Deniable undeniability…

Posted by eternalduoae | Filed under Gaming, Opinion

So it came to pass that PEGI was given the legal right to rate games for the UK as well as most of the rest of Europe. And lo, the games industry said it was good. – Sacred texts of Lament, vol 2., Ch. 7, Page 249

I’ve written elsewhere about my misgivings over the whole BBFC vs PEGI games ratings systems for us in the UK market, so i won’t go into the reasons, but now the game is over and PEGI are the victors. However, to my mind it all seems a bit pointless. One of my issues with PEGI is that it’s a system that is so widespread that it doesn’t cater to each individual country’s sensibilities or customs…. what could be offensive in, say, Germany, wouldn’t cause an eyelid to flutter in France. It turns out that the UK government agrees with me, at least on some level, because they’ve announced that, while PEGI is the de facto ratings body for the UK, the Video Standards Council (VSC) holds the ultimate veto on whether a game or game content is allowed.

Now, this seems very silly to me.

On the one hand you have the BBFC… who provide a more thorough ratings process, who have experience in dealing with content that may cause offense to our culture and sensibilities and also in enforcing those bans or that censorship and who constantly do it in regards to film (and in the past games). They also use the universally understood film ratings system for games.

On the other hand you have PEGI who’s ratings system is less thorough in that it leaves it up to the developers/publishers to effectively rate themselves, who have a lot of experience in dealing with ratings (though they constantly give out higher age ratings than the BBFC ever did for the same games) but have no real knowledge of the sensibilities or potential offence of content within games. To combat this lack of knowledge the VSC have been given overall control on whether games will be banned or censored within the UK (regardless of PEGI classification) despite having no prior role within the UK legislature with regards to rating or regulating the content of film or games. Conversely, the PEGI rating system is quite convoluted with not only age ratings but symbols depicting various ‘watch words’ for content such as drugs or swearing.

So which method of regulation would you choose? Personally, having them all in one body makes more sense to me while having two bodies having to cover the same ground seems like a patent waste of resources:

VSC will exercise this new power independently of the PEGI system, providing a ‘fail-safe’ for the UK – protecting children through PEGI and addressing UK-specific sensibilities by refusing classification of any game which falls foul of the Video Recordings Act. This decision is the right one for consumers in the UK.

Yeah…. really, the right decision for who? I’m not so sure. This way there is a loophole that allows more censorship, more legal proceedings against developers/publishers from the public and potentially lower sales for games sold at higher ratings under the PEGI system.

I’m just glad i’m well over the 18 age limit.

Further reading:

http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/media_releases/6215.aspx

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/vsc-given-tough-powers-for-non-compliance-of-pegi-system

Permalink | June 16th, 2009

6 Responses to “Deniable undeniability…”

  1. The Lord of Leisure Says:
    June 27th, 2009 at 5:41 pm

    This is down to more control and who has it more than the concern over who has access to unsuitable content. This is not the only thing to come from a european body which tries to dictate to each country what can and can’t be done (their way) and it will not be the last thing they deem fit to supercede from other organisations already in place, doing the job already.

    It’s a bit too political for my tastes….

  2. Alex Gordon Says:
    April 2nd, 2010 at 5:50 am

    ха!!!классно!!!!…

    So it came to pass that PEGI was given the legal right to rate games for the UK as well as most of the rest of Europe…..

  3. Kylie BattName Says:
    April 12th, 2010 at 7:17 pm

    Я думаю, что Вы не правы….

    – Sacred texts of Lament, vol 2., Ch. 7, Page 249
    I’ve written elsewhere about my misgivings over the whole […….

  4. Kylie Batt Says:
    April 16th, 2010 at 12:03 pm

    Вы сами осознаете, что написали?…

    So it came to pass that PEGI was given the legal right to rate games for the UK as well as most of the rest of Europe…..

  5. Kylie Batt Says:
    May 24th, 2010 at 12:36 pm

    На мой взгляд, это интересный вопрос, буду принимать участие в обсуждении. Я знаю, что вместе мы сможем прийти к правильному ответу….

    So it came to pass that PEGI was given the legal right to rate games for the UK as well as most of the rest of Europe…..

  6. R2 Says:
    August 30th, 2010 at 2:43 am

    R2 http://rkingivou0tn.ACEHARDWAREE.INFO/tag/queen+R2+king/ : king…

    queen…

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