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Ukie and the VSC Rating Board have re-launched age rating site, AskAboutGames.com. The two organisations will jointly run and fund the website, which contains information about PEGI age ratings, online safety insight, advice on family-friendly games and tips on how to use parental controls effectively.
Heading up the newly re-launched AskAboutGames is journalist Will Freeman, who previously edited MCV’s sister magazine Develop, and has since gone on to write for The Guardian, The Observer, Vice, Edge and Eurogamer.
Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of Ukie,commented: Making sense of games relies on people being able to access the right information, and knowing how to use it effectively. AskAboutGames is here to ensure that parents, families, educators and more can make informed decisions on how to keep their children safe online, which has always been a top priority for the games industry.
"The VSC Rating Board and Will are the perfect partners for the project as between them they have a world of knowledge about family-friendly games and PEGI ratings, and we look forward to working together to really promote online health for players of all ages."
Ian Rice, director general of the VSC Rating Board, added: Our goal is for parents and carers to be able to make informed decisions when buying games.Supporting AskAboutGames helps us reach a much greater audience, meaning that in this time of heightened concern about eSafety, more parents can be confident they are making the right choices towards keeping their children safe and happy online.
Freeman said:"I’m thrilled to get on board with AskAboutGames for at least two reasons. Firstly, I adore sharing the potential of games with people, and AskAboutGames is a brilliant way of doing just that. Secondly, the diversity of the game medium’s content today is perhaps the best thing about it.
"That does mean, however, that we have to be careful and responsible in making sure game content is appropriate to the audiences that consume it. Game age ratings are not a matter of stifling or censoring the medium; quite the opposite, in fact. Knowledge is power, and information about game content gives audiences, industry and games themselves the potential to flourish all the more.”
