One of the things we did not note when we wrote about it earlier this week is that, with the PEGI rating system coming to the United Kingdom, there will be a change in the law that retailers will want to take note of. According to the official release from the Department for Culture Media and Sports (DCMS) the Video Standards Council (VSC) will have the right to "refuse to grant an age-rating for a video game if it includes extreme content” (which means it can’t be sold in the UK).
More importantly the PEGI ratings system for the UK will have a legal penalty and a fine for retailers who knowingly sell games to children that are outside their age range.
"The Government is making the age-12 rating legally enforceable for the first time, which means anyone selling an age-12 game to someone under that age could be jailed," the report reads.
The new system is expected to be in place by July, according to that report. You can check the whole thing out here.
Comments
Re: UK PEGI Ratings Bring Penalties to Careless Retailers
Re: UK PEGI Ratings Bring Penalties to Careless Retailers
Yeah, except for the 12 rating being theoretically legally enforceable (I am quite sure it will be enforced with just as much vigour as the ban on sale of game birds killed on a Sunday) this isn't really a change in the way things will work, just a change of management. Pointless legislation, perhaps... the thin end of the wedge in the erosion of civil liberties, not so much.
Re: UK PEGI Ratings Bring Penalties to Careless Retailers
OUCH! Bit much, don't ya think? Two things:
1: I mean, fining a store for selling a 18+ game to minor is one thing but then fining them for selling a 12+ to a 10 year old?
&
2: Define "extreme content".
Re: UK PEGI Ratings Bring Penalties to Careless Retailers
UK. I am disappoint.
What the hell definition does 'extreme content' have? Australia move forward on this issue (by inches, granted), but we move backward?
Re: UK PEGI Ratings Bring Penalties to Careless Retailers
Yeeeeeeeah, institutionalized censorship!
Re: UK PEGI Ratings Bring Penalties to Careless Retailers
"According to the official release from the Department for Culture Media and Sports (DCMS) the Video Standards Council (VSC) will have the right to "refuse to grant an age-rating for a video game if it includes extreme content” (which means it can’t be sold in the UK)."
Which completely defeats the point of having a ratings system.
Andrew Eisen