TIGRS Revises Indie Rating Program

A few years ago, Daniel Kinney saw the opportunity to help further the sales of independent games by developing a rating system for them, an effort eventually known as The Independent Game Rating System. Another few years and a couple different designs later, Kinney has revealed the latest step for the program, which involves three easily discernable images and accompanying captions. Family Friendly games are marked with a smiley face, Teen Content with a winking smiley, and Adult Content with an angry-looking vampire. It's a wonderful idea in concept, but as some have pointed out, voluntary participation and the lack of any sort of regulation highlight potential problems. All it takes is one wrong label to turn the whole thing into the sort of witch hunt that made Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto a household name -- a tempting proposition for any struggling studio.