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There's a voluntary age rating from PEGI on every game, that's not legally binding (i.e., a shop can happily sell one marked as 16+ to a 5-year-old should they wish). Games that have also been rated by the BBFC, however, are subject to the same restrictions as films and carry the same certificates as well, hence a game with a BBFC 18 rating cannot legally be sold to someone under that age.

Sort of. Most games Europe-wide get a PEGI rating, but this is for information only and doesn't actually have any legal force. However, UK games that depict "human sexual activity or gross violence to any significant extent" get a BBFC classification which it's a pretty serious offence for retailers to breach.

...but isn't there already a system that makes it so that minors can't play some games? I'm not sure how it's in the US but the eruopean PEGI system works just fine here.

other rating institutions. It's not like the US is the only country with a game rating system. Maybe they should look how the other do it. For example, check out the procedure they use at PEGI. Apperently they managed to label Sand Andreas as 18+ and Oblivion as 16+.

Just to clarify the parent: the BBFC classifies games insofar as it's required to as the designated authority for the Video Recordings Act, and so only the 15+ and above ratings are required. (For games in general there's PEGI.) For films there's a wider set of classifications; the BBFC's role in the film industry predates its legislative functions. I don't know how much flexibility the Video Recordings Act offers to reflect public opinion in practice, but I suspect it's less than the Board enjoys in its non-statutory role.

One way these laws differ from the UK law is that certain violent / sexual content does put games into the legally enforcable BBFC ratings, but the BBFC ratings aren't a simple cutoff to an 18 rating, the BBFC have their own ratings system that runs in parallel to the PEGI system, that's also used for videos / DVDs, so you can see games with other BBFC ratings as well as 18 ones.

(There's also a second way for BBFC ratings to appear on games, as although most games are exempt from classification, most video content isn't, so some games end up with a BBFC rating from that instead).

Er, actually it is illegal to sell a video/DVD or a game to to an underage person in the UK, if the item as been rated by the BBFC (http://www.bbfc.co.uk/), as per the 1984 Video Recordings Act (and amended in 1993).

If the game has only been rated by PEGI (http://www.pegi.info/) then there is no legal statute to prevent the game being sold to underage people, though as you say, retailers generally don't.

Ooh, and I forgot yesterday, another /. article reminded me of http://www.pegi.info/ for .info.

Well the UK's had a mix of voluntary (currently PEGI, previously ELSPA) and law-backed (BBFC) ratings for video games for many many years (films are all BBFC-rated), and I don't see it turning into full-on control of what kids can see any time soon in the future... I doubt it would happen in the US either, but I could be wrong.

It's a slightly different situation in the UK than in the USA. All films must get a classification from the BBFC while games tend to get a rating by the voluntary PEGI (or the older ELSPA). However certain games must also be submitted to the BBFC (e.g. GTA:SA has a BBFC 18 rating). On videos (and I believe also on games) these ratings are legally binding. For films shown at the cinema on the other hand, it's up to the local authority, however these nearly always use the BBFC rating (spiderman was one exception). The voluntary systems aren't legally binding and both Game and Amazon describe them as guidelines and don't give the impression that they enforce them.

On the subject of the R18 rating, this is used almost exclusively for hardcore porn and can only be sold in specially licenced shops (of which there are apparently about 90 in the UK)

The US AO rating does seem to be completly stupid, no game is ever actually rated it.

In the UK we have a slightly stange situation where most games have advisory ratings from PEGI (who took over a couple of years ago from ELSPA), but under certain critera they can have the legally enforced BBFC ratings, like DVDs and films.

But in the UK, the highest ratings (18+ for PEGI, 18 for BBFC) have been used (although the 18+ PEGI rating is rare, as most of them go into the BBFC ratings). Indeed, both Grand Theft Auto (all of them) and Killer 7 are BBFC 18, and they're commonly availible, I can go into my local ASDA (owned by Wal Mart) and buy them. But in the US, it seems that everyone is allergic to the AO rating, even the ESRB. I'd guess it's some sort of weird market forces, where the shops have all decided that AO really means it's banned. And mysteriously the industry run ESRB avoids it like a plauge as well. If I wasn't pissed, I'm sure I could make a better essay on the US puritan streak etc. (it's half like the Daily Mail ran a country!), but instead I'll end up with a horrid steam of conciousness thing. I mean, it's only some dry humping FFS. How does that change the bloody rating...

I'd also like to note the BBFC said during all this ho-hah over GTA:SA, that even if the "Hot Coffee" had been in the game, it would still be rated the same.

(I should note that for BBFC, there is the Restricted 18 rating as well (can only be sold in licenced sex shops, used for hardcore porn), but no game has ever qualified for it AFAIK).

You say that the American(?) rating system is to simple and that a single letter is not enough to show parents why they might or might not want their kids to play a game. In the UK and most of Europe the PEGI rating system (http://www.pegi.info/) is used which gives games an age rating (3+, 7+, 12+, 16+ and 18+) as well as having icons to show the reason for the classification - violence, sex, drugs etc. An example of this would be Halo which has 16+ & "Violence" ratings.

In the UK certain games are also classified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) in a similar manner to films, for games namely 12, 15 and 18. While the PEGI ratings are merely for guidance the BBFC ratings are legally enforced by large fines and prison terms.

From personal experience of working in a shop selling computer games I can say that both systems categorically DO NOT WORK! The PEGI system is ignored by almost everyone as they feel that if a game was bad it would have a BBFC rating and many parents don't seem to take an 18 BBFC rating seriously. A typical response when you inform a parent of the content of the game is that their kids have already played it round a mates house.

A classic example of this happened last week when a customer was looking for a game for their daughter and had asked whether the Playboy game would be suitable as they enjoyed the Sims. After telling the customer the nature of the game they decided that it wouldn't be suitable so picked up a copy of GTA: San Andreas(!), after telling the customer that you can go round shooting hookers in the game they turned round and said that they were not fussed as the daughter played it regually at a friend's house.

The main issue at the moment is not the ratings systems themselves, it is the way that violent games are constantly advertised in all forms of media ranging from magazines to TV and even on the sides of buses (at least in the UK). Kids are constantly being bombarded with advertising for violent games and are putting pressure on parents who are either ignorant to the content, don't care about the content or both. Once one kid has a copy of certain game, their friends will play it and so the pressure moves on to another parent and so on.

While I am not against violent or adult games parents need to start becoming aware of the issues at stake and start listening to the advice (and regulations!) about game content.

I'm shocked that a lot of people here seem to think it's okay to sell violent games to children. A lot of games are extremely violent and offensive, and reward indiscriminant violence.

Surely people agree that the same type of ratings should be applied to video games as are applied to videos/films?

In the UK we have the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ . If it decides a film/video/game is only suitable for people over a certain age, then it is illegal for a shop to sell it to a person below that age. Other countries have similar systems. There's also a pan-European organisation, http://www.pegi.info/, although I don't think it's descisions are legally enforcable.

This article is based on a box shot of Half-Life 2 that shows an 18+ rating in the UK.

As others have posted, there is no comparable rating in Australia. However, this DOES NOT IMMEDIATELY IMPLY that Half-Life 2 will face any problems.

Searching the Euro classification database shows that a bunch of games got Euro 18+ ratings, but were released (unaltered) with an MA15+ (the highest .au rating). Soldier of Fortune 2 is a good example.

Most of the Australian concerns are because the OFLC (Office of Film and Literature Classification, the body responsible in Australia for ratings) have refused classification in the past for some titles - most notably, Grand Theft Auto titles and recently the new Leisure Suit Larry game. These titles had problems ONLY because of the sexual aspect (in particular with GTA the combination of sex and violence - specifically, the fact that you can nail a hooker, and then.. uh.. nail her).

It is _hugely_ unlikely that Half-Life 2 will suffer any classification problems unless it contains heaps of sexually explicit content (or messages of racial hatred, etc, etc) - which one can almost certainly safely assume is not going to happen.

Yep, there's an 18+ PEGI rating (the voluntary game ratings system used in Europe, replacing the ELSPA ones in the UK.) However individual countries laws can go overrule this, such as the UK's Video Recordings Act (and associated laws), and Germany's laws, where they really don't like gore and so on. They might only want to prepare one PAL version of the game (rather than a rest-of-Europe and a German version), so bow to the German censorship requirements across Europe, or they just want a lower rating for sales reasons.

I concur, although why the Ontario Film Review board? Im not sure having videogame ratings being assigned by the film review board is a good precedent....

One could consider it good or bad though, on one hand videogames being judged by a group well versed in making these types of judgements is defintely a plus, but on the otherhand this group probably doesn't have experience with games and dealing with their level of interactivity....

As noted below, in the UK the British Board of Film Classification can rate videogames. From the BBFC website (click on 'The BBFC' in the menu, the FAQ and it's in the list, horrible design really):

Under the Video Recordings Act, video games are exempt unless they depict (a) human sexual activity, or acts of force or restraint associated with sexual activity, or (b) mutilation or torture of, or other acts of gross violence towards, humans or animals, or (c) human genital organs or urinary or excretory functions, or (d) are likely to stimulate or encourage sex, violence, or criminal activity. Because most video games do not realistically depict humans or animals, they are exempt, but many video game distributors prefer to submit their games to the Board for classification in borderline cases. However, the industry itself has also become concerned with the accessibility and suitability of games and has introduced a self-regulatory system of classification for exempt videos which is run by ELSPA.

This is a bit out of date, the ELSPA game ratings have been recently replaced by PEGI ones. But basically the same laws apply to rated games as Videos and DVDs, so it's illegal for them to be sold to people younger than the rating. AFAIK the only ratings ever given to games has been 15 and 18 ones[1]. Manhunt (and the Grand Theft Auto series) is rated 18. But about the only games rated are the really controversial ones, like Postal etc. The BBFC also seem to be rating less harshly nowadays, Soul Calibur was a 15 on Dreamcast, but it's sequel was exempt, I think early FPSes (Ultimate Doom (15?) and Quake (15)) generally got certificates, but newer ones don't etc. but the laws still come into force for extreme games, I do think the Video Recording Act would allow the BBFC the ban a game (or require changes), but I don't think that's ever been done (except posisbley with Postal 1, as the new release it marketed as uncut (it's an 18 still)).

[1] Although Unlimited Saga has a U certificate on the box, that relates the the Final Fantasy X-2 preview DVD included with the game (most other games with bonus DVDs have been except it seems.)