This week TIGA, the trade association that represents UK and EU video game developers said that more work was needed to make the new PEGI game rating logos more recognizable.
Icon design is incredibly difficult, when done well it can transcend language barriers and culture issues, but when done badly, it results in delays, confusion and wasted mental effort.
These new warning icons are designed to guide parents when choosing a game to buy for their kids. I decided to do my own evaluation of the icons and so yesterday I took to the streets to ask the good people of Brighton what these icons meant. Here are some of the responses.
Guesses “Don’t know, worldwide, more than one person, needs access to computers” Actual meaning, online.
Guesses “Violence, fighting, breakable (as in Wiimote danger)”. Actual meaning, violence.
Guesses “Swearing”. Actual meaning, swearing.
Guesses “Phobia warning, caution, don’t know, would put me off buying it, contains spiders”. Actual meaning, fear.
Guesses “For boys and girls, suitable for all sexes”. Actual meaning, contains sexual content.
Guesses “Drugs, hospital”. Actual meaning, scenes of drug use.
Guesses “Don’t know, doesn’t mean anything, socializing, parent caution, multiplayer”. Actual meaning, scenes of discrimination.
Guesses “Game of chance, competition, gambling, entertaining”. Actual meaning, gambling.
Overall, only the swearing icon was interpreted the same by everyone, the next clearest were violence and drug use, followed by gambling. Worryingly, 4 of the 8 icons completely confused the people I asked, no one understood what they were trying to convey. Everyone I asked were UK nationals, I would be keen to see how these are interpreted in the rest of the EU.
In my admittedly rather limited tests, the PEGI ratings scored 29% accuracy, so I fully support the TIGA recommendation to make these icons more recognizable.
