P1(E) - Regulations

PEGI, Pan European Game Information, is a European video game content rating system, which was established to help European consumers make informed decisions on buying computer games with logos on games’ boxes. PEGI was developed by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) and came into use in April 2003, it replaced many national system ratings, becoming the sole European system. The system is now used in thirty countries and is based on a set of rules which all publishers using the PEGI system is contractually committed to.

 

PEGI’s regulations are composed by five age categories and eight content descriptors, which advise the suitability and content of a game for a certain age range based on the games content. The five different age categories include 3, 7, 12, 16 and 18.

Age 3 rating is suitable for all ages, it can often contain very mild violence in an appropriate context for younger children, but bad language or frightening context is allowed. Age 7 rating is suitable for ages 7 and older, the games will most likely include mild or unrealistic violence (such as cartoon context violence), or elements that can be frightening to younger children. Age 12 rating means that its suitable for ages 7 and older, it can contain violence in either a fantasy context or a sporting action, profanity, mild sexual references or innuendo, or gambling. An age 16 rating means the game is suitable for ages 16 and older, it also may contain explicit or realistic-looking violence, strong language, sexual references or content, gambling, or encouragement of drug use. Finally, the age 18 rating shows the game is unsuitable for persons under 18; this may contain extreme or graphic violence, including ‘violence towards defenseless people’ and ‘multiple, motiveless killing’, strong language, strong sexual content, gambling, drug glamorization, or discrimination.

 

PEGI also use many symbols on the back of the video game box, this helps the buyer identify what the game contains at a quick glance, and this can be useful for parents too so they know what content is within the game their child is playing. The symbols include bad language, discrimination, drugs, fear, gambling, sex, violence and online game play.

Despite regulations being in place, there have been past incidents where the regulations have been breached, an example of this within Rockstar games was the ‘Hot Coffee’ scandal on the GTA: San Andreas game. Public awareness of the existence of the mini-game arrived with the release of the Hot Coffee mod, created for the Microsoft Windows port of GTA: San Andreas in 2005. The incident surfaced when hackers, who were rooting amongst the San Andreas’ files unearthed an abandoned, yet intact, mini-game, where the main character CJ would have sex with his girlfriend upon being prompted by certain movements. Creators at Rockstar Gaming developed the game, but they ditched the idea last minute, to prevent from having to take out the coding from the mini-game and rearrange the game code, the creators put other coding around the mini-game to ‘hide’ it amongst the original gaming code. This went against the regulations, as the developers did not tell Take-Two Interactive or the ratings company about the explicit mini-game that was hidden within the San Andreas code. The resulting outcry involved the Federal Trade Commission investigating Dan Houser and the rest of Rockstar's staff, as well as attracting considerable controversy from lawmakers and politicians, prompting the game to be re-assessed with an "Adults Only (AO)" rating by the U.S. Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), however the game was refused classification in Australia, resulting in its removal from sale. An updated version of the game has since been re-released with the mini-game completely removed, this allowed the game to regain its original rating, as well as this, a ‘patch’ for the first version of the game, named ‘Cold Coffee’, was created to disable the mini-game and crash the game if someone tries to open it.