A few things:
- Many (most?) ratings these days are self-assessed by the developer/publisher.
- The review process has been heavily streamlined through IARC, so you can effectively get ESRB/PEGI/etc simultaneously. Governmental ratings (like GRAC in South Korea) still require you go through the government agency – but some stores like Epic or Oculus can effectively do this for you – and even then it’s still self-assessed.
- Some of the storefronts offer help with ratings, in a way doing what a publisher would do, if you self-publish. You take a quiz to determine ratings and ask questions before the rating boards even know you exist.
- Ratings boards don’t typically play the game. Sample screenshots and descriptions can be included in some submissions, especially if there’s a grey area or the submitter is inexperienced, but it’s often just apply and get your cert.
Sorry you’re getting downvoted. I don’t know if I agree with you, but back in the golden ages of Reddit the rule was don’t downvote because you disagree, downvote because it’s a shit comment. I don’t think your comment was shit… I think we’ve brought way too much of modern reddit to lemmy.