A motion picture content rating system classifies films based on their suitability for audiences due to their treatment of issues such as sex, violence, or substance abuse, their use of profanity, or other matters typically deemed unsuitable for children or adolescents. Most countries have some form of rating system that issues determinations variously known as certifications, classifications, certificates, or ratings. Age recommendations, of either an advisory or restrictive capacity, are often applied in lieu of censorship; in some jurisdictions movie theaters may have a legal obligation to enforce restrictive ratings.
In video games, censorship are efforts by an authority to limit access, censor content, or regulate video games or specific video games due to the nature of their content. Some countries will do this to protect younger audiences from inappropriate content using rating systems such as the ESRB rating system. Others will do this to censor any negative outlook on a nation's government.
PEGI, short for Pan-European Game Information, is a European video game content rating system established to help European consumers make informed decisions when buying video games or apps through the use of age recommendations and content descriptors. It was developed by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) and came into use in April 2003, replacing many national age rating systems with a single European system. The PEGI system is now used in 41 countries and is based on a code of conduct, a set of rules to which every publisher using the PEGI system is contractually committed. PEGI self-regulation is composed by five age categories and nine content descriptors that advise the suitability of a game for a certain age range based on the game's content. The age rating is not intended to indicate the difficulty of the game or the skill required to play it.
The BrazilianAdvisory Rating is a content rating system in Brazil for the classification of movies, games and television programs. The ClassInd rating system is controlled by the Advisory Rating Coordination of the Department of Justice Policies. It is established on the National Secretariat of Justice of the Ministry of Justice.
Censorship in South Korea is implemented by various laws that were included in the constitution as well as acts passed by the National Assembly over the decades since 1948. These include the National Security Act, whereby the government may limit the expression of ideas that it perceives "praise or incite the activities of anti-state individuals or groups". Censorship was particularly severe during the country's authoritarian era, with freedom of expression being non-existent, which lasted from 1948 to 1993.
Graphic violence refers to the depiction of especially vivid, explicit, brutal and realistic acts of violence in visual media such as film, television, and video games. It may be real, simulated live action, or animated.
The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board is a Filipino government agency under the Office of the President of the Philippines that is responsible for the classification and review of television programs, motion pictures and home videos.
The Korea Media Rating Board is a public organization that classifies films, videos, and other motion pictures into age-based ratings and recommends domestic performances of foreign artists. Through these rating systems, the Korea Media Rating Board provides domestic viewers with accurate information for their viewing and protects children from harmful and unsuitable materials.
A video game content rating system is a system used for the classification of video games based on suitability for target audiences. Most of these systems are associated with and/or sponsored by a government, and are sometimes part of the local motion picture rating system. The utility of such ratings has been called into question by studies that publish findings such as 90% of teenagers claim that their parents "never" check the ratings before allowing them to rent or buy video games, and as such, calls have been made to "fix" the existing rating systems. Video game content rating systems can be used as the basis for laws that cover the sales of video games to minors, such as in Australia. Rating checking and approval is part of the game localization when they are being prepared for their distribution in other countries or locales. These rating systems have also been used to voluntarily restrict sales of certain video games by stores, such as the German retailer Galeria Kaufhof's removal of all video games rated 18+ by the USK following the Winnenden school shooting.
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited at cinemas and video works released on physical media within the United Kingdom. It has a statutory requirement to classify all video works released on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, and, to a lesser extent, some video games under the Video Recordings Act 1984. The BBFC was also the designated regulator for the UK age-verification scheme, which was abandoned before being implemented.
The Australian Classification Board is an Australian government statutory body responsible for the classification and censorship of films, television programmes, video games and publications for exhibition, sale or hire in Australia.
Internet censorship in South Korea is prevalent, and contains some unique elements such as the blocking of pro-North Korea websites, and to a lesser extent, Japanese websites, which led to it being categorized as "pervasive" in the conflict/security area by OpenNet Initiative. South Korea is also one of the few developed countries where pornography is largely illegal, with the exception of social media websites which are a common source of legal pornography in the country. Any and all material deemed "harmful" or subversive by the state is censored. The country also has a "cyber defamation law", which allow the police to crack down on comments deemed "hateful" without any reports from victims, with citizens being sentenced for such offenses.
In South Korea, video games are considered to be a major social activity, with most of the games being cooperative or competitive. Locally developed role-playing, first-person shooter, MMORPG and mobile games have proven to be very popular in the country. Professional competition surrounding video games also enjoy a substantial following in South Korea—major tournaments are often broadcast on television and have large prizes available.
The Korea Communications Standards Commission is an institution of the South Korean government that regulates communications including film, television, radio, and internet.
The Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, created by Ed Boon and John Tobias, has been the subject of various controversies since its creation in 1992. In particular, Mortal Kombat has often been criticised by a broad spectrum of politicians and other critics for its unrestrained use of graphic and bloody violence, both in the game's regular combat scenes and its Fatalities—finishing moves that allow the player to kill or otherwise maim the defeated opponents.
The International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) is an initiative aimed at streamlining acquisition of content ratings for video games, from authorities of different countries. Introduced in 2013, the IARC system simplifies the process of obtaining ratings by developers, through the use of questionnaires, which assess the content of the product. This new process reduces the costs of video game developers as they seek to obtain ratings for their products that are distributed digitally online.
The Cyberspace Administration of China is the national internet regulator and censor of the People's Republic of China.
The Mexican System of Equivalences of Video Game Content Classification(SMECCV) (Sistema Mexicano de Equivalencias de Clasificación de Contenidos de Videojuegos) is the current legislation in Mexico in terms of the regulation of the age classification of video games. This legislation was adopted and published in the Official Journal of the Federation by the Secretariat of the Interior in November 2020 and entered into force on May 27, 2021.
