PEGI is now an enforceable law! Beware!
PEGI, or the Pan-European Game Information ratings system, is now to be legally enforced in the United Kingdom, meaning that any retailer who sell titles that have ratings of PEGI 12, PEGI 16 or PEGI 18 to children below the labelled age limit may be prosecuted. This replaces the previous system of ratings managed by the British Board of Film Classification.
There will be a lot of new things for parents to take note of with this ratings system, beyond the age restrictions, all packaging and boxes will also have diagrams that tells what the specific title includes – be it bad language, discrimination, drugs, fear, sex, violence, gambling and online gameplay including other players. That last bit may sound harmless compared to the others, but the online environment is something outside the control of the game makers, and warnings must be given that other players may not be so nice.
Simplified system
The BBFC system was first put in motion by the UK’s previous government as an outcome of the Digital Britain Report in June 2009, which reviewed the Bryon Report into Safer Children in a Digital World. This report highlighted:
Having a dual classification system and two sets of symbols often made things confusing for the consumer
and concluding that it is critical to change to a more uniform system. It was also clear that PEGI system often led to stricter age ratings than the BBFC.
With the move to a single ratings system, the aptly named GRA (Games Ratings Authority) – part of the Video Standards Council based in Hertfordshire – will be the responsible authority for rating game titles using the PEGI’s criteria:
- Games are rated for 12-years and over if they include non-graphic violence to human or animal characters, a slightly higher threshold of violence to fantasy characters or significant nudity or bad language.
- Games are rated 16-years and over if the depiction of violence or sexual activity looks the same as it would do in normal life. Drug and tobacco references also trigger the age limit.
- Games are rated 18-years and over if there is a “gross” level of violence likely to make the viewer feel a sense of revulsion.
PEGI Banned Titles
The GRA will also have the power to ban a title if necessary, however it has said it expects to only do this “very unique and rare situations”.
So far only two game titles have ever been put through a ban in the UK – Rockstar Games Manhunter 2 and SCi‘s Carmageddon. Both decisions were however overturned later. The GRA can also advise if titles are not suitable for younger children, but these are not legally enforceable – the restrictions being age 3 and age 6.
‘Shocking’ violence
To publicise the move, the group has relaunched its Ask About Games website with information to aid parents in making informed choices. The launch comes in the wake of editorials published by websites, Cnet, PCWorld and Rock Paper Shotgun that criticised the level of violence in some of the titles shown at last month’s E3 video games conference.
Game and Video Trailers also affected
The trailers for titles including, Far Cry 3, The Last of Us and Splinter Cell: Blacklist - in which the main character was shown shooting another person in the face at point-blank range with a shotgun – were highlighted as being instances where the level of violence had been “shocking”. The issue may become even more acute next year when Sony and Microsoft are rumoured to unveil next-generation versions of their consoles, which are capable of more detailed graphics.
Prof Tanya Byron, a consultant clinical psychologist and author of the report which led to the change in law, has stressed the positive benefits of the technology.
Video games can be a great educational resource that can also fuel children’s creativity,
It would be great to see parents taking an interest in their children’s video game playing. This can involve taking direct control of what games their children play at home, how they play them and for how long, through taking note of the PEGI ratings.
I’ve always considered that the judgement should be with the parents, as most of us grownup know that a birthday is just another day and you are certainly not any wiser, safer or smarter going from 17 to 18 than you were going from 11 to 12 or even 20 to 21. That said a 7 year old child should probably not be playing a PEGI 18 or even a PEGI 16 game.
What are your thoughts on this; is it a good move by the government to unify the ratings system so that it will be easier to classify content, or does it just represent stronger control over censorship and further restriction of freedom of choice and speech?
Let us know in the comments below.
on
What an incredibly pointless waste of money…
While I agree that a six year old should not perhaps be playing a GTA game in the latest gen graphics, this is not going to stop it. At all.
Parents will go out and buy their children GTA 6 or Resident Evil 5, and their is very little anybody can do to stop it.
Though this is going to become silly, moving game adverts to later nights means more interesting adverts but it’s just not going to work.
End of the day, kids will google it now its banned and be even more likely to get a parent to buy it.
on
Sadly I do not think PEGI will help parents who already don’t give a rats ass about what their kids play change their attitudes. They will just swipe their credit cards and let little Jonny and Suzy buy whatever game they want. And honestly if we do not teach kids about what violence is acceptable before they start gaming then it is not the game makers fault. Ratings to me are like warning labels on poisons. If you know your kid is not ready for such violence and care you will do your job as a parent without some one else stepping in. Laws are hardly ever for those who would follow them anyway and are often scoffed at by those who do not. I see PEGI as just another way to make people feel important, its ultimately up to people giving a damned about what their children play or see and now a days more still dont give a crap until their little demons do something horrendous then they blame the games their kids are glued to
ugh.
on
You forgot that most kids these days know how to bypass the government block on places like Piratebay and can from those places download a fresh copy along with instructions on how to do so for any type of console. (Not that I by mentioning this is endorsing or telling anyone how it can be done
)
on
they don’t really even need to do that anymore, all you need is your mum’s credit card and to lie about your birthdate on Steam
on
It does kind of suck for the retailers though, those on the high street are already being squeezed pretty badly.
on
I’m kind of curious to see how they will rate Social games, where the content isn’t the issue, but the players are.
on
We had a couple days where the retailer I worked at halted the sale of all MMOs because the Australian government had suddenly realised that MMOs didn’t have any age ratings (given the content was changing and the online aspect made it impossible to judge). That was a fun one to explain to customers :/
on
All online games involving a social aspect was previously given 1 step higher rating than its content due to the audience it attracted, I have no idea how it is now, but that was how I was explained it while also doing my mandatory games retail monkey internship, in a galaxy far, far away.
As for MMO’s or at least World of Warcraft, they themselves set their age rating higher than the authorities did. I was bored during one of those extended server maintenance days and actually read through their entire EULA. An achievement I care not repeating!
on
What a gigantic waste of money, and time both of the taxpayers and of the government and citizens of the UK.
Glad the ESRB isn’t enforceable in the US.
on
My experience as a games retail monkey was that any parents buying their kid a game rated about their age doesn’t give a flying Feck about the rating.
Some parents you’d look at handing over manhunt or condemned and the kid’s about 8 so you politely mention the rating on the game and they give you the death glare… or they completely blow up.
Thing is that you can’t assume the game is for the 8 year old in the shop with daddy. There could be older siblings, it could be a parental indulgence or it could be a gift for another. It’s tough and there’s no real way you can deffinately say you can’t sell the game to them.
Only stupid kids try to buy these games on their own :S