influence on the player will be greater due to his empathy with the main character.
Despair	This pictogram displays the amount of conveying the sense of despair of each game on the players. the absurdity and aimlessness of the story of the game, the hopeless events associated with the hero of the game and the tasks that make the player feel guilty in the game are among the criteria that convey a sense of despair to the player, and according to the severity of these criteria, the score of this pictogram also increases or decreases.