All parents that buy video games for their kids, should be aware of their ratings.
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Have you ever heard of, or seen, one of the shown above?
If you haven’t, then is very important that you know about them, if you are a parent.
Every video game and app, depending on the region been published,
has a square with letters, numbers, words or even drawings.
If it is a physical copy, is going to have it on an edge of the cover
on the front, back or both sides.
Like these:
If it is a digital game, it should be somewhere on the description of the game or app in the online store.
But what exactly is it?
The answer: the age rating.
Age ratings
Age ratings, are assigned by a certain game authority, based on the game’s content.
It is like a guide to know who is the recommended target audience for that kind of content.
For example: you wouldn’t want a 6 year old playing a game that is rated M,
like the one showed above.
That specific M rated game contains:
●lots of Blood and Gore
●Intense Violence and Language
●It is a zombie game, that can cause fear to some
These are contents that are intended for mature audiences.
A 6 years old might end up with nightmares (personal experience here).
Also, there can be other M rated games that contain sexual images, some more intense than others.
That is were the game ratings authorities enter.
They are in charge of the ratings before the release of games and apps.
So let’s make a quick summary about some of these authorities
that were created so that people,specially parents,
can make a more informed purchase of games or apps.
The process for creating ratings
The process involves the developers and/or publishers
to submit a questionnaire
and game play of their product.
One way is through the International Age Rating Coalition, abbreviated to IARC.
The developers submit what is needed for rating and then gets evaluated,
and sent to each participating region game rating authority with their rating.
Each of those authorities then monitor those ratings on their regions.
Who is in charge of each region?
Ratings in North America and Canada
In North America and Canada, the ones in charge of those ratings are the Entertainment Software Rating Board, ESRB for short.
Established in 1994, they replaced the VRC, Videogames Rating Council, after some polemics happened with the VRC.
The ESRB, is one of many rating authorities that participates in the International Age Rating Coalition, IARC for short.
At first, they would use for rating games the following tags:
Later in 1998, they changed the 
to 
.
These are the categories that exist today, and what they may include:
If you are from these regions, or are importing a game from there,
you can visit the ESRB website for more detailed information.
They even have a guide for Parental Controls, which is very handy.
Ratings in Japan
In Japan, ratings are done by the Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (abbreviated as CERO), which was established in June 2002. They use the following in their rating system:
If you are from Japan, or going to import games from their, you can visit the CERO website for more detailed information.
Ratings in Europe
In more of 35 countries on Europe, the Pan European Game Information, PEGI, take care of the ratings. Launched at 2003, to replace multiple national age rating systems with one system. It also participates in IARC. Their tags look like these:
If you are from Europe, or are going to import a game from this region, you can visit the PEGI website for more detailed information.
The ones above, might be the ones you mostly see around, but there are others like:
Now, whenever you are going to buy your children a new game, make sure to check out their ratings.
Checking on the game’s site for more information can help to make a more informed and responsible purchase, or get information concerning parental controls.
Hope this is of some help to someone!
Thanks for reading!