2. BTEC Extended DiplomainCreativeMediaProduction
Understand the regulation of the media sector
Use this workbook to help you with this learning outcome. There is some guidance
and further notes which you should read and then remove, replacing it with your own
answers.
Which regulatory body did you research?
I am researching P.E.G.I.
What are they in charge of regulating?
P.E.G.I. is in charge of regulating video games such as Grand Theft Auto and
Call of Duty.
When was the body set up? Why was it set up?
P.E.G.I. was first set up on April 2003 it was set up to help European parents
make informed decisions on buying computer games for their children.
How is this organisation funded? Why is it funded that way? Are there any
benefits or drawbacks to being funded this way?
Pegi gets paid in a process of distribution, before a game goes to the shops it
has to have an age rating so the game developer would pay Pegi to test the
game and to rate it.
3. BTEC Extended DiplomainCreativeMediaProduction
What powers does the regulatory body have? What can they do if someone
breaks their rules? Who gives these powers to the body?
Pegi has the power to classify video games and give them an age rating which
means you must be this old to buy and play the game. Some one under this age
will not be able to buy the game but if they play it nothing really happens. The
government of whichever country’s game they rate give them the power to rate
their video games.
How does the industry use it?
Most game developers have tosendtheirgamestoPEGI before they canevengetit realised,
some timesa feature is missedthatwould change the age ratingbut whenitisfound PEGI
would rate it a higherage.
How can the public use it?
People buyingvideogamesthatactually use the ratingsotherthanthatits mainly parents
buyinggamesfortheirchildren whodon'twanttheirchildren playinggamesthatare not suited
for themandmake sure thatthey are not beinginfluenced byanythingbad.
What kinds of regulatory issues does your body deal with the most?
PEGI deals with who gets to play a video game and by who I mean what age
range a video game is.
Case Studies:
Find a case study which demonstrates the regulatory body working in practice.
A game named Bully was banned in Brazil because it showed violence and
harassment in a school setting. They didn't want school children to be influenced
by this.
4. BTEC Extended DiplomainCreativeMediaProduction
Regulation:
You should answer the following questions using the information you have
gained so far in the unit to help you provide examples to support your opinions.
You may also wish to undertake further research to help you produce detailed
answers.
Should there be regulation of the media?
I believe there should be regulations on media because then there is control to
who sees what. An example is that it makes sure children are not watching films
with violence, offensive language and scenes of a sexual nature, this is good
because they might not understand the things they are seeing and in some case
try to imitate it and even to an adult this is not acceptable behaviour.
Should regulators be independent?
I don’t think they should because then they have no control over other
companies ratings. Also if they are not independent they can work with other
companies on certain games ratings. If they are not working together the age
rating for certain games will be too different in different countries.
Extension tasks
Answer just one of the following questions with a long form answer using specific
examples to help support your opinions.
Why do we allow regulatory bodies to censor media products like films
and video games?
To make sure under age people do not view things they should not. It also
makes it clear what the audience of the film or video game is.
