U.K. Plans Changes in Videogame Rating System

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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U.K. Plans Changes in Videogame Rating System


The U.K. government is set to change its videogame rating system following the long-awaited release of the Byron Review [http://www.dfes.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2007_0158].

Commissioned in September 2007 and released today, the Review by Dr. Tanya Byron recommended several changes to the current classification system in the U.K. as well as legal restrictions on the sale of mature-rated games to children. The report suggested videogames needed a more "robust" classification system with clearer content ratings, similar to those used for movies. She said some parents didn't understand the risks of the "digital world," according to a report in the Mirror [http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/latest/2008/03/27/video-game-ratings-system-to-be-overhauled-89520-20363863/], adding, "The digital world risks are similar to real world risks but can be enhanced by the anonymity and ubiquity that the online space brings."

Other recommendations in the report include:


An "overhaul" of console game advertising
Making it illegal to sell videogames to children younger than age ratings indicated on the box
Developing a code of practice for social networking sites like Facebook, including setting standards for privacy and harmful content
Launching a campaign to assist parents in understanding the material on the internet, and how to prevent their children from accessing it
Introducing legislation banning internet-assisted suicide
Creating a new U.K. Council for Child Internet Safety to assist with the implementation of the new strategies


"If our children were leaving the house, or going to a swimming pool or going to play in the street, we would take all the care possible about their safety," U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said. "When a child goes on to the computer and on to the internet or on to a videogame we should be thinking in the same way. It's really difficult for parents because we didn't grow up in the computer age, many of us."

"We've got to make it easier for parents and get the information to them in a more simple form. We've got to get the classification clearer so that people know 12-plus. When someone is trying to sell a game they've got to give the proper information," he added. "I think Britain can lead the world in this because other countries have got the same problems and all of us as parents are worried about our children so let's see if we can make a difference in this."

Ed Balls, the U.K. Minister of Schools, said the government would move quickly to implement all of Byron's recommendations.


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Feb 13, 2008
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Surely the way forward would be to classify anything harmful with an age rating.

Fast Food would have a 12 certificate; just so McDonuts could continue with their spotty post-child labour.
Vehicles of all kinds would have to have a 18 certificate to stop all those joyriders.
This would include heely wheelys, bicycles and skateboards.
Going out of the House, in conjunction with the vehicle laws, would be criminalised up until 15, where responsibility can be taken for crossing the 18 certificate roads. (Local areas without roads may infer a 12 certificate.)
Wasps should be stamped with a 12 certificate (Scenes of Violence), Cats/Dogs should be a 15 (Consumption of other creatures) and Rabbits need to carry an 18 certificate purely due to their nature.
And of course, TV News would have to have an 18 rating for all it's talks on Government Sex Scandals, Government Violent Conflicts, Government Stealing and Governmental Abuse of the Welfare State.

Allegedly.
 

Easykill

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Sep 13, 2007
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The_root_of_all_evil said:
Surely the way forward would be to classify anything harmful with an age rating.

Fast Food would have a 12 certificate; just so McDonuts could continue with their spotty post-child labour.
Vehicles of all kinds would have to have a 18 certificate to stop all those joyriders.
This would include heely wheelys, bicycles and skateboards.
Going out of the House, in conjunction with the vehicle laws, would be criminalised up until 15, where responsibility can be taken for crossing the 18 certificate roads. (Local areas without roads may infer a 12 certificate.)
Wasps should be stamped with a 12 certificate (Scenes of Violence), Cats/Dogs should be a 15 (Consumption of other creatures) and Rabbits need to carry an 18 certificate purely due to their nature.
And of course, TV News would have to have an 18 rating for all it's talks on Government Sex Scandals, Government Violent Conflicts, Government Stealing and Governmental Abuse of the Welfare State.

Allegedly.
Yeah, that's pretty much what I was thinking.
 

Sigenrecht

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Mar 17, 2008
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...Introducing legislation banning internet-assisted suicide...
This made me chuckle. Not because I hate my fellow man, but because a government would actually recognize this.