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You are here: Home / Technology for Families / Gaming safety- Do YOU know what the symbols mean on your console games?

Gaming safety- Do YOU know what the symbols mean on your console games?

by Mumonthebrink 69 Comments

I can’t believe what I dumbo I can be!  I try to protect my children- provide them age appropriate toys, limit television to the least violent and frightening things, only go onto safe Internet sites with them and so on. Yet, despite having our XBox for over a year now, with a handful of games, I was totally oblivious to what the PEGI (Pan European Game Information) ratings actually mean.

I thought the PEGI ratings symbolised for which age group upwards the games were suitable in terms of ability.  Do you think the same?  Well we are WRONG, as I found out through taking a challenge with Askaboutgames.com.  To quote from the site:

the PEGI rating on a game confirms that it [the game] contains content suitable for a certain age group and above.  …It is not, however, a measure of who will enjoy the game or how difficult that game is.

Not only that, but there are little symbols- content descriptors that tell you why a certain game is given a certain PEGI rating. Totally didn’t look at those before.

So as you can imagine I scored pretty low on the following quiz. Oops! *hangs head in shame*

Try it! See how you do. (…and put me to even more shame.)

[mtouchquiz 1]

 

 

So how did you do?  How much was news to you?

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Filed Under: Technology for Families Tagged With: Kinect, Safety, Technology, XBox, XBox 360 Kinect

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gavin says

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    93% (Some were guesses though)

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  2. Louise G says

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    I only got 64%, got the PEGI ratings wrong, I thought there were more

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  3. Natasha Weston says

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    I think parental ratings and control is a must with the varying amount of games out there today!

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  4. Julie Davies says

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    71% – not very well I’m afraid

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  5. Lynn Doe says

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    I got 79%

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  6. Paul H says

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    You have completed 5/7 questions .
    Your score is 71%.

    Total guesswork from me though, but I remember when the original grand theft auto got an age rating.
    Good luck everyone
    Paul

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  7. Holly Smith says

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    57% Oops!

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  8. Darius Dragasius says

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    86%

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  9. S Edwards says

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    100% 😉

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  10. Wendy Lam says

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    I got 100% but also mostly guesses. Mmmm….maybe I should buy the lottery today, lol.

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  11. Liane says

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    79%

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  12. Ruth (geekmummy) says

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    7/7 – 93% (got one answer wrong first try)

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  13. SJ HEARNE says

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    71% a couple I got wrong.

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  14. Hollie Adlam says

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    Really interesting quiz, opened my eyes to some things. Think we all need to pay more attention to what they all mean 🙂

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  15. Clare Webb says

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    I knew them all except one – Question 2, the legally enforceable ages. I never knew 12 was one. 86% for me.

    But being a “gaming” family – we all love to have a blast on it at least once a week – I’m pretty clued up when it comes to computer games. There are some games I know just from the title or previous games in the same series to keep away from the kids (mine are 12, 9 and 3 by the way). For instance, I wouldn’t let them play on Grand Theft Auto.

    At the moment, we are playing the Lego series – Lord of the rings in particular. I’ve always been a fan of these, the kids love them, I love them, and they are pretty easy to get the full 1000 achievement score (on the xbox 360) – ooh, I forgot to say, I’m obsessed with my gamerscore! Anyway, back to Lego LOTR, the PEGI rating on that is 7+ yet I allow my 3 year old son (almost 4) to play it – it’s not as frightening as they make out, ok the Narzgul are a bit freaky, but mostly, as other Lego games, it’s comical. If I had any worries about my son being scared, I wouldn’t let him play on there.

    Which reminds me of a shopping trip back in December. We had gone to Sainsburys, and sat in the Cafe with my mum and the kids, I noticed a young boy – couldn’t have been older that 8 – with a copy of Saint’s Row the Third in his hand. He and his sister were looking at the back of the case getting excited. Now Saints Row is an 18+ game – and for very good reasons! The first one I played but made sure the kids were in bed before doing so. It’s just not suitable for any child in my opinion. The violence, the sex – I shouldn’t need to say more. Saints Row the Third is even worse!! I refused to play it after watching my husband spend an hour running around with a huge, umm, let’s just say “plastic vibrating thing” – search it if you are clueless – as a weapon – certainly not suitable for kids! To say I was gobsmacked that these kids’ mum had bought the game for them is an understatement. I wish more parents took the time & made the effort into learning what these ratings are.

    (Sorry to ramble on) xx

    Reply
    • Mumonthebrink says

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      Thanks for the ramble! It is sad that some parents just don’t care what media their kids consume. It is wrong, because it robs the children of their childhood and makes them deal with things they should not have to or can’t deal with and worse may de-sensitise them to extremes of sex and violence. So, so sad!

      Reply
      • Clare Webb says

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        Oh absolutely! I mean, I’m not a prude – there are some films I’ll let the kids watch as long as I have first and deemed it ok for them. I think it should be down to the parents to decide but then some are after an “easy life” and let their kids do what they want 🙁 My brother-in-law is 3 months older than my eldest daughter (12) and he’s constantly on the xbox gaming – especially on Call of Duty (which is an 18+) and it actually saddens me to think that, not only is he allowed so long on the xbox so no real interaction between real people, but he’s allowed to play this game.

        Reply
  16. liz denial says

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    I scored 4/7 57%

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  17. Alison Wakefield says

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    I got 71% so not too bad but need to have a better look on games I think

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  18. Charley Foulds says

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    No real surprises- both when researching didn’t know that these ratings were only legally enforceable against retailers since 2012- thought it was longer than that!

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  19. Claire Sims says

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    I managed to guess my way through and got 100% !! I did know some mind and some were common sense but there were some guesses in there too but I am still feeling smug about my 100% !!!!!

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  20. anthony harrington says

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    71% – hangs in shame and shuffles off!

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  21. Elliot Holland says

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    93%, not bad

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  22. belinda porter says

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    86% I didnt know the spider one and icon one

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  23. Richard Hopkins says

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    57%. Very poor 🙁

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  24. Kieran says

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    86%

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  25. kerry Locke says

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    Only Half right .. had no idea to be honest .. will need to keep myself more informed for when they start asking for games !!

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  26. hannah oneill says

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    100%

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  27. abigail edkins says

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    I got 2 wrong, I was surprised to know that all the age ratings are legally binding for retailers. I thought it would just be under 18s

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  28. abigail harris says

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    100% yay

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  29. Leanne Lunn says

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    I scored 100% but some of this I have to know for my job.

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  30. angela sandhu says

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    50% That is so bad!

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  31. Gaz Mills says

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    93%. I messed up on the spider icon thinking spider=web. I have a 14 year old son so quite clued up on the PEGI stuff.

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  32. Suzanne sendell says

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    I had 77%

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  33. Jane T says

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    I got 86%, which I don’t think was too bad.

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  34. melanie stirling says

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    2/7 oh dear! That is bad!

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    • Mumonthebrink says

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      Oh no! Hope it helped to learn some new facts though. 😉

      Reply
  35. Rachel Sanders says

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    Only managed a sad 71%

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  36. Melanie C says

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    You have completed 7/7 questions .
    Your score is 100%.

    😀 xx

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    • Mumonthebrink says

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      woohoo! 🙂

      Reply
  37. Rachel Ray says

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    64% Bit rubbish but I’m not surprised!

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  38. Dee Johnson says

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    86% but like some, some of them were just good guesses. Great giveaway and your comp has taught me some good stuff… cheers :o)

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  39. Rachael G says

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    I got 79% – I surprised myself actually!

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  40. Rachael Lines says

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    79% I didnt get the first one right, and I cheated and clicked about a bit :p

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  41. ELAINE GREENALL says

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    79% – I didn’t realise that the ratings were legally enforceable across all three ages.

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  42. anna says

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    i hardly knew any!

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  43. tamalyn roberts says

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    oops 57% lol

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  44. Melody says

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    93% for me, I’m 29 and my partner is 25 and we love gaming so this was quite relevant to us although I think we’re pretty clued up and DD is only 2!

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  45. Maggie Coates says

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    I got 71%

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  46. Lucy robinson says

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    Oh dear. Think I need to swat up. I did rubbish. X

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  47. Paul Martin says

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    only 64% here

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  48. Rachel Edney says

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    86%, 2nd attempt correct on two questions.

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  49. katie coup says

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    interesting quiz – thank you

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  50. Andy D says

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    I got the pegi ratings wrong

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  51. wayne allan says

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    i got 86% so quite pleased with myself!

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  52. Hazel Christopher says

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    I only got 57% my little boy is still very young yet though so I’ve not had to do much checking up on this kind of thing.

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  53. kayleigh Dawn says

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    93% for me – I was wrong with the amount of PEGI icons there were. I opted for 10.

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  54. Lucy Zelazowski says

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    You have completed 7/7 questions .
    Your score is 93%.
    In all honestly I should of got 100% I’ve 2 young boys and I always check the content before purchasing games for them. Especially as daddy/mummy have big kids games that we plays when the kids are not in the room. But we have a great range of games, I love all the dancing, zumba & exerciser games.

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  55. Donna Sadler says

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    I scored 86%, then corrected the first one and got 100! xx

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  56. natalie white says

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    57%… not as good as i thought i would do… seems I don’t know as much as i thought 🙁

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  57. Jay Scales says

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    Terrible! I didn’t know the spider or the parental control stuff.

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  58. LauraCYMFT says

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    I got 79% – not bad for someone who has no idea about gaming LOL

    Reply
    • Mumonthebrink says

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      Not long and your little ones will be engrossed in electronic games too. Comes too quickly!

      Reply
  59. Kellie Faggle McIntyre says

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    Horrific!! Surprised just how little I know! Thanks for the lesson : )

    Reply
  60. Lenka Gabriel says

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    86% , didn’t think I was going to do this well 🙂

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  61. Helen Dickinson says

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    I got 71% – Not the best 🙁

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  62. Tracy Hanley says

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    57% here

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  63. Cusumano says

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    Hey there, I got over to your site via StumbleUpon. Not a thing I normally read through, however I enjoy your opinions nevertheless. Thanks for composing something worthy of reading through!

    Reply

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