Note: this post has been updated to better clarify the distinction between the VSC (who are the UK's regulator) and PEGI (the system they and lots of other European countries use to judge content). - RUT1 Remember that in your exam you could be asked about industry regulators as part of a Media Industries question.
We've looked at a number of regulators in these blog posts, such as:
There's one medium whose regulator we have yet to cover for your exam: video games. Don't forget your case study, which is: Fortnite if you're doing GCSE; Assassin's Creed-series if you're doing A-Level.
You've doubtless watched a video game trailer on TV or as a YouTube ad and noted that they all start in broadly the same way: there is the splash or ident for the games console the game is being advertised on and then a rather official-sounding man declares 'Peggy twelve' or 'Peggy sixteen.'
Who is Peggy? why is her age important and why does it keep changing? Well, our man is actually saying PEGI, which is short for Pan European Game Information and he's informing viewers of the age group that the game has been considered suitable for by PEGI.
The UK has had a number of ways of classifying video games in the last 20 years, with PEGI being just the latest. In times past there was a system under the Video Standards Council (VSC) that provided advisory age ratings for games. These were not legally enforceable, and though a reputable retailer might ask for ID or refuse sale to minors without an accompanying parent, there was no requirement for them to do either.
Even then, the ratings were often ignored by parents or, worse, confused for difficulty ratings for the game rather than advice of their content. Similar systems from the ELSPA (then the European Leisure Software Publishers' Association) and the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in America proved unfit as well, with the further issue that the ESRB was an American system based on American laws, attitudes and values, not British ones.
What this meant is that games with mature themes and content were ending up in the hands of minors. As video games entered the mainstream (and sensational news stories of age-inappropriate video games allegedly provoking violence or crime arose) it became clear that a legally-enforceable system was needed to protect young people.
Initially, this was under the BBFC, at a time when games packaging moved from clunky CD cases and cardboard boxes to DVD-style packaging. The lines between film and video game were blurring and, at the time, it seemed to make sense to classify games unsuitable for minors with the same 12, 15 and 18 certificates you've met before.
It meant that, for the first time, retailers were now liable for prosecution if age-inappropriate titles were sold to minors and that they now had a duty to ask for ID and advise unwitting parents buying the latest Grand Theft Auto for their children. Prosecution extended both to the staff member misselling the title and their superiors, incentivising management to properly train their colleagues!
The BBFC system gave people clarity for perhaps the first time that video games contained content that was being accessed by a mass audience, its youngest members in need of protection. Videogaming had finally been identified as a hobby of adults, not just children. It also meant that some high profile cases emerged of games being refused classification by the BBFC altogether, edited to gain classification and still not being carried for sale by worried retailers following a moral panic in the media.
What using the BBFC system didn't do, however, was provide a framework that best judged games for their unique content, instead trying to fit a system used for classifying films for decades to a medium that was both new and, most importantly, interactive. Where a film might show us a violent scene, for example, a video game might give us the agency to create it and give us some sort of feedback in response - and that's a very different experience for the player as opposed to the viewer.
In 2012, the UK relieved the BBFC of its video-game classifying responsibilities and instead handed the job back to the VSC. This time, however, an existing system from Europe was to be used: PEGI. So there's an important distinction to be drawn here: the VSC is the regulator for videogames in the UK, with PEGI being the regulations that they use and are guided by.
PEGI promised the UK the best of both worlds: a ratings system that had the legal enforcement of the BBFC's but with rating criteria more specific to video games, their content and their status as a fully interactive medium in which players could discover or even create certain types of content.
It's been the industry standard since, though it has not been without controversy. PEGI arrived on the games scene towards the end of the seventh console generation (X360/PS3/Wii) with an unapologetic attitude for harshness and strictness. Many games were reclassified from the BBFC's choices with significant changes that drew criticism from players. While this to some extent only further highlighted the BBFC system's lack of fitness for classifying video games, Mass Effect's reclassification from a 12 to an 18 was one of the highest-profile examples of fallout from the changeover. Remember, regulators whose brief is to protect minors would rather get it wrong and classify a product too harshly than get it wrong the other way around and under-rate a product.
Even the UK's recent exit from the EU puts the system into question, though for now, at least, we'll continue to use it. PEGI aims to clearly label games for their content and suitability. Recently, a traffic light system was adopted (compare the '18' below with the '18' in the image above).
Backing this up are a series of icons clarifying the game's content.
Bad language - Not allowed for 3+ or 7+. In 12+ games, mild swearing is allowed, with stronger swearing in higher age ratings.
Discrimination (18+ only) - any game depicting discrimination in any form automatically receives an 18+ rating. Further, games depicting discrimination may find themselves falling foul of discrimination laws in certain PEGI countries and therefore banned altogether until the game is edited.
Drugs - allowed only in 16+ and 18+. These games refer to or even show the use of drugs, illegal and legal, so a game with smoking, drinking or the taking of prescriptions will automatically receive this descriptor and at least a 16+ badge.
Fear (7+)/Horror (12+) - both shown as a spider - the one descriptor split into two and applied only to those two age groups. For 16+ and 18+ games, any horrific content instead comes under the violence descriptor.
Gambling - not allowed for 3+ or 7+ games. Games with this descriptor may not even allow gambling of actual money but simply have content that teaches or simulates it.
PEGI's dealings with gambling are separate to loot boxes, random card packs and other similar in-game purchases/transactions, which fall under the 'online purchases' category below - at least, for now. As extra reading of interest (not related to the exam) you may be interested to know that loot boxes came under scrutiny from the UK government, who felt that they qualify as a form of gambling since money is spent on an uncertain outcome. It became the subject of a House of Commons Select Committee to which companies responded, giving rise to some notable internet memes! Objections have also been raised to the way paid purchases are marketed to minors in particular, especially with techniques such as implying that in-game characters would be hurt, upset, could die etc. if a purchase isn't made. You can read more at https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8498/
Sex - not allowed for 3+ or 7+ games. Games with this descriptor will suggest or depict sexual content to various degrees, from implicit at the 12+ end.
Violence - Not allowed for 3+. For 7+ games, fantasy violence (e.g. magic) is allowed but not against human-like characters. For 12+, fantasy violence can be applied to human-like characters. 16+ and 18+ games are allowed to depict increasingly realistic violence.
Online (retired) - be careful if you see this one when doing any of your own research into PEGI as it's no longer a label they use. Once the seventh console generation had become established (and especially Xbox Live and PlayStation Network) almost all games had some sort of online component, making the flagging of games with online content increasingly pointless.
Online Purchases (new from 2018) - any game with the ability to make online purchases of any kind with real-world money beyond the purchase of the base game itself (whether DLC, expansions, season passes, loot crates, in-game currency, cosmetics etc.) is marked with this new logo. This is in response to a number of high profile cases where younger gamers have run up bills on their parents' bank cards or where the real-world worth of in-game currencies/gems/bucks etc has been unclear or controversial.
In summary PEGI is both a seemingly tailor-made system for classifying video game content and a system that is legally enforceable. It is just a system, though - the regulator who actually applies that system in the UK is the Video Standards Council (VSC). It's also modular, meaning classifications can be added and removed as videogaming progresses and changes as a medium, although PEGI's future in the UK games market remains uncertain with current political developments. Likewise, ongoing political developments in the UK in response to games (and in particular, paid content) could bring new rules into play. You should take a look at your case study at this point, but to save you some time, Fortnite gained a 12. For A-Level, check out the Assassin's Creed series. PEGI have given each one an 18, but you also have the unique opportunity to explore the fact that the BBFC gave earlier titles in the series a 15 before PEGI took over rating video games. Not quite as severe a change as with Mass Effect, but still notable as evidence of PEGI's stringency. For your case study, start thinking about why PEGI have classified it the way they have. You can even go to the PEGI website, search for the game and read PEGI's remarks!
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