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UK games getting new 'Traffic Light' labels to help stupid people photo

If you've ever had trouble in the past understanding the age ratings of a video game, then you're a f*cking idiot. Unsurprisingly, Britain is full of these arseholes, so UK games will soon be introducing a "Traffic Light" labeling system to help moronic parents understand videogames without taxing their mental reserves. Now they can save precious brainpower for important stuff, like thinking about Big Brother.

As you might have gathered, the system uses the red, yellow and green colors of a traffic light in order to provide a visual aid the mentally incompetent. A green label means the game will be fine for kids, a yellow calls for the long-dead art of parental guidance, while a red means that it's for adults. Before this, parents were forced to decide for themselves whether an 18-rated game was suitable for their 7-year-old child. Thank God for progress!

The system borrows from a currently existing one that rates food in a similar manner, based on how healthy it is. Publishing body ELSPA agrees with the new system, believing it will help parents become more informed.

Personally, I expect parents to ignore this, just like they ignore everything else, because they are either as thick as pigsh*t or too weak to tell their children that they can't have Gears of War. Videogames have had massive, impossible-to-miss "18" certificates on them for years and that hasn't helped. I appreciate the sentiment of this move, but it's likely to be lost on a fair few UK parents.


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25 comments | showing # 1 to 25

Shin Oni's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 13:24
Shin Oni
I don't think ANYTHING is going to help parents these days realize what age group said kid should play. It's not working anywhere and it's not gonna change no matter what.

next they'll probably try to have famous actors or something on boxes literally holding a note saying "FOR KIDS", "FOR TEENS" "FOR ADULTS"

maybe then will their mind say something.
falinter's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 13:25
falinter
Yeah I hate catering to the lowest common denominator.

If it were up to me I would cater the highest common denominator and have the ratings be complex geometry problems to figure out which age range they are suitable for.
vexed alex's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 13:29
vexed alex
You know, England has been helping stupid people far too much lately.

Between this and wrapping street poles in plastic material, these are far too safe.

I say we let Social Darwinism do it's job.
garison's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 13:37
garison
THis won't change the fact that many parents DONT CARE what their kids are playing. They all just see them as "stupid games".
TheDirtyHobo's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 13:43
TheDirtyHobo
At least the old age rating in the UK is, in my opinion, much easier to understand than the one in the US. Parents aren't necessarily going to know that M means Mature unless they glance at the text underneath the letter instead of the letter itself. "18+" is a little harder to interpret as anything else when you know that it's a rating.
KamikazeTutor's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 13:47
KamikazeTutor
I Like traffic lights.
I Like traffic lights.
I Like traffic lights,
No matter where they've been.
I Like traffic lights.
I Like traffic lights.
I Like traffic lights.
I Like traffic lights.
I Like traffic lights,
But only when they're green.

He likes traffic lights.
He likes traffic lights.
He likes traffic lights,
No matter where they've been.

He likes traffic lights.
He likes traffic lights.
He likes traffic lights,
But only when they're green.

I Like traffic lights.
I Like traffic lights.
I Like traffic lights.
That is what I said.

I Like traffic lights
I Like traffic lights
I Like traffic lights,
But not when they are red.

He likes traffic lights.
He likes traffic lights.
That is what he said.

He likes traffic lights.
He likes traffic lights.
He likes traffic lights.
He likes traffic lights.
He likes traffic lights,
But not when they are red.

I Like traffic lights.
I Like traffic lights.
I Like traffic lights,
Although my name's not Bamber.

I Like traffic lights.
I Like traffic lights.
I Like traffic lights.
I-- Oh, God!
John B's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 13:48
John B
Obligatory face palm. This makes about as much sense as the post-9/11 color coded terrorism threat ... and we all know how that works, right? Does anyone even know what color threat level we are or what is even means? Anyone? Didn't think so.
Druid 01's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 13:50
Druid 01
if it wasn't for my mom's inability to understand ratings i never would have been able to experience MGS1 and shit like Giants: Citizen Kabuto when i was 12 :)
Rifter01's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 14:07
Rifter01
Oooh! I can't wait to get my hands on a Red Light Special ;)
TheToiletDuck's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 14:30
TheToiletDuck
Can't wait to walk into a gamestore to find someone staring at an orange light rated game waiting for it to turn green
BlackSheep's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 14:40
BlackSheep
it won't be long until games are being yellow green, for E10 and UP

or a Red Yellow game...

fuck it, every game not on nintendo is yellow.

any FPS is red.
Zantetsuken's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 14:43
Zantetsuken
This really isn't going to make a blind bit of difference, if parents ignore a ruddy great 18 then they wont glance twice at this.

Shame though as the parents are always the first ones to bitch and complain about violent games.
Rosseh's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 14:55
Rosseh
The thing I'm concerned about is how this will affect my box art. I love my box art you sonofabitch!
3r0t1c n3rd's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 14:55
3r0t1c n3rd
Sounds like the rating system in good ol' germany. Only that the knocked it up a notch lately by having the rating symbol cover 1/6 of the box. I'm not shitting you:

[img]http//www.example.com/image.gif[/img]
Krahsh's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 15:12
Krahsh
uh... wow...
tarzanell's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 15:12
tarzanell
You're fucking hilarious, Jim. I hope you never have to compromise your sense of humour as a journalist, you're one of the only to get me to laugh out loud.
Edge of Blade's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 16:10
Edge of Blade
I guess the game industry is now responsible for making sure parents aren't color blind. First, we must police the consumer, now we have to be their optometrist.
Timmeh's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 16:15
Timmeh
Right, because colours are going to be successful where the ratings scheme that has been used for videos for a long fucking time failed. Okay.

Fucking government. If they spent this much time/money telling the banking sector what they can and can't do -as they should be- the economy would be in better condition.
Jon2309's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 17:20
Jon2309
Since the actual picture hasn't been posted yet, I'm going to jump in.

Captain Bastard's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/28/2008 18:39
Captain Bastard
Well, colors are definitely funner than letters and numbers.
JustLikeBuck's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/29/2008 04:25
JustLikeBuck
All they need to do is let the BBFC rate everything. Not because the BBFC is particularly better than PEGI, but because that's what we're used to on films.

If Parents see U, PG, 12, 15 or 18 on a box, they know what's involved. They'd at least pay as much attention as they do to DVDs.

A pale gray box with 7+ upon the case should be quite simple to follow. But in Britain, parents expect the BBFC ratings. It's what they know and trust.

Why do games need a whole new rating system that will cost time and money to implement, when every Film reviewer feels competent to rate games, anyway?
Conan-san's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/29/2008 05:14
Conan-san
Oh goody, another eyesore to my game package.

@JustLikeBuck,
well, ok then, just expect every game to cost £10-20 more as the BBFC hover up on languages and such within the games.
JustLikeBuck's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/29/2008 06:45
JustLikeBuck
@Conan-san

I'm sure there could be something aranged. Release-Price DVD's get cheaper by the month, despite mandatory BBFC review.

And if it did cost, I would expect eh Government to pay. After all, it's their fault people can't read.
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/29/2008 09:44
Holyetheline
I will let my kid play most M rated games when he turns 13... of course I also need to have kids to do that.
Conan-san's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/29/2008 10:10
Conan-san
@JustLikeBuck
You figgure that A) The goverment gives a frangrent shit (It doesn't by far) B) The BBFC will not price gouge given how much time will be have to be put in to "Review" a game for content.

Plus, I don't want to find content magicaly missing from my PAL Copy of something, thank you very much.
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