Pan European Game Information

Pan European Game Information, or more commonly PEGI, is a European system for rating the content of computer and video games, and other entertainment software. It was developed by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) and came into use in April 2003. The PEGI system is used in 26 countries.

Participation is voluntary, at the discretion of the game developer. To obtain the ratings for any piece of software, the developer completes a questionnaire, which is then evaluated by the Netherlands Institute for the Classification of Audiovisual Media (NICAM) and ratings are given. It is also based on the Dutch Kijkwijzer system.

There are two parts to the classification for any piece of software &mdash; a suggested minimum age and also up to seven descriptions of content, such as the use of strong language, violence, etc. Most recently added was the Gambling icon.

Age ratings
PEGI has five age categories. In Portugal, local legislation conflicts with some of the ratings and they are changed accordingly. Finland once had changed ratings, but the standard scale was adopted in 2007.

Content descriptions
The seven content descriptors are:

Examples

 * Profanity - Grand Theft Auto series or The Warriors
 * Discrimination - Original War
 * Drugs - Deus Ex: Invisible War
 * Fear - Survival horror games, such as Condemned: Criminal Origins & Resident Evil
 * Sexual Content - Singles: Flirt Up Your Life
 * Violence - first-person shooters, such as Doom 3
 * Gambling - 42 All-Time Classics

Where PEGI is used
PEGI is used in 26 European nations (albeit with zero legal effect). They are:


 * Austria
 * Belgium
 * Czech Republic
 * Denmark
 * Estonia
 * Finland (also has a local rating system which is given by VET/SFB instead if PEGI rating is missing)
 * France
 * Greece
 * Germany (Only used on some games with the USK rating too. An example of a game that used both the PEGI and USK rating is Halo 2
 * Hungary
 * Iceland
 * Republic of Ireland
 * Italy
 * Israel
 * Latvia
 * Lithuania
 * Luxembourg
 * Netherlands
 * Norway
 * Poland
 * Portugal
 * Slovakia
 * Slovenia
 * Spain
 * Sweden
 * Switzerland
 * United Kingdom (if a game contains certain material, British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) rating is used instead)