To coincide with the UK having PEGI implemented as the single UK age ratings system for video games this July, Ukie (The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment) will be launching a consumer and media campaign to promote the new PEGI age ratings system and the positive aspects of responsible game playing to parents.
Ukie will also be re-launching the askaboutgames.com website in July, to be an on-going consumer and industry resource. The askaboutgames site will play an integral part in delivering the wider campaign’s messages with information and tips for parents, and showcases of how playing video games is a collaborative and creative experience.
Ukie has enlisted family gaming expert Andy Robertson (of youtube.com/familygamertv and www.wired.co.uk/news/geek-dad) to run askaboutgames.com. Andy will be bringing his considerable experience of helping families get more out of video games to the website and the wider Control.Collaborate.Create. campaign.
The Control.Collaborate.Create. campaign will run from July to December and will cover the following key themes:
- Control – ensuring that parents have the knowledge of the tools that they can use to control games content (including PEGI and parental controls)
- Collaborate – encouraging parents to engage with and understand the games that their children are playing
- Create – promoting games as a creative, fun and worthwhile activity for everyone
Here’s some more details of initial campaign activity:
Control: This will initially see the creation of a video for parents featuring information about the PEGI rating system and what the ratings mean, as well as offering practical advice on how parents can influence the way their children play video games by using in-built parental control devices. This video will be circulated to national and parenting press and bloggers to increase awareness of what the video games industry does to promote responsible gaming.
Collaborate and Create: This will see the launch of a competition to find the UK’s most collaborative and creative game playing families, who will then become campaign Family Ambassadors. The competition will be launched at this year’s Games Britannia Festival in July and offers the winning family games related prizes such as the opportunity to have their very own personalised games characters created by a top development team.
More details on further activity will be announced throughout the year.
Ukie CEO, Dr Jo Twist said “We know games are played by more and more people every day but there continue to be myths about them and it can be confusing for parents to know what games their children should be playing and how they should be playing them. That’s why Ukie is creating the national Control. Collaborate. Create. campaign and re-launching the askaboutgames website, to promote tools like PEGI and to encourage people to have honest and open conversations about games, and how they can be enjoyed responsibly as part of our everyday entertainment experience.”
Andy Robertson, said: “Working with Ukie on askaboutgames.com and the Control.Collaborate.Create. campaign is an excellent opportunity to broaden how video games are perceived. Through videos, blogs and reviews askaboutgames will engage families of all shapes and sizes with information and tools to better understand and get more from the games they play.”