Online game rating systems around the world

[Tankbuster 1733]

After my children in ArmA thread got Hoz'd , I asked him if we could have a wider ranging discussion on worldwide gaming rating systems. I couldn't find an existing thread without horrendous necroposting, so here goes.

Lets leave the ArmA/children aspect where it is, I'd like to discuss the regional differences.

I did discuss usermade content with PEGI, but we'll leave that to another thread.

So, to get it's PEGI 18 rating, ArmA had to specifically exclude child and civilian female violence, but ESRB doesn't mention it.

[dm 9]

Are you also open to discussion of ratings with respect to original content Vs. content added by addon and mod makers? Or do you want this to remain "original content only" ?

[Tankbuster 1733]

Both have merit. Why don't you fire up the usermade content + ratings systems in a separate thread?

[shinRaiden 0]

The non-gaming media makes no distinction between developer content, and user content, so I think it's fair to combine the discussion.

[Tankbuster 1733]

OK then.

This website, PEGI online gives a lot of information. In particular, they are aware that usermade content can have an affect on the audience.

I've not yet read it in detail, though I did notice they seem to be more concerned with persistant wold games and MMO games. I suppose that a war FPS with an ability (as designed by the developer) to support such a wide range of user made content is quite unusual in the genre.

I have had a short email exchange with the chaps at PEGI so it seems they are interested in informing us, if not, yet, debating with us.