The tragic events of the past weekend – back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio leaving at least 31 dead and more than 50 wounded – has reignited the debate over the alleged correlation between video games and violent behavior. "We must stop the glorification of violence in our society," President Trump said in remarks from the White House on Monday. "This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace." Thousands subsequently turned to social media to challenge this claim, citing easy access to assault-style weapons without background checks as the core problem. Video games are immensely popular in several countries that do not see mass shootings, many noted.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board is not a government entity. In fact, it was created in the 1990s specifically to keep Congress out of the video game industry, at a time when lawmakers were loudly condemning the infusion of digital violence in popular culture. The ESRB was modeled after the film industry's MPAA, doling out ratings for video games in North America. Back in the Clinton era, there were no federal laws requiring publishers to display ratings on their games, and there still aren't today. The ESRB oversees the entirety of the video game ratings system, from AAA to independent developers and specialty shops like iam8bit, Special Reserve and Limited Run Games (which release physical editions of digital indie titles).

Since their creation, the ESRB's ratings have changed on occasion, but have more or less remained constant for several years now. The current rating categories are EC, E, E10, T, M, and AO. Across the industry, both EC and AO are relatively uncommon compared to the other three categories. Although games with this rating are appropriate for everyone, they'll probably only appeal to the youngest kids in your household. That said, according to the FTC and the ESRB, E-rated games may contain "minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or the infrequent use of mild language."