Regulatory Issues In The Gaming Industry

Regulation is the prime aspect of games that keep them on the market and available to us, the consumers.

What Is Regulation?

Regulation by the dictionary definition is: A rule or directive made and maintained by an authority. This basically means that in the context of games that are developed, games need to abide by certain rules of content and the references that are made throughout them.

Games that contain high amounts of violence such as Left 4 Dead 2 are sometimes banned or censored in some countries worldwide, mostly because of the games content that is not seen as appropriate in the eyes of the government or the game regulators. Left 4 Dead 2 was censored in Australia because of its high content of violence and gore which is not surprising when the game is based upon the killing of zombies throughout a movie scripted style campaign. The main features of the game that were cut due to it’s explicitly were the Zombie riot cops that were shown in ‘The parish’ campaign in the first mission. The reason these were cut were because of the violence that was encouraged towards authority figure which was considered as unacceptable. Another feature axed was the extensive blood and gore that the game really gets its sparkle from. Left 4 Dead 2 and its gore are for myself the most appealing thing about the gameplay and the style of play. I enjoy slicing the heads off zombies and watching their heads slowly roll towards my feet. With the censoring, the bodies also disappeared shortly after they were killed. Although this was censored, the game ran around 40% faster which could be a massive improvement to many gamers and even an even better reason to play the game censored as the performance of the game would be much higher and more fun to play with a higher frame rate.

Who are regulation?

Now in the UK, PEGI are one of the main game regulators and are the ones who put the age ratings on the front of our beloved game titles we see everywhere. PEGI or Pan European Game Information are responsible for the age ratings on games and if they are suitable for distribution to the general public.

Another Company responsible for the content in games and if they are suitable for the gaming community are TIGA. TIGA Represent the games industry by attempting to make the United Kingdom the best place for games development and suitability. Without TIGA, many games we play and love may not have been put through as suitable to play and simply not released.

A lot Of Countries feel strongly about the content is games and many are much more concerned about the content than others are. Germany are extremely careful with the games that are allowed to be sold in their country. Any game that have references to the Nazi party are banned straight off such as Wolfenstein and The Darkness, not to mention the Nazi Zombies Game mode in the Call of Duty Series. Although this may be the case, Germany also ban the most intensely violent games, simply because of the blood and content. Left 4 Dead 2, Dead Rising 1 & 2 and Manhunt are all banned in Germany and other games that are soon to be released with high ratings of blood and gore will probably go down the same path. Other countries like Saudi Arabia have games banned simply because of the negative portrayal of Arabs, or the perception of them with games like Assassins Creed or Even Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.