Pan European Game Information
Encyclopedia : P : PA : PAN : Pan European Game Information
Participation is voluntary, at the discretion of the game developer. To obtain the ratings for any piece of software, the developer completes a questionnaire, which is then evaluated by the Netherlands Institute for the Classification of Audiovisual Media (NICAM) and ratings are given. It's based on the Dutch Kijkwijzer system too.
There are two parts to the classification for any piece of software — a suggested minimum age and also up to six descriptions of content, such as the use of strong language, violence, etc.
Age ratings
PEGI has five age categories. In the countries of Finland and Portugal, local legislation conflicts with some of the ratings and they are changed accordingly.| Region | 3+ | 7+ | 12+ | 16+ | 18+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 
| 
| 
| 
| 
|
| Finland |
|
| 
| 
|
|
| Portugal | 
| 
|
|
|
|
Content descriptions
The six content descriptors are:
| Bad Language | Discrimination | Drugs | Fear | Sexual Content | Violence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
|
Examples
- Bad Language - Grand Theft Auto series or The Warriors
- Discrimination - Original War
- Drugs -
- Fear - Survival horror games, such as & Resident Evil
- Sexual Content -
- Violence - First person shooters, such as Doom 3
Where PEGI is used
PEGI is used in 25 European nations (albeit with zero legal effect). They are:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland (also has a local rating system which is given by VET/SFB instead if PEGI rating is missing)
- France
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Republic of Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom (if a game contains certain material, BBFC rating is used instead)
See also
- CERO, the Japanese computer and video game rating system
- ESRB, the United States and Canadian computer and video game rating system
- ELSPA, the former British computer and video game rating system, replaced by the PEGI ratings.
- USK, the German computer and video game rating system
- OFLC, the Australian media rating system
- OFLC, the New Zealand media rating system.
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.