20 facts about PEGI

1. PEGI stands for Pan European Game Information.
2. PEGI is a European video game content rating system.
3. It was established to help European consumers make informed decisions on buying computer games with logos on games’ boxes.
4. The PEGI system is now used in more than thirty countries and is based on a code of conduct, a set of rules to which every publisher using the PEGI system is contractually committed.
5. It was developed by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) and came into use in April 2003.
6. On 30 July 2012, PEGI became the sole system for age classification of video games in the United Kingdom.
7. As a result of this, games no longer have to be rated separately by the BBFC (although some still are, such as games based on films).
8. PEGI self-regulation is composed by five age categories and eight content descriptors that advise the suitability and content of a game for a certain age range based on the games content.
9. The age rating is not intended to indicate the difficulty of the game or the skill required to play it.
10. PEGI replaced many national age rating systems with a single European system.
11. Products with PEGI ratings are regularly available in countries outside Europe, having been exported for language reasons (e.g. games in French in Canada, or games in Spanish and Portuguese in Latin America).
12. PEGI has 7 categories for rating its games:
    1. 3: Suitable for ages 3 and older. May contain very mild violence in an appropriate context for younger children, but neither bad language nor frightening content is allowed.
    2. 7: Suitable for ages 7 and older. May contain mild or unrealistic violence (e.g. violence in a cartoon context), or elements that can be frightening to younger children.
    3. 12: Suitable for ages 12 and older. May contain violence in either a fantasy context or a sporting action, profanity, mild sexual references or innuendo, or gambling.
    4. 16: Suitable for ages 16 and older. May contain explicit or realistic-looking violence, strong language, sexual references or content, gambling, or encouragement of drug use.
    5. 18: Unsuitable for persons under 18. May contain extreme or graphic violence (including "violence towards defenceless people" and "multiple, motiveless killing"), strong and/or sexually explicit language, strong sexual content, gambling, drug glamorisation, or discrimination.
13. The 8 content descriptors are violence, bad language, fear/horror, sexual content, drugs, gambling, discrimination and online content, which are all factors they judge to decide what their ratings will be.
14. The gambling descriptor is one to particularly note. Video games rated PEGI 12, 16 or 18 may contain content that encourages or teaches gambling. In practice, only a small portion of video games contain gambling elements. If a game would offer the option to gamble for real money, it would be subject to specific gambling legislation in every country where it is released. Currently, none of the video games using the Gambling content descriptor contain gambling for real money.
15. Statistics, based on every game that was rated in 2013: 59% (916) have the Violence content descriptor, 29% (458) have the Online content descriptor, 22% (340) have the Bad Language content descriptor, 10% (159) have the Fear content descriptor, 3.5% (55) have the Sex content descriptor, 1.5% (23) have the Gambling content descriptor, 0.7% (11) have the Drugs content descriptor, 0.0% (0) have the Discrimination content descriptor.
16. To obtain the ratings for any piece of software, the applicant submits the game with other supporting materials and completes a content declaration, all of which is evaluated by an independent administrator called the Netherlands Institute for the Classification of Audiovisual Media (NICAM).
17. It is based on the Dutch Kijkwijzer system as well. Following the evaluation, the applicant will receive a license to use the rating logos.
18. If the applicant disagrees with the rating, they can ask for an explanation or make a complaint to the complaints board. Consumers may also make complaints to this board.
19. Although PEGI was established by an industry body (ISFE) the ratings are given by a body independent of the industry and the whole system is overseen by a number of different Boards and Committees. There is the PEGI Council, composed mainly by national representatives for PEGI, that recommends adjustments to the code in light of social, legal and technological developments.
20. A consumer survey commissioned by ISFE in 2012 demonstrated that the PEGI age rating labels are recognised on average by 51% of respondents in 16 different countries (highest: France – 72%; lowest: Czech Republic – 28%), while 86% of all respondents found them to be clear and 89% percent found them useful.