Question:

The father of our nine-year-old daughter has bought a game for her Nintendo DS called "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" with age rating 12 from PEGI. I was unaware that he had bought this until my daughter showed it to me. He has obviously not paid attention to the age rating when he bought it with our daughter. Should I allow my daughter to play this game? What should I do?

Mother

Answer from Kids and Media’s Director:

As a general term, Kids and Media advice parents to follow age limits on films and games, and train their child to recognise and respect the age rating. If we teach our children that age ratings are negotiable, it will be harder and harder to follow recommended standards.

Descriptions of the content of a game can be found on the packaging. The specific game you refer to has been rated 12+ by the producer, based on standards from the PEGI system. It contains quite a lot of violence.

Video Clip:
The trailer for "Star Wars The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance" clearly shows that this game is not suitable for children under the age of twelve. Just press the play button at the top of the right hand column to watch the clip.

PEGI 12
This is what PEGI says as a general term related to games rated 12+:

"Videogames that show violence of a slightly more graphic nature towards fantasy character and/or non graphic violence towards human-looking characters or recognizable animals, as well as videogames that show nudity of a slightly more graphic nature would fall in this age category. Any bad language in this category must be mild and fall short of sexual expletives."

Source: http://www.pegi.info/en/index/id/33/

Agree on a common line
If your daughter likes the Star Wars concept, the games in the Lego Star Wars series would be a much better choice for her. These games have a 7+ age rating.

I encourage you and the father to discuss how you would like to relate to age rating in order to coordinate yourself on this topic. You can learn more about the PEGI system at their website www.pegi.info.

PEGI also have some good advice to parents, you will find them here: http://www.pegi.info/en/index/id/24. These advices are also a good start for a discussion.

I believe it will be easier for all of you if the two of you manage to agree on a common line when it comes to age rating. My best wishes to all of you.

Kids and Media games reviews:

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes (PEGI 12+)

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance DS (PEGI 12+)

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PEGI 16+)