Three men in Borehamwood will become solely responsible for rating computer games in the UK, after a plan sponsored by Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, to have titles examined by the film censor was abandoned last week.

Digital Britain, the communications White Paper, concluded last week that game publishers could keep their controversial rating system, which has been criticised by some as weak and lenient when it comes to violent games.

Critics of the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) system used by computer games makers had called for the British Board and Film Classification (BBFC) to rate 12, 15 and 18 computer games. Last week’s decision, however, means that the film censor will lose its existing legal power to censor games that feature “gross violence” — such as Grand Theft Auto — and apply an 18 rating.

Advocates of the PEGI system say that it has been strengthened and its standards match those of the film censor. Against this, the BBFC has said repeatedly that the PEGI system is weak and that it does not have enough staff to handle the number of games being produced. David Cooke, the BBFC director, said that he believed the film body “satisfies the requirements [of age rating] better” than the PEGI system.

The BBFC has ten examiners, who cover about 3 per cent of the games released each year in the UK. In contrast, under the PEGI system, games makers fill in a tick-box questionaire.

Their answers are checked by a body called the Video Standards Council, which is based in Borehamwood and until recently consisted of a former policeman and a music industry lawyer. A third staff member has been added recently.

There are several examples of unusual or contradictory games classification decisions. Manhunt 2, a game in which players perform “executions” to eliminate opponents, was passed uncut as an 18+ game on the PEGI system, but was rejected in its original form by the film censor. Rockstar, the publisher, eventually cut it and released it with an 18 certificate last year.

A 2006 game based on The Sopranos television programme, The Sopranos: The Road To Respect, was rated 16+ by the games body, but rated 18 by the film censor because it involved what was described as “sadistic violence”. The German regulator banned the game.

The BBFC discovered an apparent recipe for the manufacture of the drug crystal meth at the heart of Grand Theft Auto IV, prompting crisis talks with Rockstar, the game’s maker. After checking that the recipe was inaccurate, it remained in the game.

Last week’s decision to back the PEGI system represents a turnaround by ministers and other critics of the games classification system. Tanya Byron, the television doctor and Times writer — asked by Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, to review children’s safety in games and online — had initially called for the film censor’s remit to be expanded to cover 12, 15, and 18 games.

She said that the PEGI system was poorly understood by parents and that many parents thought its 3+ to 18+ ratings referred to the game’s difficulty. This could mean that parents, who believed that their children were advanced, were at risk of buying inappropriate games.

Dr Byron has since said that the existing PEGI system had been “strengthened”. Siôn Simon, the Creative Industries Minister, justified the new thinking, saying that “the new system of games classification” would match the “high standards” of the film industry.

For the first time, games ratings would be backed up by law, placing them on a par with film ratings. That means that shops can legally refuse to sell shoot-em-up games to children under age. Shop owners can be prosecuted for turning a blind eye to such transactions.

PEGI is ultimately owned by the computer games industry trade body and some fear that it may not feel able to ban games that are submitted.

However, Mike Rawlinson, the director-general of ELSPA, the trade body that represents the computer games industry, said that standards had been toughened up. He said that the three people in the Video Standards Council were “very skilled in their work”. ELSPA said that of 50 games rated by PEGI as 18+, the film censor downgraded 22 of them.

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