At the time of this writing, there is discussion of a possible rating system for games. The system would be managed by the government of the United States, and would basically rate games by their content and what audience they would be appropriate for, much the same as movies are rated.
This would be fine, except for the fact that the government would make this mandatory, and a $500 fee for each game would be imposed. While this doesn't effect larger software companies/corporations, the shareware game author stands little chance of making any money to replace costs for the creation of a game, not to mention being able to release it at all.
Shareware is traditionally low cost, offers little or no profit to the author, and provides a good testing ground for future professional programmers. There is a tremendous amount of shareware out for the Macintosh.
If a mandatory $500 fee was imposed, the shareware "industry" as a whole would suffer. While this fee only applies to games, there is a good possibility that the legislation could be extended to other areas of software, crippling shareware.
It is a foregone conclusion that software sells computers more than computers sell themselves. If shareware for the Macintosh is burdened, less of it will be available. Hence, the number of computers sold will greatly diminish (the greatest need for the Macintosh is not a faster processor, but more programs to run..the IBM-clone industry has a huge market of software to choose from, Mac owners are not as lucky). When there are fewer computers, there are fewer people to buy software, so the mainstream software industry will suffer.
You may not agree with all that I've said here, however, unless you're a closed minded software developer/corporate owner, you'll agree that imposing a fee will hurt the game aspect of the shareware industry.
This Game:
At the time of this writing, the national shareware groups have not provided a clear outline to describe and rate games. I know in the coming weeks one will be created, and this document will be modified, until then, please bear with the format of this description:
The game "Space Pebbles" is an arcade-style "shoot 'em up" game. The mouse is used to control a small spaceship. The object of the game is to defend a spacestation (in the middle of the screen) from the bombardment of objects similar to meteorites.
Twenty of these meteorites must be destroyed by the ship before the player can ascend to the next highest level. Each new level will have more meteorites that can travel at higher speeds.
There is no blood, no bodies, and no shrill or disgusting sounds in this game. If the spacestation is hit ten times in a single level, the spacestation will blow up, ending the game.
If a child is to play this game, the parent should decide upon the previous facts whether or not the child is mature enough to play this game. I cannot and will not declare a safe age for this game. However, I do believe that it is rather non-violent, and has an easy interface for gameplay.
Thank you for reading this document...
-Eric A. Drumbor-
Brown Wrapper Software
Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
