Ask A Question

About Us

Welcome to AskAboutGames. 

We answer questions parents and players have about video game age ratings, provide advice on how to play games safely and responsibly, and offer families helpful tips to ensure they get the most out of the games they enjoy together.

AskAboutGames is a joint venture between the VSC Rating Board and games trade body Ukie, run with input and advice from across the games industry.

Games are played by people of all ages, and are now a mainstream daily activity for millions across the world, just like music and films. That is why every game published in the UK has a PEGI age rating clearly displayed on the packaging – to help ensure that the right games are enjoyed by the right players. AskAboutGames is supported by video game publishers and retailers in the UK – who are keen to ensure their products are enjoyed by suitable audiences. If you have a question about age ratings, are looking for tips about safe and beneficial play, or want to discover the best games to play yourself or with your family, AskAboutGames is here to help.

Information about partnering and linking to askaboutgames can be found on our Partners page.

What To Ask

Here at AskAboutGames, our very name sets you a challenge. We encourage you to ask us about games, but just exactly what do we want you to ask? The very simple answer to that question is 'anything about games'.

Of course, when a medium is as varied, prolific and complicated as games, 'anything' can be an intermediately broad remit. Our primary purpose is to provide information on what games are right for you and your family. We're here to explain what games are appropriate for the context in which you play them, share information on the benefits and risks of enjoying games, and give you insights into how they are made, and how you can get involved with the games industry.

So you can ask us about – for example – careers in games, age ratings, online safety, how free-to-play works, what role games have to play in schools and how much time spent playing them is too much.

But we're not just here for the straightforward questions. Maybe you're interested to learn about how games can be used beyond entertainment, or ways in which you can use games to make learning at home more interesting for your kids. Perhaps you need a particular kind of game for some schoolwork or university research you're doing. You might even yearn to know what kind of educational path one needs to follow to make a living working with games.

And if you want statistics, we've can dig them out from our library of resources; from average wages for certain roles to numbers of studios currently based in the UK. We can equally point you to studies, reports and academic research into particular areas of games, from how they impact those playing them to how they are created.

Conceivably you have more unusual or less direct questions to ask us? If so, you're not alone. We get all kinds of unusual questions from outside our remit, and wherever possible, we try to answer them as long as they're about games. We receive enquiries asking for tips and gameplay strategies, which isn't exactly the reason AskAboutGames was established – but we always give it a shot.

We're not going to assert that we can five a meaningful answer to every unusual question about games you can think of; that would be a promise we couldn't reasonably keep. But if there's something on your mind related to games that you can't find anything about elsewhere, then be sure to check in with AskAboutGames.

How do you do that? You can email the team, of course, or if one of our blog posts or articles leaves you longing for more, there's always the comments thread below that piece. And, absolutely, reach out to us on Twitter at – you guessed it – @askaboutgames.

So, whether you're looking for a 12-rated alternative to an 18-rated game your child is begging you for, or are a teacher wondering how you can harness games' potential to engage youngsters with literature – or anything in between – that's what we're here for, so get in touch.