Universal Videogame List - www.uvlist.net

CERO has no english page ?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERO

I didn't know that PEGI was not the same in different countires... Well, it seems that only Portugal differs : "3+" is "4+" and "7+" is "6+"...

edit : and of course, I think it's a good idea. The more informations UVL got, the better it is :)

Personally I think ESRB Ratings are as useful as screen doors on submarines. They are based on politics despite promising to parents to rate content. For instance, Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster is rated K-A (Kids-to-Adults) despite a live action Dr. Frankenstein being a drug addict and shown injecting himself while the player watches. This is clear and blatant disqualifier for the K-A rating. Most likely the result of a negotiation between the creators of the game and the board, they gave up some other objectionable content and the board agreed to allow the drug use. Plus the content that's rated is probably not what parents are worried about. For instance, satanic rituals and other occult content, disrespect for authority, eating foods forbidden by religious traditions, body count, tattoos, body piercing, bad behavior without consequences, ninjas, language some parents don't want their kids using even though its not universally defined as fowl, and other concerns that are not universal. I know parents that object to the words suck, boner, this (as an insult), stuffed, nuts, crap, whore, frak, bugger, scum bum, balls, snap, bloody, scat, sissy (as an insult), slut, blarney, blow, bollocks, sun of a gun, hell, gob, chick, fubar, pig (directed at peace officers), fart. Yet there are K-A games that use these words in an objectionable way without any descriptors to warn parents. I won't even go into the racial and discriminatory terms that have been used in games, none of them are even listed for ESRB standards.


I do believe there is a place for content descriptors and listings, perhaps a special game comment field. I don't think any agency is qualified to make these comments. UVL members are a much more neutral choice. I do believe that content (which is what ratings are supposedly about) _does_ effect the quality of a game. Are the characters scantly clad? Why? Cause the game sucks and showing skin was the only way to sell it, perhaps? Listing all the 'negative content' of a game is a sad way of doing things and should be avoided. This is what ESRB and nearly all rating systems promise. They do not track positive content, which is important also. Does it attempt to inspire good in the player, or even effect the player's mood. In what way does the game deal with hope, compassion, family, loyalty, anger, love, hate, faith, horror, determination, free will, duty, tradition, war, revenge, forgiveness, patriotism, rebellion, respect, dignity, pride, ethics, sex, authority, health, freedom, obsession, education, sacrifice, selfishness, power. Is the player compelled to care what happens to the characters? Is the player encouraged to like and/or dislike characters in the game? Do the characters, lie, cheat, steal? Are they generous, friendly, helpful? These themes are achieved by content.


Also consider all the different rating systems. Should we include every system from every country and every trade union or just the American system? Perhaps the ratings, all of them, could be included as tags.

Before some one ask...
I just removed (stored apart) the last part of the above comment, as it was talking about "serious" stuff that I've not the proof of, like bribing-lobbying and some other "serious" things.
In some countries, writing things not true or still under legal judgment had forced some sites to close. Despite I can agree with anything above, I had to do this...

About the rest:

"I do believe there is a place for content descriptors and listings, perhaps a special game comment field ... UVL members are a much more neutral choice."
A democratic rating would be so utopic... I like it :-)

"They do not track positive content"
Really. In fact now I can easily have a list of drug-related games, but not one where you improve you character (i.e.) helping people!

"Also consider all the different rating systems"
I had a quite good esrb list. Not so lucky with the other ratings...

Was looking for the different lists and stumbled on this, touches the previous subject but has no bearing on much anything around here :)

www.answers.com/topic/truth-in-video-game-rating-act

It might be worthwhile to add BPjS/BPjM, too.

Wikipedia article about them/it
Official website

As far as I know, they're the ones responsible for game censorship in Germany (not rating, just plain old censorship.. you know, no blood and stuff like that, even if you're an adult), so giving info in game entries that they've been victim of them in German releases might be worth something to someone.

MobyGames has list of them, too: here.

Metacritic[?] seems to be gaining fame as a source for ratings, so it might be desirable to show their rating of games here where it can be applied. Especially if it can be done on client side :)
Edit: Yes, it's not really comparable to the other rating systems mentioned here, but they're ratings nonetheless.