the regulation of the video game industry

The regulation of the videogame industry is largely ineffective, thanks to digitally convergent technologies

Above is a straightforward conclusion that you can use in pretty much any exam response on regulation, or media industries in general. It means that it is impossible to impose regulations, as digital technologies have made it so easy to sidestep regulations

It's illegal for newspapers to harass people and publish material which may stir racial hatred. How do certain newspapers get away with it? By publishing online, where regulations are harder to impose, and letting the commentators say exactly what they really want to say instead!

Videogames are very much in the same ballpark. We have some of the strictest regulation of the videogame industry in the world, after a few notable examples such as Germany, and especially Australia. However, it is easy enough to circumvent regulation. If a game is banned or censored in the UK (for example Manhunt 2 on the Nintendo Wii), it can be imported from other countries like America, or even downloaded for free if we include piracy as an option.

this is a form of regulation used in the video games industry. these images are a form of content regulation set out by pegi. 

PEGI- pan, European, gaming information

they allow consumers to make choices about games they play, they're much more descriptive than all other forms of media. this allows audiences (most specifically parents) to make informed decisions about playing games, we can see it gets very specific and vague- 'fear' 'bad language' 'gambling'

this indicates something about the perceived target audience for video games, it's for children who have adults buying them.

video game regulation in UK was very spotty and before elspa (1998) there was next to no regulation. there were a few systems of regulation, publishers might put 'for adults' but this was very much self-regulation. 

however, due to a number of reasons it was considered very important to implement a form of consumer based regulation.

both of these were advisory as a pose to being legally binding. the levels of information provided are similar to the bbfc, with a series of ages. but pegi are very clear in the statement that this isn't based on difficulty level, not even how suitable a game is for age groups. but they relate the content which may cause harm or offence or distress.

the content descriptions go into even more detail.

there's drugs and discrimination labels.

this indicates that the video game industry is regulated to substantial degree, it also indicate the fact video games are fair more adult than a lot of parents consider, and the idea behind this system is to help parents make informed decisions.

however, pegi isn't the be all and end all. there is no obligation for video games in the UK to hold a pegi label and there's no obligation for shops or distributors to follow up on the pegi rules.

this leads to interesting circumstances.

in the UK any shop can refuse service to anybody for reasonable means, this may well come into force under the pegi system- the shopkeeper can choose not to sell to underage kids, but it's not a legal obligation.

but things can get a lot more confusing than this, 

resident evil two, released in the mid 90s for ps one.

silent hill, released in 1999 for ps one.

resident evil 2 has a bbfc certificate, previously the bbfc would regulate video games if they had fmv- full motion video, aka actual video of actual people.

the seventh guest was the first game to get one of these- released on teh PC by trilabiye in 1993, got a bbfc 15

other early noticeable games with bbfc ratings-

-nighttrap, 1994, sega mega cd

but not every game which gets a bbfc certificate has fmv.

resident evil 2 is a zombie survival horror game, it's very violent and gory which is probably why the BBFC decided to intervene. however, arguably the game isn't actually that disturbing, it's quite silly with huge spiders and crocodiles. 

silent hills is a franchise which has been abandoned by it's developers knarmy, it is absolutely terrifying as it's a psychological horror game. they focus on the mind and do things to upset and play with the audience's expectations of video games. it has many adult themes of sex, violence and mental health- all extremely adult and nightmarish. however, it's very notable that despite the fact these games were released very closely resident evil got a BBFC certificate and silent hills got an elspa certificate. 

silent hills is a lot more impactful and scarring but offered no problems of purchase and resident evil had minimal PTSD effect on players but was a lot harder to obtain.  

Regulations- the rules and restrictions a media product must follow. sometimes they're strict- UK BBFC is extremely strict. 

key thoery- regulation, sonia Livingston and peter hunt

-the increasing power of global media corporations together with the rise of convergent media technologies and transformations in the production, distribution and marketing of digital media has placed traditional approaches to media regulation at risk.

types of regulation 

a form of regulation which exists to inform the consumers what kind of content is in the media product. this is in order to help audiences make informed choices. the best example of this is pegi. it's to make consumers make decisions, so we can choose exactly what to buy. 

where a provider, distributor etc regulates themselves. youtube regulates itself, it completely goes over the head of traditional regulation. the regulation guidelines are bonkers, the things you can and can't do are completely the opposite of what you might expect in the UK. it's extremely ineffective. they do implement an age restriction but it's incredibly easy. another example is ipso- a very vague form of regulation for news media.

the effective regulation of media products is largely impossible due to digital convergent technologies. -livingston and lunt

you can repeat this for any industry in media!!

piracy- completely sidestep any form of legal regulation.

by accessing something illegally you take the revenue away from the distributors and you sidestep all regulatory routes.

why are video games regulated?

this idea that media products have an effect on audiences (bandura, stuart hall reception)

it is important certain media products are kept out of some people's hands

murder themes, violence often in quick succession. 

certain games have been given bbfc and certain have been given pegi. tells us the regulation of the video game industry is largely ineffective. it is confused. there's no real reason which can only cause confusion in consumers.

pegi arent very effective, especially w the bbfc coming in and undermining it.

the regulation of assassins creed isn't that effective

As a bare minimum, you must know who regulates videogames in the UK and the rest of Europe, and Livingstone and Lunt's criticisms of this!

Preventing harm 

We arguably need regulations and rules for two broad reasons:

To protect intellectual property or copyright 

(to stop people from pinching your product and not paying you), and

To prevent harm

(to stop people from being mentally scarred after using your product)

We can also add in libel and defamation here, i.e deliberately damaging someone's reputation, but we don't need to think about this so much for the videogame industry.

Task - watch some of this gameplay footage from Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

• What material in this game is likely to harm or offend an audience?

speech encouraging and hyping war, romanticising religion for performative reasons? images if war and death- both fmv and interactive, graphic spurts of blood desensitising and potentially scaring players, fear- tense music, creep mode (i forgot the name where they're crouching and hidden), night/dark gameplay. all the empowered characters seem to be white men (representative of the time? but a sexist ideology to give kids. teaching people about violence 'stealth attack' 'hunter damage' 'assasin damage' 'warrior damage'

racist representations 

 could offend religious people

• What age certificate does this game deserve? 

at least a 15

• How have you reached this conclusion?

it has examples of violent ideologies that decoded by younger audiences would influence far too powerfully, there's no examples of sex so i don't think it needs to be higher but the audience does need to be of age to understand the wrongs of racism, sexism and the trivialisation of religion before being subjected to the normalisation of it.

• How does being an interactive videogame affect the potential harm and distress this game may cause?

it's more immersive, the player must take responsibility for the actions and become a virtual murderer rather than simply watching one. 

• In what ways does this game try to be inclusive and accessible to audiences?

is this question referring to interactivity or audience identification?

• Who is the target audience for this game? Be very specific (age, gender, social class, etc!)

boys, 15-25? lower-middle-class, assassin's creed fans and gamers, people who like violent themes and being 'cool.'