How To Write A CV and Covering Letter For A Game Tester Role

By Jonathan Petts

Task 5

A very key part in the interview and application process for a job is your resume or CV and your covering letter. This shows your employers you key attributes and what work you have you done, you qualifications and your passion for the job, to basically sell yourself to the employers to make them think they want to you.

Presenting your self is also very important in non-verbal ways and in verbal ways. Such as:

Non-Verbal-
Have a good popsture - do not slouch in youre chair sit up straight and do not cross your arms this give is a negative attitude.
Have a firm handshake - this is a must that can be applied to all forms of life
Ensure you dress well - a suit or smart clothing to show you are dedicated and show you want this job
Make sure you are clean  - have a showrr brush your teeth well, and do not go out and party or get a hangover the night before, if you are well presented this shows you are a good person, and first impressions are key if you turn up like a mess you wont be hired.


Verbal -
Do not swear - try to use your best language this shows good etiquete
Try to be polite - Remember pleases and thank you, thank them for the interview

First impression are everything put yourself in the employeers shoes, you want the best person for the job and want the person to take the interview seriously.

For example I will show you how to create a resume for a role as a games tester and take you through the process of writing and what you will need.

Firstly you need to know how to lay out a CV things shows you key points you experience and how you want to develop and basically sell yourself to the employer.

Firstly you will need to give your basic information:

Name

Address

Phone numbers

Email

Website

DOB

This gives the employer a name to call you numbers and ways to contact you and if you have a website then can go and look at your work as we are applying for a game testing role if you make videos reviewing games or find bugs glitches and play a lot of games and post them this would be a big help as they want to see you have a passion for this topic, and that you already have an understanding of this role and how to do It.

We now need to get into the personal profile, you need to talk about your personal aims such as I love playing videos games and it would be a dream to test them for a living. Such as you wish to gain experience as a game tester and progress to become a more senior game tester one day. 

Then we need to talk about our qualifications, say where you have studied what level of qualifications you have received and if you got A-B-C’s or Merits or distinctions.

So for example

West Kent College

Tonbridge

Kent
2010-2012

BTEC National Diploma in Media

Subjects studied:

Bethany School         

Goudhurst

Kent

2005-2010

GCSE

GCSE Grades: History A, Maths C, French C, Geogrpahy A Etc..

This shows your level of qualifications and shows your level of knowledge and yhour ability to learn develop. It shows an knowledge of the subject or a general understanding of the subject you are wishing to get into, in our case it is not as needed as there are not qualifications but it is still important as it shows you can work well and learn new things well.

Then you need to talk about yourself your experience and what you have worked on :

My key qualities are …

I’m skilled in…

I have completed work experience at…

Such as for a month I worked at criterion games a runner getting software and delivering packages to people who required them, this means I have an understanding of how a games company works, if you have actually had any games testing experience, such your blog or YouTube has a large following and a developer send you a beta copy to post reviews and gameplay and report bugs, this is ideal if you do this as it shows you are dedicated to you work if you post a lot, it shows you are already in the industry and you are serious about it.  Give links and example of your work.

Give details of who you worked for and their contact detail if they wish to contact them for a reference.

Next you need to talk about your skills:

This is where you need to shine show how well suitable you are, such as if you run a blog or youtube say how you write long posts about the review of games gives links give peoples feedback provide more links to your work. Talk about how are very good at playing games such as game achievements, did you find any bugs in games knowone else did, and reported it and the developer fixed it. These are the kinds of things you need to tell them, are you good at presentations can you hold meetings and talked to lots of people, and describe things well so issues can be fixed give any speeches you have made this well help.  Any skills you consider valid or are proud of to show why you are a fantastic individual will be ideal.

Next we talk about what interests you this just gives the employer an idea to what kind of person you are this is very important to show you are not just a solid games and you need to show you have other passion such as film making, you love being creative anything you do such as a captain of my local football team will make you seem like someone who could work well in their team.

Finally provide actual references to previous employers, so they can contact them and find out first hand what you are like to work with. You can put “ I can supply these on request” or if you wish to supply them to stream line things put name of people, such as your manager, ways of contacting them like address or email or even phone.

Also do not forget to add you contact details at the bottom, saying if you have any questions I will be quick and happy to reply with phone numbers and email addresses.

Covering letter:

The covering letter is just as important as the CV this is the key selling point you say why you are the ideal employee, a CV is just listing the facts, a Covering letter is saying why you need the job, why you are suited to the job and to make them want to hire you.

This guide will show you how to write a perfect covering letter.

Firstly give your information, and set it out like a letter with you information and contact details.

Then say why you are enquiring and it would be a good idea to thank them for reading your covering letter and taking them time to read it.

You will want to attach your CV to this, and say I have attached my CV to this.

Now talk about why you are interested in the job, say why you want it why is is perfect for you, they will want to know that you will work hard, say how you have proven this by running a popular games review and blog would be idea. You will also want to say why the company your applying for is the ideal working place for you, and how your admire the company and it would be a dream come true.

Now talk about previous experience you have had, talk about how you enjoyed it so much and it felt like the perfect job for you, you can talk about the work you did and show examples of this.

You  will want to talk about why you are suited to the job, you may want to talk about how you have a keen eye and you can notice things in games that people don’t usually notice, and you can stay very focused as for a job as a games tester you may spend a whole day playing one level looking at every pixel and going places you don’t even need to go to see if there are any glitches or issues in the game.

Now I will show you my examples of my CV and Covering letter applying for this Job:

http://www.ttgames.com/jobs/

This is the jobs description:

We have an ongoing recruitment process that pools applicants and contacts them when games testers are next required. If you would like to be considered the next time we hire, please email your CV and a covering letter to jobs@ttgames.com.

The role would be situated at our office in Maidenhead, and applicants must have:

- The ability to work both Early Shifts and Late Shifts
- Excellent verbal and written English
- Good knowledge of the games industry and current consoles
- Proficiency in PC applications (including Microsoft Office applications)

If you are re-applying, then please state this in your cover letter.

Curriculum Vitae

Jonathan Petts

Full Name                  Jonathan David Petts

Address                      (Address Here)

Phone numbers         01892 542947 

Email                          jdpetts@gmail.com 

Website                       wannabecinematographer.wordpress.com

DOB                           10 March 1994

Education and Qualifications:

2005-2010                   Bethany School, Goudhurst

                                    GCSEs                       

                                    Grade A          History, Maths,French, Geography, RS

                                    Grade B          Science, English LIT LANG

2010-2012                   K College, Tonbridge

                                    HND  Media Production

                                    Grade              Merit

Experience:

I have set-up a successful blog and YouTube channel that has 300,000 viewers a week, in which I review video games across all platforms, I show reviews, glitches, bugs and montages.

I have tested games for a number of small indie developers’ in the Kent area very successfully.  They contacted me because of my blog, and felt I was suitable because I showed I had experience and could give positive constructive feedback.

I have been involved in a number of Alpha tests for Sony games.

I can provide contact details for two referees.

Jonathan David Petts

(Address here)

TT GAMES

34 Crossbrough

Maidenhead

Kent

TN97BP

Dear Sir/Madam, 

I would like to apply for your open position of Game Tester. I saw your advertisement online, and am very experienced and interested in this field. I enclose my CV. 

For the past two years, I have been working as a Game Tester for Sony Products as well as indie game developers in the Kent area . In that time, I have gained considerable experience in testing new and existing prototypes for game sales. I have been instrumental in the design and implementation process, and have added much appreciated feedback and analysis to this end. I have always been very technically inclined and love computer games. 

I feel your company would be ideal to work for as I have played many of your games and actually reviewed them on my blog and Youtube.  Your offices are local to me and I would have no issues getting to and from your studios. I have always wanted to work for a studio and I feel I can be a real asset to your company.

I would really like to meet with you in person to discuss this opportunity .You can contact me on 01892542947 or my email address.  I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours faithfully  

Jonathan Petts  

Something else that is very important is a showreel, this shows a combination your work in a short video to summarise your capabilities and show what quality of work your produce as then the potential client can make a decision based of how good he/she thinks your work is.  You can easily give a link to people of put it on a CD/USB stick that you can hand out to people.

I have created a showreel, this was a previous showreel as my abilities have developed and moved on and worked on other jobs I have updated it, but this is a showreel that has already been posted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PQufk_z0kE

In this example i could give client this link and they could see the work I have done. Since i posted this video I have worked with other clients and other projects just this has not been posted yet.

Job Roles In The Games Indsutry

Jobs and roles in the Computer Games Industry By Jonathan Petts

There are many jobs in the computer games industry across all fields from Creative Roles to Technical to Production Management. Each of these roles has a key part in the company and the development of the latest video game the company produces. Roles may change and the size of the role may change depending on the size of the company, such as a large company may have many jobs for one role, and roles just have one person doing it. In smaller developers many roles may be occupied by one person, so someone could be a lead programmer and project manager, depending on the skills this person has.

Currently there are just under 9,000 employed in the UK game industry as of 2009

(http://www.skillset.org/games/industry/article_2194_1.asp)

Two thirds of this number are in the development and creation, then the other third are in publishing.  In terms of employment many are actually full time, games take years to create, although some roles are not needed throughout the whole process such as location manager depending on the game you may send out people to scout out locations to base there game, they will then take photo make detailed reports for the creative side to have enough information to create an accurate representation, this role is only needed at the beginning of the development, this is why in many small developers the producers and game designers may become the location managers, as they know what is needed and to keep costs down roles are merged, in larger companies as many games can be developed at once, this role could be on going, and could be a more permanent role as they could go from developer to developer as a free lance or an in house. This is just an example of  a job role can be early, but yet essential. Other just such as full time are the most common, others who are not directly part of the company may be employed such as the game testers who test the final stages of the game and make comments to ensure it is fit for release.

So there is a wide range of jobs from small jobs, to big full time multi role jobs. This industry is very unique in the way it is run, it is almost like many people working on one painting someone may be good at drawing certain things, and some could be providing the canvas, but all together they work to produce a piece of art.

The main roles in the industry for computer games are as follows  and what they do:

All jobs descriptions are found on

http://www.skillset.org/games/careers/profiles/article_5284_1.asp

Game Designer

This roles is one of the most important they devise how the game is made, the plot, the characters the setting, structure, modes of play, extra features, selling points points of difference.  Basically the whole idea for the game is down to the game designers. These people are employed by publishers and independent companies, some may stay with a company for a whole series of games or may be used for a one off game.

Programmer

Programmers bring the game to life, they write the code for the controls, the elements the AI (artificial intelligence) they put the game together and write thousands of lines of code, to ensure the game runs correctly and test code and fix bugs that are alerted to them but game testers. These people have to be very experience in this industry and usually have years of experience behind them. They must also work very closely with the game designers and animators to ensure the whole game is knitted together how they producers and game designers envisioned the game.  Programmers can usually develop on to the lead programmers.

External Producer

This person does not usually work in hosue in the studio but there role is too ensure the game is delivered on time and successfully. They will work with publishers and marketing. They usually are working on more than one title at a time so this can involve lots of travelling and changing titles at short notice.  They must ensure “the publisher has all the relevant information required to make the game as commercially successful as possible”
http://www.skillset.org/games/careers/profiles/article_5284_1.asp

Lead Programmer

This role is pretty self explanatory, they manage the engineering teams and programmers assign them tasks and certain roles to write code for certain parts of the game from controls to the game engine. They also develop the technical specifications with the game designer and the lead artists the ensure the game is what they want. They must also find solutions to issues that arise and ensure that the different builds of the game are fixed for the next build. They must also ensure the project moves forward this means working closely with the project manager to deliver code and there work on time.  This is not an entry level role, this a senior role and a lot of experience in the industry is needed.  Degrees in maths and physics and in computer science are usually required.

Artist

These people create all the visual elements from textures in the game to the characters and how the game looks form guns to props interface components.  They also create concepts and storyboard the story for the game.Some games looks for a super realistic look where as other want a fantasy look or a look the game designer wants. This means you need to be very creative and be a very good artist to adapt to any situation. Within this role many sub roles are available form 3d modelling, to textures and environments, there are a lot of roles for this. But some are done by one person depending on the size of the game. Most people get the jobs by having degrees of HND and large profolios of there work so the producers can decide if their style if right for the project, they may also have experience from previous work.

Creative Director

This role is very important and has a very key role in the production. They make key and big decisions about how the game looks, sound and plays. This role is not always employed by studios this role is taken up by other members of the team, this just depends on the size of the studio they may employ multiple people to do this role.

This role can be split between programmers, designers and producers. This role is a new role and evolved out of the producers role to take more weight of them.  No direct qualifications are need, but previous experience in the industry would be required from artistic vision to the ability to inspire others.

Technical Artist

This role works between the artists and the programmers. To ensure all elements can be integrated into the game, giving each of the respected roles information of what if needed and what can be changed. They must set up and maintaining the art production workflow as well as making decisions about which art packages should be used. They are also tasked with implementing new ideas and technologies to the working environment, they can also train others for new ideas and programs that are implemented. One large part of this role is making sure they have the latest software and hardware such as consoles and computers to ensure they up working the best of there ability. This is not an entry level job, usually lots of experience is required to do this role, between two and five years experience is required in the industry to take up this role.

Most of the qualifications that are required for this role are degree’s in some form of art, or a technical subject and a few years experience.

QA tester

This role is vital but yet considered easy, they must test the game and find bugs and glitches in the game to make sure when the game is shipped it is 100% playable and it will satisfy the player. There role is to test the game and rely information to the game designer and programmers. They also act as the games first audience so if certain game elements they feel do not work they can rely this information, so a decision can be made about the idea.

It is considered to be and easy job but a lot of discipline is required, they are responsible for the games quality to ensure there are no massive issues and to alert people to these issues, such as spelling mistakes and copyright issues.

No qualifications are required but a passion for gaming and a little programming knowledge is required, and good English skills to write reports about the game andf the ability to express yourself well. They must also have good computer skills.

Lead Artist

Much like the lead programmer, this roles involves controlling the artists they must assign roles to the artists form 3d modelling to possible location management such as going out to places and seeing if they would be suitable for the game, basically the location managers role.  They also work with the game designers to get the whole look of the game planned and oversee the whole development of the visual elements. They produce much of the initial artwork such as characters and storyboards themselves. They also research and tests out different modelling, texturing, animation, rendering and lighting techniques and tools appropriate to the games technology, with input from the Lead Programmer. Apart form 5 years experience in the industry for this role degrees in fine art or graphics are required. They must have a portfolio of there work from previous places of employment and demonstrate good leadership skills and the ability to motivate.

Animator

Animators are required to create the movement and behaviour of elements in the game form characters to vegetation and scenery environmental effects. They use specialist programs to develop these movements and scenes. Well animated elements bring the game to life, giving the game a realistic feel to elements in real life such as the movement of grass or tree’s and realistic movement of people walking.  This job is usually a full time role as it is required through out the whole production and is a series is created they are usually required for the second game. They work closely with the programmers to ensure there elements can be implemented into the game.

Degrees in animation or computer science and a very good art level are required plus a good knowledge of the programs that are used, they must have a good understanding about animation principles and have a good portfolio of there previous work and what they are capable of doing. 

Assistant Producer

This role works closely with the games producer to ensure they game is delivered on time and to the highest possible level. Usually they will focus on certain areas of the game assigned to them by the producer.  This could involve communications between developers and publishers.  This is a very busy role in making sure the game is made on time and ensure all departments are on the same wave length and know what they are doing.

There are not direct qualifications needed , but previous production experience is needed good time management good communication skills and leadership skills are needed and a passion for the industry. There are short courses available around the UK at colleges to start you off and give the ability to get a job as a producer.

Project Manager/ Producer

This roles is much like the other roles that ensure the game is produced on time and within budget. They control the financing of the game and other resources for the project such as new computers this means working with the games designer and lead artist. They need to make sure the games vision is maintained and solve any issues that arise. As always there are no specific qualifications required for this role – experience is the key. Project Managers need to be able to demonstrate a track record gained across the whole life cycle of a project.

Level Editor

The level editor creates and implements key elements to the story including landscapes, buildings and objects to make the game enjoyable. They must work with the game designer to ensure the characters and visual elements are used correctly and that the story works well with the levels and tasks the player is required to do. They develop the challenges for these levels and the actions they must do to proceed to the next part of the game, they also implement achievements in game rewards to the game. They must also devise the atmosphere in the game to absorb the player in the game.

There are no specific qualifications required for Level Editors, but most entrants to the industry are now graduates. Degree subjects vary, but might include a design, engineering or software development element. They must be able to use programs such as 3ds max and maya to put the game and elements together, and learn how to use the in house tools. They must have good artistic skills to put the their ideas onto paper.

Brand Manager

This role is very important and they must basically advertise the game and create a good brand image to create hype for this game to ensure high sales of this game. They must work with the developers and publishers to create ad campaigns they must develop long term plans for the game, and deal with the press and go to game conventions and show off the game.  They must work very closely with the production teams and devs to ensure the right image is portrayed, and the advertising works well.

Experience is the key. Product Managers need to be able to demonstrate a track record gained across the whole life cycle of a marketing campaign. They must have good management skills to organise events and good social skills to talk to many different people and give a positive vibe about the game to ensure it sells well.

Audio Engineer

This role involves creating the soundtrack and sound for the game such as gun shots the spoken parts by the actors playing the characters. They must be able to compose and conduct the soundtrack and organise high quality tracks and sounds for the game. They work very closely with the artists and game designers to ensure there vision about the game and the characters are created for them.  Good audio is the key it can invoke fear, happiness, action, and many other emotions so this role is very important to ensure the game engrosses the player and makes it interesting.

Sound degrees and qualifications are required and a good portfolio of previous work and have a good knowledge of the programs used such a logic studio and have a good standard of musical knowledge to produce good audio.

How to get these jobs:

This depends on what role you want, for example some roles require lots of education such as programmers you must have multiple degrees and a lot of work to show what you can do, others roles depend on you experience and skills such as selling ideas to people and the ability to manage others. But where do you find these jobs? And get the skills for them.

Education:

There are many universities that offer degrees for programmers and art degrees such as:

http://www.derby.ac.uk/computing/gaming

The university of Derby offers:

BA in programming

BA in modelling and animation

BA in Games production

They also offer ways into the industry they have previous professionals who can offer assistance to help them get a job, but the qualifications offered are the required ones to get into programming, modelling and production. This is what the university says about its link with the industry

“Derby is at the centre of a network of games studios spanning the East Midlands region. Here at the University we have direct links with many of these studios, along with a number of other software development companies, including Microsoft.

Our current placement students are receiving great reviews from their companies in industry which include Lionhead, Blitz, Kuju, Eurocom and Monumental.”  

http://www.derby.ac.uk/computing/gaming/industry-links

This shows that they have ability to go straight into a job.

A London based college seen here:

http://london.qantm.com/en-gb/course/3470/Game_Design_+_Development_Diploma_Details_-_Full_Time

Offers a Game Design + Development Diploma for the ages of 17 and up this is more a starter course to get you on the right lines, so if you want to get into the industry you need to start of with basic courses to help you understand the basics then you move onto a degree or if possible straight into a job.

You will be trained to a high level of industry standards to give you skills necessary to get a job in this field.

For my last example this university offers an 8 semester course:

http://www.devry.edu/degree-programs/college-engineering-information-sciences/game-and-simulation-programming-about.jsp

In game simulation it will give you a BA Hons. The university gives a detailed understanding of what kind of job you could get after completing the course successfully.

• “Game Developer: Decide the mission, theme, and rules of the game, laying out small sections of the game and devising puzzles for players to solve or enemies to defeat.
• Game Programmer: Control the speed and placement of art and sound. Specialties within this field include engine, artificial intelligence, graphics programmers, and tool programmers.
• Military Simulation Programmers: Help analyze, design, integrate, and test real-time simulation control systems for aerospace defense and technology training. Turn combat-style games into military simulations and explore the future of weapon technologies and new battle scenarios.
• Crime Scene Investigation Software Developer: Develop technology that gives investigators the ability to view a crime from every possible angle through interactive reconstruction programs.
• Corporate Training Software Designer: Create training plans and programs for almost any professional industry from healthcare to technology, providing strategies to ensure that employees are prepared to do their jobs well.”

http://www.devry.edu/degree-programs/college-engineering-information-sciences/game-and-simulation-programming-career-opportunities.jsp

To obtain these jobs you must do many things such as go on company websites and see if they are currently recruiting, you can looking in magazines  for jobs or jobs hunting websites, you will then go for interviews and they will decided if you are suitable for the job.

For example:

https://jobs.ea.com/jobs/viewjobs.aspx

This is the site for the jobs for Electronic arts, it gives you list of types of jobs you can then select a location to work and the job role you wish to have, it then gives a detailed explanation of what you need for this role and a run through of the application process.

But jobs develop as you gain experience you will get a great understand of how your jobs works you could be a trainee programmer but after a few years experience the skills you have learned could lead to a job as a lead programmer if you stay with a company long enough or gain a good reputation.

Jobs can be sound of sites such as

http://www.careersarcade.com/latest-jobs/2011/4/27/producer-criterion-games-se-england.html

This jobs is for a job at Criterion Games in Guildford. It gives a job description and the ability to apply. It says what you job will involve and says what successful candidates will require here is an example:

• Have a good solid Project Management background and extensive industry experience, having shipped at least 2 games above 80% metacritic.
• Practical knowledge of a variety of project management methodologies applied on a wide variety of projects is required. Experience with an Agile methods (e.g. Scrum) and tools is a distinct advantage.
• Experience of managing staff is required, including hiring, regular review and feedback, annual appraisals and dealing with performance issues.
• Games development requires a high degree of flexibility in approach and a successful candidate will be able to balance structure/process with the needs of a creative and dynamic environment.
• Be educated to a degree level (or equivalent)

So they are many ways to get a job in this Industry it is all about looking on developer websites, for jobs applying and going to lots of interviews, you can find jobs on jobs hunting websites or get a job through a friend who could of referred you or you may get a job through college after work experience or being a trainee.

But not only is finding a job something that needs to be taken into account, we also need to look at how can I progress within these companies, how can I go higher in the company and what do these paths entail?

http://jobs.next-gen.biz/article/321/

This article here is very helpful as it talks about how to work your way up the gaming ladder,  from this I learnt that a new Developer (programmer) can earn up to £18,000 and £24,000. Something else this article also got me interested in was making sure your skills can be used in many other sectors. So being able to code different things and work on many types of projects. Pretty much if you have and art ability then you can work in a whole range of fields.

So once you have got a job and your working hard to move up in the company I found an interview with a game developer called Jagex.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWMiQdbtSrM&feature=plcp

It is very long but at numerous points I learnt alot, the man called "Mod Chris L" talks about how he started in Q and A questions and answers in the company so bug fixing he describes it, then he said in the afternoons he would play with code and develop things for this game, after a while he got noticed and the team put him into a developer role meaning he could make things for the game, after a short while he was developing things in his spare time and looking at the code, as the years went on he became a team leader for a few ideas he had and now he is a development leader for many parts of the game.

This shows that if your skills can cross to different parts such as creativity to create the ideas, coding to bring them to life this will get you noticed as he was only a beta tester there was nothing major about him, but he took the time to learn about it and he went up in the company through using his skills in many other ways and tried to stand out with unique ideas that the players would like.

Regulators In The Games Indsutry

By Jonathan Petts

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-

These are the EU regulators and classifiers for Europe, there website is http://www.pegi.info .

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:

http://www.pegi.info/en/index/id/33/

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.  These titles where banned for a number of reasons.

Carmageddon	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
The Punisher	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]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games#United_Kingdom

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 release. This change happened in 2009.

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 best place in the world to develop games.  They are a trade body run by the people in the industry.

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 UK supporting, developing and promoting the art forms of the moving image. Find out how we are inspiring the next generation of talent in the film, television and video games industries.”
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.

Legal and Ethical Issues in the Game Industry

By Jonathan Petts

In the games industry these two key factors are very different to any industry. Games can almost have any content they want in them, games have stealing, murder, war, use of illegal drugs, sex, graphic images, killing of civilians the list goes on, but the games industry has been relatively unhurt by using such things in games the popular game Grand Theft Auto, which has drugs trafficking and you had the ability to hire prostitutes, was one of the most popular games of 2009/2010, it cause outcry amongst parents  but yet people still bought it, why ? Well very simple Age Ratings, in the video games industry much like the film industry games are rated for the ages they are suitable for, so if they are really bad then they are rated 18, but as with the issues of many films younger people always manage to get hold of them, via online shops or their parents allowing them, the age rating is just for purchase not for playing.

I will first talk about the ethical issues game companies are being scrutinized for and take into consideration,  my first area of consideration is the fact customers devoting excessive time to a game, at the expense of family and other real-life elements. Games such as World of Warcraft have been know to be one of the most addicting games in the world, with 15 million players worldwide. One case was noted on Cnet, where a women lost her job because she didn’t turn up due to the fact she has to join her clan on and online raid. A very popular video known as the “world of war craft freak out” see here :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YersIyzsOpc

Where a boys account was cancelled by his mother and in a fit of rage the boy screams and tears up his room. But this is only a mild case people have been known to attack other people who abused then online.

So game developers want to make their game engrossing and addictive, but at the moment there are no laws to say how long a game can run on for or what it must take into consideration, Nintendo currently advice users for take regular breaks, a message will appear saying take a break is a user has played for too long, so Nintendo although they are not required to took this ethical issues into account, that users need a break, and should not be in front of a screen all day. 

Another ethical issues is violence, there is a vast array of violent games currently on sale, and one of the most controversial was “Manhunt” where users hunt other people and kill them, these could be innocent people, and you would kill them in the most awful ways.  This was rated 18, but in America around when the first manhunt was released two players loved it so much they got guns and went on a two hour long killing spree, before police shot them on the scene this lead the British Board of Film Classification to ban the second game instalment even though the game developers had edited out the most violent parts of them game, the ban was lifted in 2008.

So this does show games can be too violent, but games such as Call of Duty and Homefront are currently the bestselling games of all time, where you are at war with other countries. In one scene you kill innocent people. So game developers must make sure the games aren’t so bad that they can pervert someone, this ethical issue of not killing children in games or police or civilians is still strong today with not games involving children being attacked or killed, but the game developers have started to push this boundaries, as they know people will still but the game online regardless of if they can be it in store if it is good enough.

The representation of gender and religion is sensitive in films but in games it is not so much but it depends on the developer and the title, no games have currently abused a type of gender or race, as this is illegal, but games have provoked religious outcry  with “Devil May Cry” where they claim Jesus was the devil and was banned in the US for 1 week before a court ruled it was just fiction.  So devleopers do take into account ethical issues with race and gender but still religions I a touchy subject for many people as many people do follow some sort of religion.

Games are not restricted in terms of use of language depending on which age rating the wish to use, if they use a 16 or 18 they are no restrictions but below that no form of abusive language is allowed to be used.

Games do have guidelines to follow be classed a 3+ , 12+ or 16 or even 18 in the UK the BBFC are the regulators of DVD’s Film, games and video recordings.

The BBFC have a very long guidelines list to what is suitable for different ages and what content can be included in these. This can be found:

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/download/guidelines/BBFC%20Classification%20Guidelines%202009.pdf

It outlines each category, to what may be included and the reasons for this such as or U “suitable for all ages” there must be no reference to drugs.  If there is horror the outcome must be reassuring, no sex, only kissing or reference to “making love”,  violence only a mild threat or menace.

But for an 18, it says at the age of 18 users are allowed to choose the content they watch and view and taking into account the human rights act, nothing is really restricted as you are able to make your own decisions at this age.

All together this section has a huge impact on how they game is made much like a film to what they can include depending on what age rating they wish to sell too, and if they wish to be ethically correct and not include things that are usually frowned upon.

Legal issues:

Video game devleopers must also take into account UK law, the first act I will talk about is: 

Broadcasting act:

The aim of the Act was to reform the entire structure of British broadcasting,  this is only relevant to broadcasted material so is not relevant to the video games industry.

Official Secrets Act:

This act prevents people from telling Government secrets from the intelligence agencies or declassifying classified information such as MI5 personnel names. Here are a few of the sections form the act to what cannot be published:

§  Section 2: disclosure of defence information. This section applies only to crown servants and government contractors (defined in section 12).

§  Section 3: disclosure of information concerning international relations. This section applies only to crown servants and government contractors.

§  Section 4: disclosure of law enforcement information which would assist a criminal or the commission of a crime. This section applies only to crown servants and government contractors.

§  Section 5: further disclosure or publication of information obtained in contravention of other sections of the act. It allows, for example, the prosecution of newspapers or journalists who publish secret information leaked to them by a crown servant in contravention of section 3. This section applies to everyone, regardless of whether they are a government employee, or whether they have signed the act.

§  Section 6: secret information belonging to foreign governments or international organisations. This section is intended to protect secrets shared by foreign governments and those of international organisations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Interpol.

So games developers can only use information that is allowed to be used, and that has be authorised for use by the UK government.

Human Rights Act:

Among the rights established under this Act are the right of respect for private and family life, and the right to freedom of expression. When  classifying works, the BBFC will  have regard to the impact of any  decision on the rights of any relevant person. The Act permits such  restrictions on freedom of expression as are prescribed by law and are  necessary in a democratic society,  in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health  or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for  preventing the disclosure of  information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.

BBFC Laws regarding regulations:

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/download/guidelines/BBFC%20Classification%20Guidelines%202009.pdf

With this act the Game developers must take into account the people, they must not make it intrude on their personal safety or public safety, they must ensure it does not discriminate anybody, but they have their freedom of speech so if they wish to publish their views in a game that is allowed,  but the game must protect peoples morals and health so it cannot put people in danger.  This leads onto the :

Race relations act where they cannot discriminated anybody because of race with the intent of harm, so they cannot abuse a race and say bad things about them, but this leads onto ethics many people are not racist so if a game is racist no people will buy it due to the good morals of people.

Privacy Law:

They cannot expose people’s private lives in games unless allowed to or given permission, such as the cannot invade some one’s personal life and publish lots of private information such as an address of phone number.  As this is private information which people could find out and go to this persons house which is morally wrong publishing details like that.

Copyright and Intellectual property:

They cannot use any material that somebody else owns and claim it as their own unless they have permission to do so, from the owner, or of the copyright law is royalty free such as music, or characters “ intellectual property” . So they must ensure they do not copy any peoples ideas, from characters design to story line.

Libel law:

They must not accuse or discriminate any individual such as singling out a person for their views and deforming his reputation or embarrassing him by releasing private details about that person.

Overall the game industry follows many of the same laws as the film industry aslong as they do not abuse, steal or misuse information the game can be published.  They must take into account the views of others and ensure they do not offend vast amounts of people, as it seems to be people are always offended by something, so although games are not as widely scrutinized that films and TV as usually 11-21 year old play these games, and the parents do not usually see the contents of these games so they cannot complain, but the governing body in UK must assume the role to protect people from such things, like a 4 year old from sex or violence. But if you are an 18 year old you are old enough to make your own decisions about what you can view, so an age restriction is applied to ensure others are protected, but everyone has freedom of expression under the human acts right of 1998, aslong as it is within the constraints of the law,  they are allowed to produce the game un these grounds.  Laws of the land must be followed in developing games for different countries, but the regulators have the say on what can be included and what cannot to ensure the game is published with the correct rating.