News - Traffic lights rating system to be employed by videogame industry

[HEXUS]

Government close to launching new system for rating videogames.

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[shaithis]

If people do not understand a number which denotes the minimum recommended age for a game, I doubt they will draw much understanding from a traffic light system.......

[kalniel]

Well, they might think that GTAIV contains more calories than Peggle

[Ferral]

I think that games should be rated in the same way as movies. Easy to understand for parents and it is there in front of you. Even if it is a game like Spongebob, everyone knows it is universally suitable but I still think it should have the U symbol on the cover.

Streamline everything that is media and use the rating system that is already in place.

[matty-hodgson]

ermmmmmmmmmm.. my kid is 9................................. is he too young to buy this game which has an............. *counts with fingers to* 18 on the front?

what is so bleeding difficult about knowing if 12/15/18 is suitable?!

[finlay666]

ermmmmmmmmmm.. my kid is 9................................. is he too young to buy this game which has an............. *counts with fingers to* 18 on the front?

Because 1 + 8 is 9!!!! It has to be suitable for them

[thestjohn]

It's not as if parents pay much attention even if there's a big red '18' on the box. I regularly get harangued by parents because I refused to sell their child something like GTA IV, which made them actually have to come in and exercise their parental duties to buy it for them. I find it hilarious that they get angry at me for doing my job and protecting their children.

[Stewart]

Thing is though, any kid can go to his room, turn on the TV after 9pm, and watch sex, violence, bad language, etc... but heaven forbid that might play a bit of GTA4.

Also - 15 written on the box, you have to be 15 to buy it. 18 written on the box, you have to be 18 to buy it.

Was anyone having trouble understanding that?

[M_Taylor40]

It's not as if parents pay much attention even if there's a big red '18' on the box. I regularly get harangued by parents because I refused to sell their child something like GTA IV, which made them actually have to come in and exercise their parental duties to buy it for them. I find it hilarious that they get angry at me for doing my job and protecting their children.

If you really want to p**s them off, its actually illegal to sell it to the parent when you know that it will be given to a child under the age limit lol. So if you get any parents coming in complaining cos u refused to sell their childs a 18 and then they try to buy it, you can refuse to sell them it on the grounds that you believe it will be given to someone under the age limit lol! Its the same kinda thing for buying alcohol (But obviously not as enforced!)

But if people are willing to buy a 18 rated game for their 10 year old, without either playing it themselves or reading up on it first they should not be allowed to complain! I personally love violent video games and find nothing more enjoyable then loading up something like Postal 2, shoving a cat on the end of my shotgun to silence it and blowing some guys head off, its so relaxing lol. However when I have kids, like hell are they playing any such game until I feel they are mature enough to play it. It goes the same for movies! I'm not gonna let my kid watch any Saw or Hostel movie until I feel they are mature enough to watch them.
Instead of having all these parents allowed to complain about violent games AND movies, they should be first asked how their child got hold of these to be able to play or watch them, cos I bet 90% of them will be because the parents bought them it!

All the world basically needs is for parents to stop being lazy <removed> and start paying attention to their kids and stop using a TV or computer as a baby sitter!

And all that crap about violent games n movies make people want to kill other people, I've played loads of violent games and watched loads of violent movies and guess what?! I've not killed anyone! It's a load of crap! You have to be seriously wrong in the head to want to kill someone (Or seriously p**sed off but I'm on about just random killings!), playing violent games and watching violent movies doesnt make people all of a sudden go crazy and decide "I know, today I'm going to take this axe out and wander around killling people!", at most all it does is give them ideas on how to kill people! (Like using a cat as a silencer on a shotgun lol!). But then should violent games and movies be banned because they give people creative ideas on how to kill people?! NO! Because there will always be some news show or newspaper who report it and it doesnt matter how they wer killed really, what matters is that they wer killed!
Would you honestly treat me differently if I had never played a violent game or watched a violent movie but one day ran into a school with a shotgun and started randomly killing people? But what if I had played hundreds of violent games and watched loads of violent movies, and then done the exact same thing. Is it because of the games and movies?! No, its because I would be some sick <removed> who was already wrong in the head and should have been locked up a long time ago!

Anyways, enough on this rant lol. Bottom line is parents should take responsibility of THEIR children and look after them, not letting them play or watch anything that they don't want them to!
M_Taylor40

[Fraz]

This kinda stuff makes me want to move to another planet with a smarter species.

[NightshadowUK]

I'm speechless, absolutely speechless...

[Agent]

I think that games should be rated in the same way as movies. Easy to understand for parents and it is there in front of you.

BBFC's are commonly applied to games as well as films

The problem is, parents just do not care. They will happily buy little 9yr old Jimmy GTA4 for his birthday.
Ask anyone who's worked in retail - stickers, warnings and asking at the till do nothing. Until parents wake up to their responsibility, it's all irrelevant.

[finlay666]

Ask anyone who's worked in retail - stickers, warnings and asking at the till do nothing. Until parents wake up to their responsibility, it's all irrelevant.

Yep, and you are in a bit of a catch 22 as you either make a questionable sale, or anger a customer who will simply go buy it from somewhere else instead.

The whole system annoys me, you have so many different guidlines it can be easy to get confused over a game, they need a BBFC, content description and let that be it!