Before any action is taken a brief must be made about what
the game is going to be about and include. This could cover character’s
descriptions and roles as well, meaning that legal and regulatory issues should
be taken into consideration before any designing or production starts.
Regulatory Issues
Different rating groups protect different game companies.
Some are known as PEGI and others are ESRB. The main purpose of these companies
is to ensure the games are correctly rated so that the public know what they’re
going to witness during game play and what to buy for children or even adults
by looking at the rating. In ESRB their rating system is:
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EC (Early Childhood)
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E (Everyone) 6 years+
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E 10+ (Everyone 10 years+)
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T (Teenagers) 13 years+
-
M (Mature) 17 years+
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AO (Adults Only) 18 years +
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RP (Rating Pending)
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K-A (Kids To Adults) 6 years+
Having systems similar to these help the public and also
guide game makers on what should be included in their game. For example, if the
target audience for a certain game was to be kept at an ‘E’ rating, there
shouldn’t be any drug use, gambling or sexual content whereas that would appear
in ratings such as :M, AO and maybe RP.
PEGI also uses ratings identical to these but they also show
images about why the rating is what it is. There are:
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Fear (7,12,16,18 years)
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Violence(7,12,16,18 years)
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Bad Language (12,16,18 years)
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Sex (12,16,18 years)
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Drugs(16 and 18 years)
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Gambling(12,16,18 years)
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Discrimination(18 years)
-
Online (3,7,12,16,18 years)
Without thinking about these properly and wrongly
classifying the age restrictions it could lead to suing not only a company like
PEGI but the actual game company as well, sending them bankrupt and maybe
banning them from ever making games again.
Bibliography
(Accessed 30/09/12) at 22:10pm for
ESRB rating system)
(Accessed 30/09/12 at 22:51pm for PEGI guidelines)
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