PEGI Ratings Help Parents Choose Games

We return to the park to find some more parents to ask about PEGI ratings. Martin has a young daughter who is just starting her journey into gaming, he talks about how askaboutgames.com may help him to find appropriate games for her. He also discusses how he chooses games to play himself and how the PEGI ratings help this decision.

It's interesting to Martin talking about the different rating information (Fear, Violence etc) as a way to choose games rather than a way to avoid games. This further detail about the ratings can serve as guidance for adults as what sort of game it is they are buying.

We also look at the new PEGI 18 ratings with him, and ask him how much difference the age limit makes to his purchasing decisions. He was keen to clarify whether this is now legally enforced, and how much attention shop keepers should be giving to it -- something we could obviously answer what with PEGI being legally binding for 18, 16 and 12 rated games.

Martin's daughter (3) plays games on the iPad and has various apps on that. However, like many parents he is considering what the next gaming step might be for his family -- mentioning technology like the Wii gesture controlled games and the Xbox Kinect hands-free controller that lets you control games with your body.

Like many dads who play games Martin has a console (Xbox 360 in his case) but currently only uses that on his own. He talks about choosing games based on reviews and advertising rather than purely age ratings. This is something he finds easier than buying for his daughter when you "never know if your kid's going to like it or not" as he puts it.

We'll track with Martin and his family as they decide how and when they will be playing games together. It will be interesting to see how the PEGI and related resources can aid this journey.