Yesterday we posted news about the ESRB looking to hire full time content reviewers instead of the part time ones that they currently have on the payroll, and now the ESRB head Patricia Vance has responded as to what the new full time reviewers are all about and why they decided to head in that direction.

From the article:

The first ad for this new class of reviewers appeared on the GamerDad website. Naturally, GP requested the ESRB’s comment on the decision. President Patricia Vance sent us this:

After months of careful consideration, the ESRB will be switching from part-time to full-time raters in April 2007.

Having full-time raters will allow for each one to have greater experience actually reviewing content and recommending ratings, given the increased amount of time each one would spend doing it. This would provide each rater with a greater sense of historical parity for ratings, not to mention helping them to be more attuned to pertinent content and how it should be considered from a ratings standpoint.

The full-time raters would also be responsible for play-testing final versions of the game, time-permitting, which would allow for ESRB to play-test a greater number of games than it currently does. We’ll have more information available about these changes at a later date.

Read the full article over at gamepolitics.com