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BBFC responds to the Byron review

by Steven Williamson on 28 March 2008, 08:57

Tags: ELSPA

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Welcomes the film stlye classification system, of course

Responding to the publication yesterday of the Byron Report, David Cooke, Director of the BBFC, the organization responsible for film, DVD and some video game classification within the United Kingdom, said:

“I warmly welcome Dr Byron’s report. She has listened very carefully to all the arguments, and exercised her independent and expert judgement.

“It is clear from Dr Byron’s report that games classification is less well understood that that for films and DVDs. We all need to work hard to bring understanding up to the same level, and help parents and children make informed choices. Games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas are for adults, and should be treated in the same way as ‘18’ rated films and DVDs.

“Dr Byron says that when it comes to content, parents want better information on which to base their decisions. I welcome the film-style classification system and greater role for the BBFC which she recommends in paragraph 7.47 of her report.

“At the BBFC we provide symbols which are trusted and understood; thorough, independent examination by skilled games players; individually tailored health warnings, and also the full reasoning for the classification covering all the key issues; a cutting edge approach to online film and games content, including independent monitoring.

“We co-operate closely with the Pan European Games Information Systems (PEGI) and will continue to do so. “Unlike PEGI, the BBFC has the power, in exceptional cases, to reject films, DVDs and games which have the potential to pose real harm risk. We reject an average of two to three works a year (mostly DVDs) and will continue to do so where it is necessary to protect the public. At the adult level, we respect the public expectation that adults should be free to choose except where there are real harm risks. But we do not think it would be right to remove the reserve rejection power and we are pleased that Dr Byron agrees with this.

“The BBFC has been able to handle a major expansion of the DVD market over the last few years, and we are ready and able to take on the extra work envisaged by Dr Byron. We attach great importance to providing a speedy and effective service, primarily to the public, but also to the creative industries who produce films, DVDs and games. We will be talking to the Government, PEGI and the games industry about how to implement Dr Byron’s recommendations.

“We are also studying very carefully Dr Byron’s recommendations on the risks children face from the internet, and believe we have a significant contribution to make in this area too.”


HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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I'm not sure if this is a waste of time - we have a rating system (which parents appear to ignore) - does making it ‘official’ make any real difference?

The simple fact of the matter is that parents need to look after their kids.

OTOH i'd be glad if we finally realised that we CAN have adult orientated games out there and then we could stop freaking out when a pair of boobs appears in a game. Games are always seen by the mainstream media as ‘for kids’ when statistically nothing could be further from the truth.
I havent read the report my self only read other peoples views of it, It seems though that the byron report speaks a lot of sense.

BY using the same standard that Parents are already familair with in the film industry and as long as the parents actually pay attention to them instead of the current ysituation where parents seem to think that computer games arent as bad as movies then it should start to give the games industry a bit of credibility.

Plus it will shut Jack thompson up…. Wel we can dream :D
dangel
I'm not sure if this is a waste of time - we have a rating system (which parents appear to ignore) - does making it ‘official’ make any real difference?

The simple fact of the matter is that parents need to look after their kids.

OTOH i'd be glad if we finally realised that we CAN have adult orientated games out there and then we could stop freaking out when a pair of boobs appears in a game. Games are always seen by the mainstream media as ‘for kids’ when statistically nothing could be further from the truth.

The weird bit is talking about GTA.

GTA is *already* given a BBFC rating, which is legally enforceable under the same rules as a DVD (with the hardened laws following the Jamie Bulger case). Not only that, but BBFC ratings on games are roughly 4x larger than BBFC ratings on movies.

Making PEGI ratings legally enforceable will not improve a thing - parents ALREADY ignore legally enforceable ratings and buy inappropriate material for kids.
I remember reading somewhere about a parent who kicked off at the staff in Game for telling them that the game they where buying for their 12 yr old was aimed at over 18`s.

I have grown up playing games and I do want games aimed more at my age group now. The problem is because the parents and ppl in other media still perceive games as being childish then the notion is that all games should be suitable for their 12 yr olds.
dangel
I'm not sure if this is a waste of time - we have a rating system (which parents appear to ignore) - does making it ‘official’ make any real difference?

The simple fact of the matter is that parents need to look after their kids.

It was only a matter of time before this sort of thing was going to happen. The problem we have at the moment is that we have 2 standards, one is enforceable by law the other is a voluntary system. It makes sense to have one over riding standard.

Your right tho about parents needing to look after their children, just today i was talking to someone at work who said her 13 yr old son wanted GTAIV. But she was in two minds about buying it for him. Its this sort of situation that needs to be fixed, parents need to be educated. But i can't see that happening.