Regulators:
There are two main regulators in the UK that regulate the UK games industry, giving them ratings and classifications to ensure that games are only sold to ages that they are deemed suitable for. The two main regulators are BBFC and Pegi (the EU regulator). They each have different classification standards but are roughly the same and both have different methods of showing why they are classified the rating they are.
These ratings are to provide information to the buyer or parents to inform them what content is in this game, to let them decided if it is suitable for their parents.
PEGI-
Pan European Games Information-
This is what PEGI age rating system is described as:
“Age ratings are systems used to ensure that entertainment content, such as films, videos, DVDs, and computer games, are clearly labelled by age according to the content they contain. Age ratings provide guidance to consumers (particularly parents) to help them decide whether or not to buy a particular product”
It was launched in 2003, to aid parents in buying video games and to give them guidance on what games are suitable for their children. It is supported by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo making the body valid and their verifications legitimate.
Currently PEGI have rate just shy of 10,000 games.
Their aim is to provide classification to game developers and games, and provide a system and laws that govern what a game is classified as.
These are the classifications:
3 is the lowest form of classification, which is suitable for children over the age of 3, the highest is 18, which is only suitable for those over the age of 18.
There are guidelines to each classification on their website:
For example for a game to be rated 3 it must:
Only contain violence in a comical sense such as tom and jerry or bug bunny. The child should not be able to relate characters to real life characters, they should be fantasy, no bad language or anything scary, and there should be no nudity or sexual themes.
For an 18 age rating, the level of violence reaches a level deemed gross. They then provide images of why the game was rated 18.
From bad language to discrimination and sexual themes and use of drugs, or gambling are some of the many reasons games are rated 18.
PEGI also monitor interactive media.
PEGI as of 2011 have not banned any games in the UK , the previous body the BBFC banned 3 titles in the UK one title was then allowed as it was modified to be suitable for sale in the UK
| Originally refused certification in its uncut form due to excessive violence against pedestrians. It was altered to replace humans with zombies in order to circumvent this.[58] The restriction was later lifted and a patch released to restore the original content | |
| Was asked to edit as they were threatened as being objectionable. This was due to the interrogation scenes which were deemed very high in impact and could cause harm to the public. Thus the BBFC worked with the publishers to further mask these scenes despite the game already being the edited American release.[60] |
Although these games where initially banned they game developers edited the games so that the game could be released. This shows that the governing body imposes these laws and regulations and helps the developer to release the game and edit it to deem it suitable to UK
PEGI also work with the VSC ( vide standards council), who check the higher aged games from 12,16 and 18 to ensure they have been given the correct classification. They cover all aspect of the industry from the business side to the retail. They represent more than 10,000 retailers in the UK
People can complain in a number of ways. PEGI has an online complaints form which enables parents or players to complain about a games content. On the FAQ section the state how complaints are dealt with
“Complaints about ratings made by publishers or members of the public that cannot be resolved by the Administrator will be heard by an independent Complaints Board. This board includes experts in child protection and psychology, and, more generally, representatives of a wide cross-section of society. The decision of the Complaints Board on an age rating is final and the independent composition of the Board ensures a fair and consistent ruling. Complaints about rating issues can be made through this website.
“
http://www.pegi.info/en/index/id/26#question_8
So if a complaint cannot be resolved they must put the game in question to a independent body of specialists who will decided on the ruling if it should be banned or have a higher age rating.
Overall this body can affect developers in many different ways. If a game developer wants a classification of 3, they can talk and work with PEGI during the development process to ensure they will get the 3+ classification, and they wont include material that will make it a higher classified games. This can also effect developers that although are an 18 rated game , they need to ensure they do not put material in the game that could result in the game being banned. So either way this body will help the developers get there game to the public with the classification the developers wish it to be available too if the developers are happy with the classification.
TIGA.org: The independent games developers association. They are a trade body made up of real members of the industry.
Tiga is an organisation that aims to provide help for game devs in the UK , and to make the UK
The campaign for tax breaks for games developers, and to develop the industry to the best it can be. The also aim for positive coverage about games in the media industry, by working closely with BBC and SKY and other news broadcaster to show how valuable the industry is to the UK and show games in a positive light.
TIGA offers services to game developers grow their company in a number of ways from helping them develop the game, to publishing if they require any help, this community will help. They can help with the laws surrounding videos games such as intellectual property and copyright. Being a member of this union gives a lot of benefits such as discounts and financial incentives for PR, and for any other assistance it can provide. They can also provide law help if you have created a game and if someone steals characters or such things they can provide help to patent your ideas and give assistance in what to do.
BAFTA: British academy of film television and arts : They are a charity aswell meaning they are a non profit organisation.
“BAFTA is the leading independent charity in the http://www.bafta.org/the-academy/
So the idea of BAFTA is to promote and develop forms of art in the UK, most popularly know by the BAFTA awards which are awarded to the Best film, tv, games and animation in the UK.
In the games industry a BAFTA can be given for Best Game, Best soundtrack, Best Artistic achievement. Best family game and best game play the list goes on. This is all to raise recognition to the best games in the industry and try to publishes and develop the industry as is people see a game that have a “best game play” BAFTA you may want to buy it as it was voted the best game.
BAFTA, raising money for certain charities buy giving film merchandise for them to auction off to charities such as the British heart foundation and other such organisations. So they will get merchandise from a film, then a charity will apply to be given this item for any number of reasons, if the charity is picked they will receive them item to auction of to raise money for the charity.
Media ownership & monopoly
In terms of media ownership and a monopoly this refers to who owns the company’s for example, if one publishers such as EA owned all or the majority of game developers this would be unfair for a number of reasons. It would create a un competitive industry where EA is the most dominant company in the industry meaning that as EA is the bigger company it will be able to out finance the small companies as it will be earning more revenue as it will have more companies under its belt almost driving other companies out of business because they cannot afford to compete with them. It will also mean that there will be no diversity in the industry, one company will have a say on how each developer is run, if they were owned by individual publishers, they would be able to develop the way they want to and this would create a competitive market as each developer would be fighting to get big publishers driving the quality of the games up as people want to make the best product they can whereas is a monopoly happens the developers will know the will be published so the games will not be as higher standard.
This also leads me onto the customer’s choice, as one company could own all the other small companies the customer would not have any choice in what they could buy, it would just be from one person meaning they only had one choice to buy from which is unfair as you should be allowed to choose what you want to play, but if only one company is making games you will have no choice but to buy those games.
This is why a regulator is needed they can stop other companies buying other small or larger companies to stop the market dominance, to keep it at a level playing field so everyone has a chance to make money and develop, without being squashed by the bigger companies. They will take into account the points from both sides and produce a verdict on the topic.
Censorship & taste and decency
Another thing regulators must control are censorship and taste and decency, firstly censorship is stopping you from seeing something, this can be swear words, nudity. But it also covers a wider spectrum this can result in censoring games and banning them. They must decide what should be allowed to be show and what should not be allowed to be show. This come under the taste and decency this varies between countries but as a whole it is based on what is acceptable in that country, such as over here things considered to gory or violent such as killing civilians or pedestrians are not allowed or deemed to higher ratings as this is tasteless and it not politically correct. This can also include such things as crossing the line with certain scenes such as rape or hurting children. The regulators must set the foundations based on the countries values and judge what should be allowed in that country and does it go too far, and stop or ask the developer to change certain points in the game.
Protecting under 18’s:
The idea of censorship is to protect people under 18, as when you turn 18 you a deemed an adult so you can make your own decisions. So the regulators are there to protect the under 18’s and make sure they do not get scared or shown anything that can cause long term problems if they are shown graphic scenes that could cause long term damage, such as if a 3 year old plays a game where you kill innocent people or a game that is designed to scare this could cause the child to be mentally scared, or think that it is ok to do such things. There was a case in the USA of two boys who played Manhunt a game where you kill innocent people for points, and they thought it was okay to do that, and they went on a rampage and killed 4 people, this resulted in it being banned in the UK. From this case we can see how important protecting under 18’s are as they may not be old enough to understand certain themes, and parents may not what their children to see things, so the age ratings are there to reassure parents that aslong as their child is that age then the themes won’t be a shock to them.
Protecting intellectually property
Another sector that is very important and must be governed is the intellectual property, if you take and image, make a film, make a piece of music , create an character anything you create, that is yours as you made it up, and if someone steals that ideals and makes money or claims it as their own, they someone needs to be able to stop that person from stealing your image or character or game idea and give you the credit, bodies like PEGI and TIGA provide assistance for these they can advise how to go about legal action or ask the person to pay a fee for using your property as you own the rights to it. This is very important to developers as if they create a new game idea with characters you want your idea to be unique and for it not to be stolen, so others can make money of It, so with protecting your property this ensures that you only make money from it and can authorise and sell you idea as you wish. Also this means that developers can but ideas from other people to use in their games such as if they wish to use a book character they must buy the rights or if they wish to use music they must buy the rights to the must. This system is 100% needed in the games industry to ensure people’s ideas are safe and cannot be copied or stolen.
Impartiality, accuracy and fairness
This final section ensures the developers are not biased, makes sure they are accurate and fair. Being impartial means you are on both sides the regulator must be fair to all companies and not show favouritism to any parties. In this industry and example would be if PEGI rated one game an 18 and another game a 16 that has the same content, this would be unfair as one developer would be allowed to sell to more people.
In terms of accuracy, PEGI must ensure all claims within games are correct and all material that is said to be real and accurate is actually real and accurate such as historical dates, this is so it does not misinform the player to wrong information.
Finally fairness, they must be fair in ruling their decisions, this goes back the impartiality, but also if a developer makes claim be fair and understanding to both parties.
Distinction Task 3
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