BBFC vs PEGI - What system do you prefer?

Poll

BBFC or PEGI?

Recently PEGI was passed into law and so it's now legally enforceable. It's also become the primary video games rating body, which ends the long-lasting co-existance of the PEGI and BBFC systems. However, PEGI have very different ways of assessing games than the BBFC and tends to give games higher ratings, an extreme example being Mass Effect (BBFC 12, PEGI 18 a minor sex scene).

I also think that BBFC have a much better understanding of the British audience and they are much more familiar to people, which might let more parents understand the ratings properly; I don't the the content descriptions help much with PEGI ratings.

Being a Minor, I'm therefore inclined to BBFC, mainly because the ratings seem much more sensible for me than those of PEGI's where any kind of violence seems to lead to an automatic 18 rating because I think PEGI fails to account for context and the impact on the audience.

BBFC Ratings: U, PG, 12, 15, 18 (Although I don't think PG is ever used).

PEGI Ratings: 3,7,12,16,18 (I fail to see the difference between 3 & 7)

So, Which system do you prefer, and what are your opinions of both?

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 1

username33685

11

Prefer BBFC, as it is used for films there is no excuse for parents to not understand it properly (allegedly a lot of parents think the PEGI ratings are actually for difficulty of the game rather than its content) and so this should cover the industry's back next time there is some sort of incident in the Daily Mail. Also the BBFC seem to make more appropriate judgements with regards to ratings than PEGI, the Mass Effect example in particular. Also PEGI is European, so **** that ****.

Reply 2

Dalimyr

17

Original post by ThatPerson

PEGI Ratings: 3,7,12,16,18 (I fail to see the difference between 3 & 7)

Things rated 7+ will have a little more "violence" in them (which could be shooting robots or jumping on enemies' heads or things like that, but won't include shooting other people with guns), may contain very mild bad language (I don't know if they'd push it from 3+ to 7+ for someone saying 'darn', but 'damn' would probably be enough - I'd be a bit worried if a single utterance of 'damn' is enough to warrant a 12+ rating :p:

), and because they also rate on "fear", there might be things that are deemed too scary for little kiddies. The other stuff wouldn't feature in 3+/7+ games (sexual content's obviously a no-no, ditto for drugs and drug references, and discrimination won't feature either). It's the 'violence' aspect that's going to be the biggest factor in determining 3+/7+

Reply 3

pratstercs

2

BBFC. They're better for our specific audience, because something that upsets an audience elsewhere in Europe may not upset us, and we shouldn't have to suffer because of that. Plus, BBFC rate movies and TV as well, and so should do all media rather than having two boards as it's just going to make some things allowed by one and not by the other, which will end up being stupid.

Original post by ThatPerson

(I fail to see the difference between 3 & 7)

3 and 7 aren't legally enforceable by PEGI anyway

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 4

Bhumbauze

15

Personally, and as a parent, I think anyone who has a gamer child has a duty as guardian to develop an understanding of games for themselves, and follow the games their child will be.interested in, in order to make a PROPER decision about what is appropriate for their child. For one, every child is different (e.g. I was a MASSIVE fan of Schwarzenegger films aged 8 or 9 - whereas my best friend was terrified of blood) and also going by official ratings is just straight up lazy. It's often no real representation of content, at all.

I think the same about films, though. Some 10 year olds are perfectly comfortable with "scary" 18 rated films... Some 18 year olds arent!

Reply 5

ThatPerson

OP

18

Original post by Bhumbauze

Personally, and as a parent, I think anyone who has a gamer child has a duty as guardian to develop an understanding of games for themselves, and follow the games their child will be.interested in, in order to make a PROPER decision about what is appropriate for their child. For one, every child is different (e.g. I was a MASSIVE fan of Schwarzenegger films aged 8 or 9 - whereas my best friend was terrified of blood) and also going by official ratings is just straight up lazy. It's often no real representation of content, at all.

I think the same about films, though. Some 10 year olds are perfectly comfortable with "scary" 18 rated films... Some 18 year olds arent!

I understand that, but I don't think there is a realistic system to gauge a childs maturity to make sure a parent doesn't give them a game/film they aren't ready for. I can't wait till I'm 18 and free of this crap :wink:

I guess I just have to suffer for 3 years and be denied content that I don't find innapropriate. No game/film has ever caused any 'damage' or turned me into a criminal like the press seem to think so age barriers are especially annoying for me.

But I digress; in an unideal world, which system would you prefer? BBFC or PEGI?

Reply 6

wildrover

19

Just get a parent/friend to go into the shop for you and your problems are solved.

Reply 7

ArounaF

8

BBFC, because I wouldn't have Skyrim or Mass Effect if the BBFC versions didn't exist.

Reply 8

XBOXgamer_ps3

1

Original post by ThatPerson

Recently PEGI was passed into law and so it's now legally enforceable. It's also become the primary video games rating body, which ends the long-lasting co-existance of the PEGI and BBFC systems. However, PEGI have very different ways of assessing games than the BBFC and tends to give games higher ratings, an extreme example being Mass Effect (BBFC 12, PEGI 18 a minor sex scene).

I also think that BBFC have a much better understanding of the British audience and they are much more familiar to people, which might let more parents understand the ratings properly; I don't the the content descriptions help much with PEGI ratings.

Being a Minor, I'm therefore inclined to BBFC, mainly because the ratings seem much more sensible for me than those of PEGI's where any kind of violence seems to lead to an automatic 18 rating because I think PEGI fails to account for context and the impact on the audience.

BBFC Ratings: U, PG, 12, 15, 18 (Although I don't think PG is ever used).

PEGI Ratings: 3,7,12,16,18 (I fail to see the difference between 3 & 7)

So, Which system do you prefer, and what are your opinions of both?

The difference between Pegi 3 & 7 is that Pegi 3 doesn't allow violence or frightening scenes unless it is comical or slapstick which is likened to a BBFC U meanwhile Pegi 7 allows violence if it is mild and fantasy and can allow scenes that may frightening children under 7 which is likened to a BBFC PG.

Reply 9

XBOXgamer_ps3

1

I do prefer BBFC because more detail in content and you don't need to google to find out the intensity of sex/nudity & violence you would just simply look at the back of a game that is bbfc rated and see the content instead of darn descriptors and I believe bbfc would rate Tomb Raider (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider 15 and even marvel spider man 12 so I wished it was bbfc that was in control.

Reply 10

XBOXgamer_ps3

1

Original post by ThatPerson

I understand that, but I don't think there is a realistic system to gauge a childs maturity to make sure a parent doesn't give them a game/film they aren't ready for. I can't wait till I'm 18 and free of this crap :wink:

I guess I just have to suffer for 3 years and be denied content that I don't find innapropriate. No game/film has ever caused any 'damage' or turned me into a criminal like the press seem to think so age barriers are especially annoying for me.

But I digress; in an unideal world, which system would you prefer? BBFC or PEGI?

BBFC because I wouldn't have Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, Metal Gear Solid 4 & Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier in my PS3 library if they weren't rated 15

(edited 3 years ago)

BBFC vs PEGI - What system do you prefer?

BBFC or PEGI?

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you