censorship of electronic games

This page provides a perspective on online censorship by looking at censorship of electronic games. 

It covers -

• introduction
• games regulation in the EU and North America
• and in Australia and New Zealand

     introduction

Regulation of computer and video games has been characterised as a model for the rating of online content.

Prior to the 1970s, with the advent of electronic arcade and console games such as Pong (1972) and Space Invaders (1978) most nations and local jurisdictions had licenced game venues - eg pinpall parlours from the 1940s - rather than individual games. Few states had formal rating systems for games; regulatory regimes were instead based on licensing/delicensing of premises (often under public health legislation) and suppression of games because they featured improper images.

That changed with the arrival of electronic arcade games and subsequent proliferation of electronic games played on proprietary devices such as the Gameboy, with consoles on domestic televisions and on computers. Some nations implemented government ratings schemes for electronic games (generally based on film rating systems), with outright bans of some content and prohibitions on retailing of unrated works. Others relied on sef-regulatory rating by industry bodies, essentially parental advisory schemes similar to those highlighted earlier in this guide.

Games regulation has traditionally been based on labelling packaging of games and inclusion of rating identifiers within the games, with rating schemes having a national or regional basis. New challenges are posed by the emergence of online games - particularly those that aren't commercial or that that encompass players in several jurisdictions.

The Council of Europe claims that -

• 58% of online kids play games on the net
• 30% of online kids play games at least one day a week, some up to seven days per week
• 5% of the kids play online games for ten hours or more per week.

     EU and North American games regulation

The European Union's regulation of computer games centres on the Pan European Game Indicator (PEGI), an EU-wide industry self-regulation regime devised by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE). It came into effect in 2003 and replaces existing national age rating systems with a single 'age rating' system that aims to ensure minors are not exposed to games unsuitable for their particular age group.

The rating system comprises two separate but complementary elements: an age rating (in cohorts of 3+, 7+, 12+, 16+, 18+) and game descriptors that identify the type of content in the game. A game may be identified by up to six such descriptors, which encompass Discrimination, Fear, Violence, nudity and/or sexual behaviour or sexual references, Drugs and "Bad Language". The rating reflects the EU NICAM scheme that seeks to provide parents/guardians with a standard rating for film, video and broadcast content.

In the UK the Criminal Justice & Public Order Amendment to the Video Recordings Act 1994 extends the definition of a video recording to any device capable of storing electronic data: computer generated games and works are now therefore covered by the Video Recordings Act and associated rating.

Regulation of games in the US has been contentious, with recurrent criticisms by consumer advocates and government agencies that industry self-regulation has been ineffective. In 2000 the Federal Trade Commission's Marketing Violent Entertainment To Children: A Review Of Self-Regulation And Industry Practices In The Motion Picture, Music Recording & Electronic Game Industries report for example concluded that the film, music and game industries "routinely and consciously market products to children that they themselves designate as unsuitable for children due to their violent and mature content".

In the US commercial games are rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). The ESRB is an industry body, established in 1994 by the Interactive Digital Software Association (ISDA) and independent of the Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSAC) that was initially driven by Nintendo and Sega. The ESRB has supposedly rated over 8,000 games since inception. Its rating scheme - with labels on packaging and as part of the electronic content - features age-appropriateness indicators and content descriptors "that refer to violence, sex, language, substance abuse, gambling, humor and other potentially sensitive subject matter".

Attempts to restrict purchases by minors have encountered difficulties. In 2003 the US federal Court of Appeals (8th Circuit) for example ruled that computer games

regardless of their content, are constitutionally protected speech. If the first amendment is versatile enough to 'shield (the) painting of Jackson Pollack, music of Arnold Schoenberg, or Jabberwocky verse of Lewis Carroll' (Hurley, 515 U.S. at 569), we see no reason why the pictures, graphic design, concept art, sounds, music, stories and narrative present in video games are not entitled to similar protection.

and sniffed that claims of a "strong likelihood that minors who play violent video games will suffer a deleterious effect on their psychological health is completely unsupported in the record".

     and in Australia and New Zealand

The key legislation is the Classification (Publications, Films & Computer Games) Act 1995 (here) discussed earlier in this guide.

It embraces prohibitions on the import, sale, hire, advertising or exhibition in Australia of computer games in the Refused Classification (RC) category. Other categories are -

G games considered suitable for all ages

G8+ games considered to suitable for those 8 years and over

M15+ games considered suitable for persons 15 years and over (with elements that might "disturb, harm or offend those under 15 years").

The three categories are advisory ratings, without restrictions on who can play the games. A MA15+ classification treats games identified with that rating as a legally restricted work: such games "contain material that is likely to disturb, harm or offend those under 15 years" and cannot be sold, hired or played by persons under the age of 15 years unless accompanied by a parent or adult guardian. There is no R18+ or X18+ classification for computer games.

For Australian computer games censorship see in particular Anthony Larme's site.






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