Is PEGI too tough?

Reading through the list it's hard to argue with any of the categories, or the sensible and balanced guidance offered on how to interpret each band. There are still some eyebrow-raisers though. The rather quaint "bloody hell" warrants a 12 rating just as much as more forthright swears like "shit", "wanker" and "twat". All racial and homophobic slurs also fall under the 12 rating, interestingly.

Final ratings are then handled two organisations which check the publisher's assessment form against the material that has been flagged. PEGI does not play the games from start to end or attempt to see everything in the game.

Games rated 3 or 7 fall to NICAM in the Netherlands, while the Video Standards Council in London tackles 12, 16 and 18 games. Key to the ratings process is the fact that as a pan-European body, PEGI has no wriggle room for incorporating cultural context into a rating.

"I think there is a problem in that the UK has some difficulty in accepting and possibly understanding that the PEGI games rating system is not like the BBFC film and video rating system", explains Gianni Zamo, communications officer for the Video Standards Council.

"The BBFC operates on a contextually-sensitive basis which gives them a certain amount of freedom in deciding a film category. As an example, The King's Speech was given a 12A certificate even though the film contained a goodly smattering of f-words that would normally get a 15.

"However, the BBFC justifies the 12A by contextualising the use of the bad language stating that it is said in a speech therapy context rather than being used abusively or aggressively.

"I suspect the average German, Italian or Frenchman isn't remotely interested in Anglo-Saxon swearwords and their potential to offend."

"Here in the UK most of us would probably understand and accept that rationale. In mainland Europe however, it's pretty meaningless given that the f-word carries no weight as a swear word and I suspect the average German, Italian or Frenchman isn't remotely interested in Anglo-Saxon swearwords and their potential to offend."

As it turns out, The Kings Speech was given a 7 rating in Switzerland and a PG in Singapore - "Which suggests that the bad language was not an issue as far as these countries were concerned," says Zamo.

"In short, therefore, the use of context is very localised. What might be contextually acceptable in one country may not be so in another, which is why the PEGI system cannot function on this basis, nor would it wish to do so."

So instead PEGI bases its ratings on whether or not the imagery of a game is likely to cause "harm" to a particular age group, a distinction that Zamo admits is the subject of much debate.

"For western Europe at least, there do appear to be some commonly shared values and an understanding of what is considered to be appropriate for each age group.

"As an example, a game featuring strong, explicit sexual violence is unlikely to be considered suitable for anything other than an adult audience. Different degrees of violence will result in nuanced age ratings, depending on how realistic and true-to-life the on-screen representation of a violent act is."

This often isn't the case for film, Zamo says. For instance, French film censors have a reputation for being liberal compared to the UK. 'The Exorcist' was finally awarded an uncut 18 rating for Britain in 1999, "Whereas the French gave it a '-12' (forbidden for under 12s) without a second thought. Go figure, as the Americans would say."

There are also some common misconceptions about what elements impact a PEGI rating. Although online play appears as one of the advisory icons on packaging, it doesn't change the rating.

"Neither the PEGI system nor any other regulatory system can legislate for the behaviour of a user online or any user-generated content which is not a normal part of the game," Zamo explains.

PEGI does uphold the PEGI Online Safety Code, however, which requires publishers to police their own online communities to ensure it remains in line with accepted standards.

Nor does repetition of an action alter a rating. This was one of the assumptions I had made to explain why a game like Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions might be rated 16, on the basis that thousands of punches to the face of hapless goons might have some cumulative effect that wouldn't hold true of a similar one-off action in a movie.