PEGI in games

PEGI 

PEGI is the United Kingdom's game age rating system, standing for Pan European Game Information.  

This is used to guide people to and from games based on their Age, for example a 12-year-old can play PEGI 12 games but not PEGI 18 games 

Another reason PEGI was created was to help parents keep their children away from harmful content and to be able to have control over what games they allow their children to play. 

PEGI 3 – allows younger people from a younger age to play suitable games without violence, swearing. PEGI 3 games contain absolutely 0 graphic content and are based on cartoons most of the time, supporting a child friendly environment 

PEGI 3 – this PEGI is suitable for any age group and can be played by anyone, the games rated PEGI-3 have minimal violence and no graphic content and are most often childish and very appealing to a younger audience while maintaining good standards such as; no swearing, sexual content. 

For example in Forza Horizon 3 there can be violence when a car crashes, but the only violence that can be seen is the car being damaged, this can be seen as a perfect example of PEGI 3 games as they will have this type of violence the majority of the time, damage only to the environment or non-living things 

This game is a racing game.  

PEGI 7 allows animated fighting and small amounts of violence and keep it innocent; the game will contain no more than minor violence 

PEGI 7 – this PEGI contains content suitable for ages 7 and older. The factors that differentiate this PEGI from the previous PEGI 3 are that PEGI 7 can contain minor graphic content and is ‘possibly frightening to younger children’ (quote from - Northfield St Nicholas Primary Academy). Can contain non-realistic violence. This means their will be no realistic gore shown by the characters. Swear words are not seen in PEGI 7 rated games as that is too harsh for 7 year olds.  

The minor violence mentioned, contains unrealistic violence against non realistic characters, it is kept innocent and to a minimum as they don't want to scare children or surround them with uncomfortable content 

This game is a Survival game  

PEGI 12 – PEGI 12 is where games start to contain more realistic and graphic violence not intended to be viewed by younger children. This PEGI can be played in games by age 12 and older. This PEGI is also where sexual imagery and sexual language can be seen along with swearing. Children under the age of 12 should not be allowed to play this PEGI rating 

Fortnite contains fighting with guns which can be seen as more graphic and unsuitable for younger audiences PEGI 12 starts to include violence towards fantasy characters or non-realistic violence towards nonrealistic characters 

The more realistic and graphic violence referred to in this PEGI is that harm and death can be seen against fantasy characters, as children are older these PEGI 12 games have some more mature content, such as swearing to a minimum such as; sh#t, (no racial slurs), sexual nudity and sexual characters. 

This game is a battle royale game 

PEGI 16 - PEGI 16 is where very sexual and erotic content can be seen along with extreme violence containing blood and gore and is the first instance where parents are highly recommended to ensure their younger children do not consume this content as it can be very overwhelming to younger minds. This PEGI can also contain more scary content, such as jump scares. 

The sexual content mentioned in the previous paragraph, in further detail can contain sexual intercourse without visible genitals, 

The extreme violence mentioned in the first paragraph regarding PEGI 16 can contain fighting, murder, accidental death. The difference between PEGI 16 and PEGI 12 for example is that when death may occur in PEGI 12 it will be very minimal with the content seen whereas in PEGI 16 there may be full detail on the victim's body or the passing of the person. This is one of the many reasons why a child under the age of PEGI 16 should be unable to play these games. Parents should make it a high priority to ensure their children under the age of 16 should not consume this content 

This game is a horror game 

Alan wake is a horror game which contains gore, jumps cares and grotesque images 

PEGI 16 can contain erotic nudity, or sexual intercourse without visible genitals 

PEGI 18 – This PEGI is the first instance where stores will ask for age verification or for you to be with a parent to purchase because of the extreme realistic violence and graphic sexual content. This rating is also where drug abuse and drug related crimes can be involved with games. PEGI 18 can reach a stage where it becomes ‘a depiction of gross violence’ (quote from – Wikipedia). This PEGI should only be played by adults. 

In the last paragraph realistic violence was mentioned, to go into further detail; the violence that can be seen in PEGI 18 games can be torture in high detail, seeing people or characters go through unbearable pain . Another instance where extreme violence can be seen in PEGI 18 games is that war can be shown in PEGI 18 and war can contain death of a mass number of people, shooting people, being shot, 

This game is a horde game where the player kills demons and the games tend to contain a lot of blood, gore, sexual imagery , sexual interactions, torture and visibly scary interactions