FEATURE: Irish parents ignore age ratings on violent and obscene computer games
Many parents ignore age ratings on violent or obscene games, as
advice from the self-relegated retailers often falls on deaf ears as
parents buy 16+ and 18+ games for children, writes Cian Ginty.
Staff at the main Dublin video games retailers agree that minors are looking for adult-rated games “all the time”.
We interviewed retail staff at six game stores in Dublin, most said
that when they explained to parents that a game’s content was not
suitable for children the majority bought the game anyway. The content
of these games includes drug taking, violence, and sexual references.
BBC research published late last year states the average age of
gamers in the UK at 28 years old, but retail staff in Dublin agreed
that the majority of people looking for adult rated games are children.
Surveys of game players in both the US and the UK may put average
age of gamers well above 18, but again according to the BBC research
into game player’s habits, higher percentages of children play games
more often. In addition, 70% of younger gamers aged 6-10 favoured
‘action adventure’ games, in the age group 25-35 the popularity of this
genre dropped below 50%
In a striking similarity to underage drinking, one game shop staff
member said that when children are refused they sometimes ask other
shoppers to buy the game. This wasn’t echoed by staff in other shops,
but this may have been because of the store’s location on one of
Dublin’s busiest shopping streets.
Ger Connolly, Deputy Film Censor, at the Irish Film Censor’s Office
(IFCO) commented, “Our own research of parents’ attitudes would suggest
they are very concerned as to the suitability of anything their
children are watching”.
Parents
are still buying these games for their children, even though an IFCO
survey on parents’ views recorded ‘drug taking’ and ‘violence’ as the
topics that cause parents most concern. With age ratings, 83 percent of
parents replied ‘drug taking’ was ‘very important’, followed by
‘violence’ at 75 percent. Including the percentage of parent who said
these were “fairly important” pushes the percentages beyond 90%.
For age classifications of games the Irish censor’s office
subscribes to ‘PEGI’, a voluntary pan-European age ratings system.
Ireland is represented by the Deputy Film Censor on the board of PEGI,
but the voluntary system has no legal basis in Irish law.
“We strictly enforce PEGI, we treat it as its mandatory” said commented Michael Finucane, Commercial Director, GameStop, one of the largest Irish games.
“As with all entertainment mediums, not all content is appropriate
or acceptable to all people” commented a spokeswoman for Microsoft,
maker of the Xbox 360 games console, “We believe in the rights of
parents and caregivers to make educated choices for their families on
the appropriateness of a game’s offerings”. Microsoft help families
make these decisions Microsoft actively supports and abides by all game
rating systems in effect in the different parts of the world.
Publishers — such as Microsoft, Sony, and Rockstar — only have to
voluntarily submit a game to the Irish Film Censor’s Office if the game
is “deemed prohibitable”, which includes games which containing obscene
or indecent matter or possible incitement of crime.
The UK uses a similar system. However, in the UK more games are
referred to the censor to be legally classified. Across the border in
Northern Ireland games rated for over 18 end up with the recognisable
red ‘18′ circular logo from the British Board of Film Classification
(BBFC).
In the Republic, it’s different. The recently released ‘Vice City
Stories’ for the PlayStation Portable, the latest title in the
well-known Grand Theft Auto series, only received a PEGI 18+ age
rating. ‘Gears of War’ for Xbox 360, which includes screen filled
blood-splatter after chain saw use, also appeared on Irish game store
shelves with the dull black and white age rating.
With games publishers the situation appears to be if in doubt sent
it to the BCFC, but it’ll pass in Ireland using the voluntary ratings.
Irish Times misleads on ‘Bully’ game
Dublin-based self-proclaimed newspaper of record, the Irish Times,
has published misleading details of the computer game ‘Canis Canem
Edit’ in an article calling for a boycott of the computer game.
The incorrect detail draws a powerful negative image of the game,
while the article featured on page three of last Saturday’s newspaper
– a space usually filled with news of national importance.
In a reference to an early mission in the game, “A new computer
game that depicts a schoolboy tormenting a homeless man” starts the news article (sub req), and later repeats “the game features… the tormenting of a homeless man who lives in a bus near the school”.
The mission starts with the main character and his newly acquired
friends planning to do annoy a homeless person; however, the
player-character quickly becomes a friend of the man. The game does not
simply depict “a schoolboy tormenting a homeless man”.
It’s unclear if the erroneous detail comes from the National Youth
Council of Ireland, who have called for a boycott of the title.
Originally named ‘Bully’, the title was renamed ‘Canis Canem
Edit’ (Dog Eat Dog) for Europe.
It holds a 16+ advisory label in the Republic and a 15 certificate
in Northern Ireland. Unlike some conventional wisdom would dictate
children are not the main age bracket of computer gamers.
According to its publisher, Rockstar, says Canis Canem Edit uses “humorous tongue-in-cheek storytelling.
Early
missions include retrieving a chocolate bar for an obese girl, and
protecting a “nerd” boy from bullies. The newspaper lists these as
“the game features… an overweight girl searching for chocolates and
the teasing of another overweight child with a weak bladder”.
Games Toaster has previously reported excessive negative and unbalanced reporting of computer game related news by the Irish Times.
A prime example concerns another game from the same publisher. The
timing of television advertisements for ‘Grand Theft Auto: San
Andreas’ ended up as an issue of complaints to the Advertising
Standards Authority for Ireland.
The authority upheld the complaints and the Times reported the
story. However, in doing so the newspaper only published two of the
complaints included in the ‘ASAI Complaints Bulletin 05/2′. Of over
20 in total, two ‘Reader Travel Offers’ from the same Irish Times were included in the majority of up held complaints.
Youth Council of Ireland wants boycott of “shocking” game, Canis Canem Edit
The National Youth Council of Ireland
wants Irish shops not to stock what Ireland’s newspaper of record
describes as “A new computer game that depicts a schoolboy tormenting a
homeless man and throwing eggs at other children”.
The NYCI wants shops and consumers to boycott ‘Bully’, renamed ‘Canis
Canem Edit’ (Dog Eat Dog) for Europe. The game holds a 16+ advisory
label (pictured right) in the Republic and a 15 certificate in Northern Ireland. Bully
is made by Rockstar, the publisher of the controversy Grand Theft Auto
games.
Gearóid
Developer criticises Ireland’s games courses
Kelly, a leading figure of IDGA Ireland, has criticised game development education in Ireland.
Kelly, co-ordinator the of Ireland branch of the International Game Developers Association,
has written an extensive report on the state of game development
education. Titled “The Problems with Game Development Education in
Ireland”, it focuses on both the Republic and Northern Ireland and is
published at gamedevelopers.ie.
His main point of disapproval is “the apparent re-badging of
traditional media and computer science courses to include the word
‘games’ somewhere in the title, while failing to adapt the content
and instruction offered to deal with real-world issues”.
Also outlined was a lack of industry consultation over course
content, a lack of industry-experienced lecturers, a failure to update
course content in keeping with the industry change, a failure to
communicate with the industry in regards to work placements, too many
short certificate and diploma courses, and a failure to include enough
team-based projects.
Problems aren’t confined to Irish courses; noting the industry accreditation scheme ‘Skillset’
set up in the UK last year, Kelly said that only four of forty games
development courses there were awarded accreditation. The report also
states, “industry commentators in the UK, US and Canada have voiced
similar concerns”.
Kelly, a founder of IGDA Ireland, is an executive producer at Nephin
Games in Galway. He has previously worked at Intel and Instinct
Technology. He is a contributor to IGDA papers, and has judged the
Irish legs of the Dare to be Digital student developer competition.
In the article, he says it is not intended as a “course bashing
rant”, saying, “I am not alone in wishing I was able to recommend
many of the Irish games development courses to aspiring students rather
than encourage them to go to the UK and attend one of the more
established courses”.
Pointing out that games development is “closer to Arts education
than Science education” Kelly says courses should portfolio-based. He
adds that there should be a focus on teamwork, “In the real world,
your students will rarely if ever be doing projects on their own”.
The article points to the IGDA’s ‘Curriculum Framework’ as a
guide, and advises collages to contact the IGDA Ireland, the local
industry, or go to the education forums at gamedevelopers.ie.
Havok warns of lack of graduates as high numbers fail science and maths in Leaving
A representative of Havok, the Irish games middleware company, has been on RTE Radio One’s Liveline
saying that Ireland is no longer turning out high numbers of the
computer graduates that is needed. He was saying that while they would
like to hire locally, they had to hire people in from abroad.
Havok’s spokesperson also
highlighted that while their company may be seen as fun orientated
because of computer games their job placements are mostly heavy on
math.
This comes as the same day of the Leaving Cert results with high failure numbers in science and maths, and with 4,000 students failing ordinary level mathematics. Mary Hanafin, the Minister for Education, asked students who did well in the subjects to look at doing relevant third-level courses.
Irish prisons to get new PS2 consoles, says tabloid; PlayStation not linked to killing
- No substantial link between PlayStation and killer, possible questionable sub-editing
Last Friday’s ‘the Irish Sun’ tabloid newspaper leads with the
headline “PLAYSTATION KILLER”, somehow in reference to Wayne
O’Donoghue, who was convicted of manslaughter of the 11-year-old
Robert Holohan.
There is apparently no link between the killing and the games
console, the paper only says O’Donoghue, like other prisoners, will
be getting a PS2 when the prisons upgrade from the original PlayStation
consoles. The tabloid quotes an unnamed ‘prison source’ stating
“All the old PlayStations are being replaced with new PS2s so prison
officers are up to their eyes in games consoles”.
The paper, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News International, is famous for the “Gotcha” headline,
used when the British Navy sunk an enemy ship in the Falklands war; it
is thought to be inappropriate as 368 men were killed. “Your headlines
often made us feel sick”, the Sun’s official historian later quoted a
British serviceman, adding there were “ritual burnings of the Sun” on
navy vessels.
Xbox 360: Higher price in Ireland - inconsistencies in Microsoft’s VAT reason
Ireland and Portugal were given a higher ERP, but not Belgium, which has the same VAT rate.
After lengthy questioning by Games Toaster, Microsoft
has maintained VAT is the reason for the extra charge on Irish
consumers. “Finland and Portugal both announced ERPs the same as
Ireland”, said Orla Sheridan, Home and Entertainment Division Manager
of Microsoft Ireland.
However, for some unknown reason, consumers in Belgium will only be
charged the general euro price, “Their messaging was
PSP consoles taken in van robbery in Dublin?
According
to the Garda Press Office “a number of Playstation 2 Hand Pods” and
an “assortment of PS2 games” have been taken in a van robbery in
Dublin. They are apparently referring to Sony’s handheld console the
PlayStation Portable, as well as games for such.
The van was robbed this morning at a petrol
station at Pinnock Hill in Swords, Co Dublin. The theft comes just days
before the launch of the new portable console on Thursday, althought
it’s worth noting that the PSP has however been heavily imported,
at least by a selective amount of hardcore gamers.
“These items are not available to the public at present. If they
happen to be offered for sale or supply to members of the public or
business fraternity could they please contact The Gardaí at Swords on
01 6664711″ states a Garda press release.
Related news
- PSP European launch in September (26/04/2005)
WEEE - retailers to take back old consoles
Games
consoles, and other hardware, are among the items covered by the new
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive. The WEEE directive,
which will require retailers to accept old electrical and electronic
products, comes into affect in the Republic this Saturday.
Retailers will be obliged to offer this service free of charge, but
it is only on a one-for-one and like-for-like bases. “the WEEE must
be of a similar type or have performed the same function as the new
item purchased. For example, [retailers] are not obligated to accept a
microwave if [the] customer has purchased a toaster” states a Department of the Environment document.
Retailers, as well as producers and importers, of ‘Electrical and Electronic Equipment’ should already be registered as such.
“Fuck” on Disney game? Speculation it’s a pirate copy?
The British red top, the Sun, has reported that a 7 year old girl found “Fuck off and die” on a Game Boy Advance game based on the Disney/Pixar film Monsters, Inc.
Her father paid £200 for Monsters, Inc, another game, and two GBA
handheld consoles. He was apparently shocked to find such vulgar
language on a children’s game. He told the tabloid “Surely Disney test
their games or see what goes out in their name”.
However, speculation has being spreading on internet message boards
that the copy of the game that contained the words was probably an
illegal pirate version.
With some message board’s users saying the words were in a pirate
copy, and others backing this claim up by posting the picture from the
Sun’s website of the girl holding a GBA and the game cartridge, beside
another photograph of the game’s box, manual, and game cartridge. The
two cartridges differed in colour and detail, although this could be
explained if the two were from different regions.