Row over video games ratings plan

Row over video games ratings plan
Dr Tanya Byron, PA
Dr Tanya Byron looked at the risks to children from games and the net

Planned changes to the way video games are rated have sparked a row about who should be in charge of giving games their official age classification.

Culture Minister Margaret Hodge has announced a consultation on whether the ratings for games should replicate the system for movies.

But games makers oppose plans, backed by MPs, for the British Board of Film Classification to rate games as well.

The games industry wants its own voluntary code to be made official.

Under the current system the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) only rates those games considered to have significant adult content such as sexual material or extreme violence.

About 3% of all the games sold in the UK fall into this category and can only legally be sold to those aged over 18.

All other games are rated under the Pan European Game Information system - an industry administered scheme.

Four options

March 2008 saw the publication of Dr Tanya Byron's review of the risks faced by children if exposed to harmful or inappropriate material on the internet or in video games.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Ratings provide a better guide for non-gaming parents to find suitable entertainment for their children

John, Maidstone, UK
Send us your comments

In a bid to limit harmful exposure Dr Byron recommended that the rating system for games be reformed to make it easier for parents to work out if a video game was appropriate for their children.

Dr Byron suggested a hybrid scheme putting BBFC ratings on the front of boxes and Pegi ratings on the rear.

Announcing its response to the Byron Review recommendations, culture minister Margaret Hodge, said: "The current system of classification comes from a time when video games were in their infancy."

She added: "The games market has simply outgrown the classification system, so today we are consulting on options that will make games classification useful and relevant again."

Over the next few months the government is seeking responses to find out the favoured method of changing ratings and giving them legal backing.

The four options are:

# A hybrid BBFC/Pegi system.

# Pegi ratings only.

# BBFC ratings only.

# No change except for the introduction of a scheme to ensure shops and suppliers comply.

But a report published by MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has backed the BBFC to be the body to oversee games ratings.

In response to it getting a much greater role, a spokesman for the BBFC said: "There would be no problem at all taking on the extra work."

He said the way it was funded meant it could add extra staff to cope if it was asked to rate a much greater number of titles.

'Ridiculous' plan

For its part the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association (Elspa) said it would prefer that the industry-backed Pegi scheme became the only rating system.

"What we are asking for is the government to empower Pegi with legal backing," said Michael Rawlinson, managing director of Elspa.

"We would like to remove confusion and have Pegi rate all games under the umbrella of the Video Recordings Act," he said.

Parents needed to know whether they were buying a film or a game, he said.

He said all the titles the BBFC rate are also currently rated under Pegi for reasons of "consistency and child safety".

As more and more games move online the need for consistency of rating was paramount, he said.

He said it would be "ridiculous" for video game packaging to carry two ratings.

"The compromise that Tanya Byron recommended in her report was not a good one for child safety," he said.

A tour of the games at E3

Advertisement

The latest must-see games and technology are on display at the E3 games conference in Los Angeles, California.

Games expert Ellie Gibson, of Eurogamer.net, gave the BBC a personal tour of the E3 showfloor.

Prince Caspian's screen synergy

By Michael Osborn Entertainment reporter, BBC News

Peter Pevensie as he appears in the film and game

The second Narnia adventure recently hit the big screen with huge fanfare, picking up critical scrutiny and box office success on its journey.

But The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian film was preceded by its gaming counterpart. Both were pushed with equal vigour by makers Disney.

The videogame was given a lavish launch at a medieval-style castle in rural Cheshire, where journalists could test out their archery skills in real life and in the computer-animated world of Narnia.

Its makers were quick to stress how the film and game are bound together, trailing both at the same time and extolling their inexorable links.

Arthur Parsons, the game's lead designer for Traveller's Tales, says synergy was only possible by working closely with the film's director Andrew Adamson.

"If we were going to match the film then we needed to see inside the director's head," he says.

Advertisement

How the Prince Caspian film was turned into a videogame

"Every time there was a script update, we'd get it. We could see everything that was shot too.

"Andrew has a passion for games which made the game a better one. We had a harmonious relationship."

Mr Parsons also speaks of video gaming as an "emergent cinema", and says the process of making a game is becoming "more and more cinematic".

"I don't want people playing a game knowing that they're playing a game. I want them to lose themselves in that world and believe they are that character," he adds.

Huge accolade

The making of the game also brought on board the film's actors, who provide the voice-overs for the game and had full body scans to make their console counterparts as true-life as possible.

One actor who became involved in this process was William Moseley, who plays eldest Pevensie child Peter in the big screen hits.

The film's action sequences are closely mirrored in the game

Working in the motion capture studio was "like something out of Doctor Who," explains the 20-year-old.

"It was a black room and there was a light sensor and if you blink at the wrong time it wrecks the whole thing. You have to do as you're told."

While Moseley says this was harder work than acting on set, laying down vocals for the game made regular use of his acting skills.

"I had to do dying, less intense dying and falling. But I did the actions and tried to give it some," he says.

The film star maintains that the extra work required to make the game closer to its big screen counterpart is all part of an actor's lot.

"I see it all as part of it. If I didn't do it would be like not acting out scenes on set and telling Andrew Adamson that I'm not doing it and will have a cup of tea instead.

It's every guy's dream Actor William Moseley on being a star of the Prince Caspian videogame

While he insists the game is of equal importance, he admits the film still has the edge in terms of reach and accessibility.

In its first weekend of release in the UK, the movie took £4m and crowned the box office chart.

Aside from being a lead actor in the Narnia trilogy, Moseley says starring in the videogame is also a huge accolade.

"Who of my age has had a game made for them with their own character? It's every guy's dream. It'll be one for the grandkids in years to come."

The third part of the Narnia series, The Voyage of The Dawn Treader, already in the pipeline and pencilled in for release in 2010 and will also co-star William Moseley.

With the investment made in the latest video game to closely accompany the film, it is expected that a third will not be far behind.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian feature film and video game are both out now.

At a glance: The Byron Review

On 6 September 2007, the UK government commissioned a review of the risks children faced from exposure to harmful or inappropriate material on the internet or in video games.

Psychologist Dr Tanya Byron was asked to lead the six-month review and the report detailing the work was published on 27 March.

Here are some of the key points taken from the report.

CONCLUSIONS

Children will be children - pushing boundaries and taking risks.

The safety of children should be a central concern for parents and society as a whole.

Google homepage, Getty
The report wants search sites to show when searches are safe
[The] remit has been to look at the grey areas - of legal, adult material such as 18 rated video games, and the risks to children online from a huge range of potentially harmful or inappropriate (but legal) content, contact with others and their own conduct.

Mixed research evidence on the actual harm from video games and use of the internet does not mean that the risks do not exist.

To help measure and manage those risks there needs to be a focus on what the child brings to the technology and use our understanding of children's development to inform an approach that is based on the "probability of risk" in different circumstances.

Efforts should be focused on reducing the availability of harmful and inappropriate material in the most popular part of the internet.

Parents also have a key role to play in managing children's access to such material.

Teenage boy using computer, SPL
Parents need help to keep up with their children online
The internet cannot be made completely safe. Because of this, children's resilience to the material to which they may be exposed must be build up to ensure they have the confidence and skills to navigate these new media waters more safely.

There are also steps that need to be taken in the UK and on a global platform to make the waters of new technology easier to navigate safely. This is about providing children and their parents with the proper tools, clear standards and signposts and somewhere to go when things go wrong.

Alongside new technology a new culture of responsibility is needed, where all in society focus not on defending entrenched positions, but on working together to help children keep themselves safe, to help parents to keep their children safe and to help each other support children and parents in this task.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Create a UK Council on Child Internet Safety that leads development of a strategy with two core elements:

1) better regulation - in the form of voluntary codes of practice that industry can sign up to.

2) better information and education, where the role of government, law enforcement, schools and children's services will be key.

Pegi logos, Pegi
The report wants games clearly labelled with age ratings
The council should investigate how the law around harmful and inappropriate material could be usefully clarified (including suicide websites) and explore appropriate enforcement responses.

Develop an independently monitored voluntary code of practice on the moderation of user generated content, including making specific commitments on take-down times.

All computers sold for home use should have kitemarked parental control software and ISPs should offer and advertise this prominently when people sign up.

The council should ensure search providers agree to make it obvious what level of search is on (e.g. safe or moderate) and give users the option to "lock it" on. Every search engine clearly link to child safety information and safe search settings on the front page of their website.

A properly funded public information and awareness campaign on child internet safety to change behaviour.

Sustainable education and children's services initiatives to improve the skills of children and their parents around e-safety.

Creation of a "one stop shop" for child internet safety within the DirectGov information network, based on extensive research about what different groups of users want.

Computer keyboard, Eyewire
The report wants new home computers fitted with filters
100% of schools should have Acceptable Use Policies that are regularly reviewed, monitored and agreed with parents and students.

Ofsted take steps to hold schools to account on their performance on e-safety.

Sustained, high profile and targeted efforts by industry to increase parents' understanding and use of age-ratings and controls on consoles.

That the statutory requirement to age classify games be extended to include those receiving 12+ ratings.

Introduce a hybrid classification system with BBFC logos on the front of all games (18,15,12,PG and U). Pegi to rate all 3+ and 7+ games and their equivalent logos (across - all age ranges) will be on the back of all boxes.

That there should be focused efforts to monitor enforcement of the statutory age ratings at the point of sale.

The BBFC and Pegi develop a joint approach to rating online games and driving up safety standards for children and young people in the games, under the auspices of the UK Council for Child Internet safety.

Plaudits and concern over Byron

By Darren Waters
Technology editor, BBC News website


The Byron Review aims to improve the ratings system

The games industry has welcomed the recommendations of the Byron Review but concerns have been raised that ratings still need to be future proofed.
Dr Tanya Byron has recommended that the role of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) be expanded.
BBFC director David Cooke said the body was well placed to deal with task of rating all games for ages 12 plus.
But leading industry figures have said the self-regulatory system Pegi should have been given more emphasis.
Pegi is a pan-European self-regulatory system used by developers and publishers.
There has also been concern expressed about how the online and offline gaming ratings will mesh.
Dr Byron has said that Pegi should classify online games but many titles now have both an online and offline component.
"Our key concern is that we really want a future proofed system," said Paul Jackson, director general of the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association.
"As our industry is going online so rapidly, it's critical for us that the system works for on the shelf and online.

Tanya Byron's reasons for overhauling the video games ratings system.

"The things that concerns us is that you might buy a product on the shelf with a BBFC rating and then find you are buying an online element of that game and it has a different Pegi rating.
"We need to weave a way through that minefield so that it works and parents understand it."
Keith Ramsdale, Electronic Arts' vice president for the UK, Ireland and the Nordic countries, said the review could have gone further with its recommendations.
"In our evidence to the review we were very clear, unanimously clear as an industry, that we want a single system and that single system should be Pegi.
"That would be much clearer to the consumer."
Dr Byron has recommended that BBFC ratings are shown on the front of game boxes while Pegi ratings and guidelines sit on the back.
"I think that's unnecessary. We should have had a single unified classification system," said Don Foster, the Liberal Democrats culture spokesman.
The Conservative Party also criticised the review's recommendation of a hybrid ratings approach.
"This is a missed opportunity and one that risks leading to greater confusion for parents and industry," said the shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt.
He said Pegi had proved to be more stringent than the BBFC.

Paul Jackson, of the gaming industry body Elspa, backs Dr Byron's findings but recommends changes.

Mr Ramsdale said: "Pegi is a European system geared up totally for video games. The BBFC clearly is as movie classification board."
"Last year Pegi gave 42 games an 18 plus rating, while 19 of those titles were given a 15 rating and two a 12 rating by BBFC.
"Pegi are proving to be tougher than the BBFC, which benefits the consumer."
He added: "We don't believe it needs to be legislative we believe it could be self-regulatory, with some very sharp teeth."
Dr Tanya Byron has said the BBFC logos are more familiar to parents and consumers.
Neil Thompson, head of Xbox in the UK, said Microsoft also favoured a single system.

There are concerns of a gulf between online and offline ratings
"Her recommendations seem sensible. But we've been very open about the fact we preferred Pegi as the single system."
"We felt Pegi was scalable. Dealing with the volumes of titles involved, and the growing range of online and offline components, means that the rating system needs to be joined up and consistent.
"We believe Pegi offers that."
He added: "We're going to have to work with the BBFC to help them deal with the scale and volume issue they are going to have to step up to.
"It will be a significant increase."
But Mr Cooke told BBC News that the BBFC had the resources and expertise to deal with the increased workload.
"I don't have a resourcing problem. We're used to a world in which we have seen DVD intake jump from 7,000 in 2000 to 16,000 now.
"We can certainly do that without a detriment to the service we provide. We don't believe this jump will be as big."
Mr Cooke said the BBFC would be launching a public consultation to find out what their concerns were about games and whether attitudes were changing.
He said there was a discrepancy between people's understanding of how ratings worked for films and DVD and how they worked for games.

Ours is a system that can take context and tone into account, unlike Pegi.
David Cooke, BBFC
"It's pretty clear games have a big catch up job to do. It's clear that we have symbols that are recognised and trusted.
"There is evidence that the Pegi pictograms are not liked and not understood."
He said the BBFC would working to deal with the changing nature of games and that impact on ratings.
"Ours is a system that can take context and tone into account, unlike Pegi.
"That extends to modes of gameplay."
Richard Wilson, head of Tiga, which represents developers, said the body applauded the recommended awareness campaign for parents but said industry should not be required to fund it alone.
"Games developers already face intense competition from government-subsidised Canadian games developers. The last thing the games industry needs is for the UK Government to impose additional costs on it."

Divide on games industry ratings

By Darren Waters Technology editor, BBC News website

Some games carry the Pegi logo on the front

A row has broken out between the games industry and the UK's content classifiers over who should regulate video games in the future.

UK games industry body Elspa has called on the government to replace the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) role's in assessing video games.

The industry favours its own voluntary system, called Pegi.

The BBFC's Peter Johnson said Pegi was a "box ticking exercise" based on "no consultation with parents".

The two systems have different approaches to classification. The BBFC system is enforced by law and based around the symbols used to classify films, while Pegi is a voluntary code.

Mr Johnson, head of policy and business development, said the BBFC system was superior to Pegi because games were more thoroughly examined and decisions were made in the light of both the context of the game and the content.

Elspa has said it backs Pegi because it was "designed specifically for interactive software".

Paul Jackson, director general of Elspa, said only Pegi "fully assessed" all games content.

Mr Jackson, speaking to MPs and the media at the Westminster Media Forum, in London, said Pegi was the "gold standard" for classification.

The row comes a few months after Dr Tanya Byron concluded at the end of her report into the impact of games on children that both systems should be used.

She recommended that BBFC symbols should be used on the front of game boxes in shops and Pegi classifications on the back. She said that the two bodies should work together on areas such as online game classification.

Our symbols carry statury force and we have the power to reject games that we feel pose serious risk of harm Peter Johnson, BBFC

Acting on her recommendations, the government said it would initiate a public consultation before reaching a definitive decision.

Mr Jackson told the forum: "For the games industry, when we talk about child protection, we talk about Pegi.

"Pegi is the solution for today, and the solution for tomorrow," said Mr Jackson.

Margaret Hodge, minister for culture, creative industries and tourism, speaking at the forum, encouraged the two sides to work together.

"Please try and prevent this from becoming a battle between two regulatory frameworks," she said.

'Senior partner'

The BBFC's Peter Johnon said: "Our view is that Dr Byron spent six months looking at all the evidence and all the arguments, including those of Elspa, and her conclusion was that the BBFC and Pegi should work together to achieve the best possible outcome.

"She placed the BBFC as the senior partner in that arrangement."

Mr Johnson said the BBFC was "disappointed that Elspa is trying to unpick Dr Byron's careful analysis".

People are not stupid and shouldn’t be treated as such Paul Jackson, Elspa

He said Elspa's view were not representative of every quarter of the UK games industry.

'Greater trust'

"Our symbols carry statutory force and we have the power to reject games that we feel pose serious risk of harm.

"Sixty nine percent of the public think the classifier should have reject powers. Our symbols carry far greater trust and understanding with the public."

He added: "The British public deserve independent oversight."

He accused Pegi of "crying wolf" through "over-rating" games.

He said: "If you over-rate games then parents will disregard those ratings.

"You have to apply a rating that fits the content, and the content is dependent on the context."

Government consultation

Mr Jackson said it was essential "there there be a classification system which protects both now and in the future, both online and offline".

He said: “People are not stupid and shouldn’t be treated as such. When they see an 18 roundel on a box, they know what it means, regardless of the current classifier."

Mr Johnson said it had tried to engage Elspa in dialogue ahead of government consultation so that any new system could "hit the ground running".

He added: "Unfortunately, Elspa have said they don't want to talk to us about that until after consultation.

"They have also encouraged some of their members not to talk to us."

Video games get into shape

By Margaret Robertson Game consultant

Wii fit is one game starting to change the reputation of games

I've had my share of gaming injuries.

Alongside the calluses and cramps that extended play sessions can produce, I've suffered Tempest-induced Dry Eye, and only narrowly escaped a tendon inflammation brought on purely by the Dreamcast controller's right trigger.

I've never broken a bone (don't scoff - some have) but these days I'm more careful.

For long Guitar Hero sessions I employ a second person whose job it is to massage some feeling back into my arms between bouts, and before loading World of Warcraft I take a few steps to RSI-proof my desk, one of which, surprisingly, is to convert the stationery drawer to a mousemat.

I'm not too offended, then, by the unhealthy reputation games have developed - I know too well the migraines, backstrains and nausea they can cause.

And I know too that the thousands of hours I've spent on the sofa make it harder to be sceptical about gaming's role in rising obesity levels.

Thanks, however, to active games like DDR, Eye Toy and Wii Fit, that reputation is starting to change.

Virtual pain

It's becomes clear that games can have a positive effect on health, whether by helping to improve kids' fitness levels, or by being used as physical rehabilitation tool for the elderly.

Virtual Iraq is based on the game Full Spectrum Warrior

There's little doubt, too, that gaming's power as a motivational and education tool, will increasingly come into play, with products like Nike+ and games like Fatworld helping players towards a healthier lifestyle.

But while it's one thing for games to shake off their unhealthy aura, it's quite another for them to be seriously considered as medicine.

Increasingly, however, it's clear that they should be.

It's nearly a decade now, since the first research was started into the idea of using virtual reality games as a form of pain control for burns patients, and in that time a solid body of evidence has built up, with patients reporting a 90% decrease in the pain they experienced when using the system during the game.

Researchers at Manchester are also finding that virtual environments can be very useful for treating patients suffering from "phantom limb" experiences following amputations.

Just as interesting is new work going into examining gaming's potential for treating psychological problems.

The US Department of Defense has funded three separate programmes investigating the use of virtual reality systems to help treat some of the many Iraq war veterans who return home with post-traumatic stress disorder.

One, Virtual Iraq, is based on the game Full Spectrum Warrior, itself funded by the military as an infantry training tool, indicating how entwined key areas of public spending are becoming with games.

I'm confident that in the end, games will cure, not cripple, me Margaret Robertson

Virtual Iraq provides a safe environment for patients to revisit the sights and sounds they associate with their trauma, gradually allowing them to normalise their reactions to them in every day life.

Over the last decade this approach has also been used successful with Vietnam veterans, and victims of the September 11th attacks.

Games don't only come into play in such catastrophic circumstances, however.

Clinical play

They are also being used to treat migraine, based on research into neurofeedback treatment techniques.

Patients use sensors attached to their scalp which read brain waves to control a spaceship on screen, and while the exact mechanism still isn't well understood, the system seems to offer a real step forward for drug-free pain control for sufferers.

And, as software tools like Beating The Blues become available on the NHS, it likely won't be long before you find yourself coming home from the doctor's with a prescription for a game rather than a course of pills.

It's also increasingly likely that soon your doctor won't just be prescribing games, but being trained by them, too.

Games like Pulse!! use an FPS game engine to provide a virtual clinic for training doctors and nurses to deal with the injuries caused by large-scale natural disasters or on the battlefield, and research has shown that surgeons who frequently play ordinary videogames make more than a third fewer mistakes in simulations of laparoscopic surgery than those who don't.

Games are already finding a role at every point along the healthcare chain - training doctors, providing treatment for patients, and strengthening preventative medical efforts.

So while I'm still asking for troubling playing Mythos till three in the morning with a spine like an ampersand, my nose three inches from the screen and a red-hot line of pain from my left-mouse-button-finger to my elbow, I'm confident that in the end, games will cure, not cripple, me.