Inspired by the Motion Picture Association of America's decision that tobacco use will have a much greater effect on a film's rating, Curmudgeon Gamer has done its own mini-investigation into how tobacco references have affected a game's rating.
According to statistics culled from the ESRB's website, only 3 out of 141 games with a tobacco descriptor ultimately earned an M rating, with the rest earning E (29 games), E10+ (18 games) or T (91) ratings. No Early Childhood-rated games have any substance references. The ESRB process uses "specially trained game raters" to decide the rating.
Though many can argue that these statistics do not count for the extent or realism of tobacco usage (e.g. Calling All Cars received an E but still has an "Alcohol and Tobacco Reference" descriptor), it should be noted that according to MPAA CEO Dan Glickman, 75% of films with "even a fleeting glimpse of smoking" received an R rating. Should games, the beacon of controversy they can be, hold themselves to similar standards?