Tech —

Apple raises age limit for “violent” NRA target practice game

The revised App Store rating seems appropriate, but critics want it banned.

Virtual target practice seems better suited to ages 12 and up.
Enlarge / Virtual target practice seems better suited to ages 12 and up.

Following an uproar over a new target practice game for iOS from the National Rifle Association, Apple has changed its App Store age rating from a benign "4+" to "12+" for "Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence." The updated rating may seem more appropriate than the original rating, but some critics feel the game itself should be banned from the App Store altogether.

NRA: Practice Range, as we noted Tuesday of this week, focuses on using guns to shoot inanimate targets. Some opponents argued that the timing of the release was a bad idea considering the politically charged discourse surrounding the recent Sandy Hook school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. Others felt that—despite the game's frequent references to responsible gun use—the original App Store rating of "4+" or "no objectionable content," went too far.

"According to the NRA, the app is intended for children as young as age four," Gizmodo wrote earlier this week. "It's really just a point-and-shoot game, but the fact that it's meant for kids is straight up stupid."

Though the NRA declined to comment on the situation, the group likely wasn't trying to suggest the app was "intended for children as young as age four." After all, the age ranges associated with App Store ratings aren't based on developers selecting a particular age range. Instead, developers are asked to fill out a matrix of certain potentially objectionable content themes, and whether those themes appear in "infrequent/mild" form or "frequent/intense" form. The age rating is dependent on how developers fill out this form. Some infrequent violence or crude humor might get a "9+" or "12+" rating, while frequent violence or sexual content might get a "17+" rating. If an app contains none of these themes, it gets a "4+" rating.

How Apple breaks down its App Store ratings.
Enlarge / How Apple breaks down its App Store ratings.

The NRA and developer MEDL Mobile may have felt the game didn't really contain any violence at all since the in-game targets are inanimate objects in a virtual shooting range. That could explain why the app was originally submitted as having "no objectionable content" and ended up with a "4+" rating.

It's not clear whether it was Apple or the NRA who ultimately changed the rating to address these concerns. (Apple did not respond to our requests for comment.) Still, shooting 3D models of real guns at realistic targets—some of which have special areas for the head and heart, like those at actual shooting ranges—could certainly be interpreted as "realistic violence." And a "12+" rating, meaning the game is accessible to teens, seems like a reasonable age range to learn about gun safety. After all, kids this same age are already mowing down virtual human targets in games like Black Ops 2, despite that game's "M for Mature, 17+" rating.

Despite the rating change, some critics of NRA: Practice Range want the game banned, period. An online petition, which so far has over 1,800 signatures, calls on Apple to remove the game from the App Store.

"The National Rifle Association's new app NRA: Practice Range is an insult to the victims of gun violence, having been launched on the one month anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting," the petition reads. "Out of respect for the victims and to signal Apple's support for common sense measures to help end gun violence, we call on you to rescind your approval of this shameless new product."

Violent video games are often cited as a cause of increased gun violence; even the NRA itself pointed to "vicious, violent video games" such as BulletstormGrand Theft AutoMortal Kombat, and Splatterhouse in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shootings. And while the Obama administration has asked the CDC to study what effects violent video games may have on predilection to violence, so far there is little data to support a link between violent video games and actual gun violence.

Additionally, NRA: Practice Range claims to spread a little "common sense" about gun use, encouraging players to "always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction" and "always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use," for instance. It doesn't seem logically consistent to ask Apple to ban NRA's game while allowing countless others—some of which use virtual people as targets—to stand. Despite the controversy, it doesn't seem likely that Apple will remove the app anytime soon.

Channel Ars Technica