Ubisoft has commented on the age-rating for its "sexy" party game We Dare, after a week of pretending not to notice how f*cked up it is. The response? Blame PEGI, the European ratings board!
"We Dare is intended for a mature audience and Ubisoft created its marketing campaign accordingly," asserts the publisher. "The PEGI ratings system is decided upon by a pan-European body and the rating for this game was bestowed by the independent PEGI board. Ubisoft has added a ‘Parental Discretion Advised’ sticker to the game in order to ensure that parents are informed of the potential sensitive nature of the game content."
PEGI stands by its rating, believing it to be the correct one: "PEGI does not take into account the context of a game when rating it, we only look at the contents of the game. [We Dare] has been rated as a PEGI 12 because it contains mild swearing, minor assault on a human-like character and words/activities that amount to obvious sexual innuendo, explicit sexual descriptions or images and sexual posturing."
Hilarious stuff, but it does somewhat expose the arbitrary nature of videogame ratings. One would think context is important, and when you remove that, you end up with 12-rated sex games. I mean, on its own, a dildo shaped like a bunny isn't going to be pornographic, but you wouldn't give it to your daughter on her tenth birthday. Unless you're Josef Fritzl.
It's a strange business, and a perpetually imperfect one, but maybe software raters should do a little independent thinking when judging a title.
Ubisoft and PEGI Address We Dare Age Rating Concerns [Cubed3]
Contest:
8:30 PM on 03.03.2011 | 
BRB, Googling Josef Fritz!
IGN has already posted an article saying that video game raters don't even have to play the game to make judgment on what rating it gets.
So down here, its okay for kids to be exposed to mature Sexual Themes, but beating people to shit and preforming graphically violent finishing moves is bad.
Oh, unless you're a shooter...then you can have as many sexual references, drug use and violent finishing moves as you want and you'll probably get a rating without any troube (Bulletstorm and Duke Nukem were all passed MA15+ without trouble)
With the whole R18+ controversy raging down here, its amazing to see the complete lack of consistency coming from our Classification Board.
Oh and Ubisoft recommended that We Dare should get an M rating down here...but were ignored.
I socket final attack revive, and counter cast PRaga!
And lemonade with summer breeze...
For example: Grand Theft Auto for the PS1 was originally rated 15+ (ELSPA rating, which was pre-PEGI and wasn't legally binding) in the UK, but when parents complained about it's content, they stepped in and re-rated it 18 (BBFC, which is legally binding).
If they worked as people in this chat seem to think... well wouldn't you be pissed off if you bought an X rated porno and it was just a comic about bunnies hugging? Content is what ratings judge, not intent, subtext or other contexts.
@plufim Yes, tits or controversy
Maybe parents should do a little independent thinking?
I'm sorry, but I feel enough has been done. They're marketing it to adults and have put a warning label on the package. It's ultimately the job of parents to monitor what games end up in the hands of their children. If there's a screw up it's on their heads, not the retailer, not the publisher and not the ratings board.
PEGI labels games much in the way that the ESRB does; by including a short description of what elements in the game contribute to the rating it's received, (i.e. language, suggestive themes and violence), although it looks, (based on a quick glance at their website), like they use icons instead of text descriptions. Any parent with two brain cells should be able to look at the box and decide if they want their kids to play it.
Besides, is it really any worse than the playboy and hustler magazines we had when we were 12?
Yes it is worse because you couldn't get the magazine preggers
- It's a piece of crap.
- It's a piece of crap ABSOLUTELY NOT erotic ! It's a false ad...
Really. If it's rated for 12yos, how bad can it be?
Wait, you can get video games pregnant? Holy crap, somebody should alert the media!
In all seriousness, though, no. I'm sorry, but your argument is just hyperbole. If a 12 year old boy was going to be having sex with a 12 year old girl and getting her knocked up, then it was probably going to happen without the aid of this video game.
With the widespread availability of hardcore pornography on the web, some "softcore" party game isn't going to be the catalyst. I'd be willing to bet not too many kids are even going to want to buy this game unless they *already* know what sex is, and at that point we can't blame the game for teaching them about sex. They're already looking for a means to learn about and have sex, so it's not any worse than "spin the bottle" or "truth or dare"; it's just a method that requires a game console.