PEGI Now LAW in the UK!!! |
So alot of people (parents mainly) will go into a store and buy their kids games like Call of Duty and Assassins Creed clueless to the content in said games, Now they have NO excuse! As of today July 30th 2012 PEGI will replace the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) ratings on ALL games.
PEGI was brought in to make understanding the games content easier for all to understand BUT as it was not LAW no one took notice!!! Well as of today you will!!
So what are the things I should be looking for you ask?? Below is an image of ALL the PEGI icons that will appear on games as of today:
PEGI Icons |
So with that in mind I'm now about to put my rant hat on to explain these colored ones and what the REALLY mean to you and your kids.
Now before I go on I don't have kids (YET) but I know alot of kids playing games that they really should not be!! But even before PEGI was brought in I had always said my kids will NEVER play games like GTA or Call of Duty till they are old enough to understand the content in them. You can also think of the ratings as traffic lights.
What are the ratings?? and Can your kids play them??
PEGI 3 (Green) |
PEGI 7 (Green) |
The next two ratings is where the BLACK PEGI icons would start coming in more often,
PEGI 12 (Yellow/Amber) |
PEGI 16 (Yellow/Amber) |
PEGI 18 (Red) |
I was always brought up on the "anything bad you see or hear pay no attention to" speeches from my dad and my grandparents, and if the movie or game was an age rating older than I was i could not play or watch it!! So call me boring call me old fashioned but this is how my kids will be brought up!!!!
I think parents that buy these PEGI 18 games for their kids need to take a long hard look at themselves and stop and think "If i was their age would my mum/dad buy this for me??".
I will tell you a story I worked in a big games retailer when Call of Duty MW2 (About a week or two after to be exact) came out, and a kid came in with his mum he could not have been older than 10 years of age and was like " MUM MUM MUM Buy me Modern Warfare 2 PLEASE!!!" she came to me and said "Is this game suitable for my boy??" I said "In a word NO!! there are scenes although skip-able that are extremely unsuitable for him!!" say asked about the infamous "Airport mission" again I said "it is skip-able BUT I played it through to see what it was like and even i found it disturbing shooting innocent people and kids." I then said "is I had kids your boys age I would NOT even own this for myself as I feel its to violent for the kids" she then said thanks for your honesty and left!!
So parents please take time to look at the icons before you buy the games for your kids!! I know this will not stop anyone from buying these games for their kids I don't expect it too but hopefully it will help you understand the PEGI ratings and the LAW it has come with!!! Yes I agree with the PEGI ratings and I'm glad they are now LAW.
For more on the PEGI ratings goto PEGI INFO SITE and give it a read it may even change your mind!!
Thanks for taking the time to read this :)