An interesting change in the last few years in the UK film industry has been the proliferation in 15 rated movies, with a lot of those would have been 18 in the past. It shows that the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has matured and reflects shifts in society on what is deemed acceptable in terms of violence, sex and ‘bad’ language. Snatch was released in 1998 and is still rated as 18 though watching it again its blatantly not that in 2019.
Age ratings are obviously must, we still need to protect people from inappropriate content. The Pan European Game Information (PEGI) was introduced in 2003 to provide the same service across Europe as the BBFC does in the UK. Initially with only age ratings, they now also include content descriptors to clearly show what the game contains, whether gaming, drug taking or the newest one In-Game Purchases (micro-transactions).
I bring this all up as it’s one way the government protects people from potential harmful content. Does this really go far enough and cover everything it should? I feel a lot more can be done to look after gamers from publishers and platform holders, we often end up getting a raw deal. I want to take a look at what else can be done to make things fairer for us the players. Apologies in advance, there are one or two things I want to get off my chest. It may be a bit heavy but stick with it, I am sure some of these have affected you.
So what else can be done to protect players?
The Media
Now I must confess to ignorance when it comes to online advertising and algorithms. All I do know is if I have a quick look at some games on CEX then the next few days that’s all I will see in banner ads. This goes further though, as I use YouTube a lot particularly when it comes to gaming. Speed runs, tutorials, reviews there is a great deal of good content on there but one area that concerns me is in the advertising.
The sheer amount of gambling ads I get is astounding, I don’t even recognise most of the firms. I think I last laid a bet in person about 11 years ago and I don’t think I ever have online. I assume that due to my age and demographic these are the key areas they want to advertise to but who knows?
It’s concerning that although I am immune to this it could be targeting those in their late teens deliberately. I have no evidence for this but it’s not much of a stretch to see the gambling industry targeting adverts at gamers through YouTubers when their audience is probably pretty young. I might be jumping the gun a bit, surely they will won’t be advertising to under 18’s?
One advert might not sound bad but the generation below mine consumes things differently. Kids watch a fuck load of YouTube, video after video pretty much each with its own advertising. It’s relentless and its not hard to see how it could negatively impact on people.
This isn't the games industry per se but I would argue the media around it has some responsibility to be careful with this. Advertisements stretch into other areas, not just YouTube. I know a lot of streamers are just trying to make a living and they don’t have much power but the big players do. I have no data, purely personal experience but the gamification of gambling is a big draw and must target specific people.
Advertising on the whole isn't that bad, there are always a bunch of game ones with the latest Marvel film. You only have to look at the banner ads on any gaming website, though, to be fair, for the most part they are just advertising the next blockbuster title that is due out.
Speaking of those blockbusters, I do feel that one area the media needs to improve upon with greater clarification and honesty. Game Reviews. Of course in an ideal world every review would be a fair reflection of the game but of course it’s so subjective. If I were to review ‘My Riding Stables : Life with Horses’ you know I am going to say its shit. It’s obviously not for me and should be coming from a fan of the genre. And ponies.
Some companies are still crap, (looking at you IGN) but a lot seem to be fair with how the game runs and feels. As for myself and my weird tastes I just try to pitch it as something you might like to play, not always being right. Ratings have moved on from physical numbers (still feel they should be out of a billion rather than 10, makes differentiating far easier) and I particularly like Eurogamer's Essential, Recommend and Avoid. Can’t be much clearer than that. I have no idea if reviews influence purchases on the whole but they seem to help some smaller games become mainstream. You only have to look at Stardew Valley or Celeste blow up and become classics.
On the flip-side what is a bad review tanks a game, hurting sales which then forces the company to close? Team Bondi closed due to financial difficulties but the rumour was it was due to the under performance of LA Noire. The question is whether reviewers should be totally honest or think about those that work on the game and be a bit more forgiving? Bonuses can be tied to hitting a certain metacritic score which seems cruel. At least tying it to sales is based on consumer demand. It’s all a bit of a minefield. Should the media be looking after us or them?
Actually for all the criticism that I have thrown at gaming websites there is one big service the media provides is looking out for those working in the industry. This mirrors the mainstream media in the wider world, they are there to hold companies and their practices to account. Probably one of my favourite gaming websites is Kotaku, it has an eclectic mix of reviews, stories and news but most importantly are its investigations. Being able to show how bad the sexist culture at Riot Games is an eye opener that is not really being done elsewhere.
You could just look at Twitter to see how ex employees or anonymous current ones see the company and the horror stories they have. Those spread over a large period of time has very little impact apart from some sympathy and a shrug. It takes journalists to get further details, collate them together to make the story punch as it should.
They then can put these to the management to try and get an apology and a culture change. It isn’t easy nor does it work every time but it needs doing. Individuals tweeting rarely make any change. I really think we need more of this, not enough work is being done to publish the horror stories that can be the industry.
Game Companies
There is a conflict at the heart of game creation. Most companies want to make the best product possible for players but at the end of the day they exist to make money. Due to this compromises have to be made and obviously no company is going to say their next game is shit.
What should they do?
The fallen giant Bethesda released Fallout 76 when it was far from complete and it has taken over half a year for them to address the issues that players deem unacceptable. Those being the single player quest lines and human NPCs, something to add some life into a game. Six months is a long time to wait for a game to be fixed (still a lot of strong complaints about unfixed bug issues though this is par for the course with Bethesda).
It's bad enough having forked out £40 on this title only for it to be reduced in price soon after to try to push sales. You must be kicking yourself to have overpaid and it still not be complete. It is a huge smack in the teeth for players. It might just be bad management but having gone from one of the most exciting publishers to one I don’t trust at all.
While these bad practices may just be poor management or awful planning there are even worse issues, the biggest one now being loot boxes. They are basically a form of gambling that is usually very accessible in game, even encouraged. You typical buy a games currency with your own cash and then purchase a box which will give out randomised loot. Typically the best items are rare and really hard to get, usually only available in game through this method.
It ends up with people spending hundreds of pounds trying to get better weapons or players and ending up with a lot of duplicate crap. We have gambling laws for a reason and currently these boxes seem to circumnavigate them. Many countries are now looking into this and seeing how it can be regulated. It’s about time, another example of the real world trying to catch up with rampant technology.
On a side note, ignoring the morality of loot boxes, in my opinion no full price game should have any in game purchases outside of any significant DLC. Paying £50 for a game should have everything included but thats an argument for another day.
I think we can all agree a lot of the practices in the industry are pretty shit. From the Call of Duty QA testers who were treated very differently to the rest of the workforce, asked to work much longer and denied any bonus while working on Black Ops 4. Testing is often looked down upon but it’s integral to making a great game. My own experiences of working on a zero hours contract pressured into getting as many bugs listed as possible along with the rest of the testers is horrible. You get into this industry to help make great games, not to burn out for a paltry wage.
And it’s not just about what they do, sometimes it's the way they present themselves. Just look at the comments of Dan Houser when he let slip that people were doing 100 hours a week working on Red Dead Redemption 2. It was meant to be a boast about how hard they were all working. It created a huge (overdue) backlash about working conditions.
Even my recent purchase of Wolfenstein: Young Blood was a dick move by Bethesda, only announcing less than a week before release Switch physical copies would NOT include a cartridge, just a code. I mean come on, they knew months ago that would be the case but didn’t share it. (It may sound like I have an axe to grind. I am not angry, just very disappointed with them).
Companies need to listen a bit more and just do the right thing. Change can happen, look at the announcement that there will be no smoking in Gears of War 5 which may not sound like a big deal but it’s not necessary in the game. Sure keep being creative but think about how it will affect us.
Platform Holders
If games companies should be pushing the boundaries of this art form then the next logical step is the platform holders. Steam is probably the biggest and with its latest hands off approach posing many questions. Should all games be published? Is there a bar for quality of product that should be reached for release? What legal content should be prohibited?
With the amount of money they have made over the years they should be able to hire competent people to answer this. Hell they have been around for years, the experience there should be able to handle it. Valve is of course on PC, far more of a Wild West than the major consoles which need to be family friendly to sell big numbers.
We should have moved on from this ‘anything goes’ mantra. Let’s start with an obvious one. Quality control. Steam has hundreds of shit cookie cutter games made from build your own game programs that flood the store. Sure a lot are free but some charge and generally clog up the advertising space for new games. It’s well known that most sales will be in the first week, making it a crucial time to be seen. For all the furore about Epic Store at least they are curating what games they put on there.
All console makers own their own studios to make games, exclusive titles help sell consoles so they are worth having. It also allows you control over the content and direction of the project. The other big choice is the release date and shockingly there hasn’t been much of an attempt to control ‘crunch’. Intense periods of work where employees are asked to work many more hours of usually unpaid overtime in order to get a game finished on time.
Sony and Microsoft should be setting the standard here, pushing back releases dates to give their employees a work life balance. Not asking them to work to exhaustion to get a game out for a date that can be easily moved. Thankfully Nintendo have stepped up with the announcement that Animal Crossing New Horizons has been pushed back to March 21st 2020 to give their employees a bit of breathing space. Bravo!
With the internet allowing anonymity and people taking this as an excuse to say whatever the fuck they want is obviously terrible. I am not just talking about Twitter, try using a headset on a multiplayer game, it’s incredibly toxic. Sure there are some good people (like me) but for the most part you will hear every offensive, homophobic, sexist and rascist term going. It is fucking depressing considering that these boys/men (and yes it is males) should be kicked off from there.
According to a recent study, 74% of adults have been harassed while gaming It goes from insults, physical threats, stalking all the way up to doxing (publishing information about a stranger unwanted) to swatting (calling armed police to a gamers house while they are streaming, leading to at least one unnecessary death).
It’s been going on for years but in a strong move Xbox has come out and said it’s ‘Not a free speech platform’. They want to make the platform less hostile, ‘a safe and inclusive environment’. Let’s hope this works and other companies take notice as so far it feels fuck all has been done.
As for bad games it took a few years for Steam to get its returns policy to something reasonable. If you play for less than two hours and ask for a refund within two weeks of purchase you shall get one. The same applies to the Epic Games Store of which I actually used recently. Two hours should be enough time to work out if something is for you but what about those that buy physical games? Shops won't take them back unless they have not been opened, meaning you can’t try it at all. And if you do your only option is a trade in, guaranteeing money lost.
The Government
Of course the best place to ensure better practices across the industry is with the government and its powers to create new laws. Even just updating current legislation for modern times would be a good start. The most obvious starting point would be banning zero hours contracts. This would create more job security, even if most were just moved to a fixed term contract. This would also apply to the wider jobs market, benefiting everyone.
Aside from this the other big issue is crunch, employees having to work many more hours a week than they are contracted. Either we need a set weekly limit or some enforced cool down period, like five paid days off in a row. They do it for lorry drivers (not a like for like) to ensure road safety, the same should apply to mental health. Oh and make sure this overtime is paid.
As for the content of the games themselves this is already looked at by the Video Standards Council (VSC). I would actually argue they do a half decent job already, the PEGI rating system using images to denote what the game contains is a useful system. It just needs to go further. Physical game purchases have these clearly marked on the back of the box. What about digital games? Particularly apps, I am sure not many check out this information.
Overall we need better education. One for parents to fully understand what the hell they are buying their kids. Or even just letting them play. I know I sound like a boring old bastard but there’s a reason we don’t let 7yo’s watch Pulp Fiction. Same applies to games.
Companies are obviously there to make as much money as possible and I have lost count of the amount of times I have read about kids spending hundreds on an iPad game without their parents knowing. £200 is a lot of money and it turns out the big companies don't usually offer a refund in this case. Frankly ridiculous as how is a four year old supposed to know what real money is?
Thankfully a Commons Select Committee has been looking into immersive and addictive technology. They have spoken to Epic, makers of Fortnite, EA, creators of FIFA and King who is behind Candy Crush. The responses to the committees questions have been alarming, with Epic claiming to have no idea how long players play for and questioned over ignoring age regulations. The representative even claimed Epic wasn’t making any money, even though reports state them made almost £2billion.
One more major point. Tax. There hasn’t been much talk about what companies are paying but this week it was announced that Rockstar North, Edinburgh based GTA developer has paid no corporation tax in 10 years. This from a company whose GTA V game sold over 100 million copies, making the company billions. Surely they should be paying something, not just claiming £42 million in tax credits from the video games tax relief scheme. It is fucking boggling how they are not contributing to society in this country.
It’s obvious they cannot be trusted to police themselves, it’s the same as Google and Facebook. Huge tech companies that do what they please and only government intervention can stop them abusing their incredible power. Quite what data games companies are gathering and how they are using it I have no idea but you only have to look at the Cambridge Analytica scandal last year to start to wonder.
With AI set to become a huge part of the industry and cloud gaming about to take off its obviously further challenges are going to come. In fact the issue of how long you can access your digital media will speed up with Stadia likely to be a boom and bust affair. My predictions are usually very off the mark but Google doesn't seem to stick around if things don't work out.
I started off talking about age ratings and I want to pose a hypothetical question. Quite a few games are now treated as a service and some go through radical change from the initial release, usually due to the title not being very good. But what happens if a game is released as a 15 but through new updates becomes an 18? The whole ending of Mass Effect 3 was rewritten, who is to say this couldn't happen in any other game with some brutal content?
Though that is quite a far fetched scenario the underlying idea of quality is not. What should a players expectations of a game be upon release and how long should they wait for it to measure it? No Man’s Sky is the classic example, sold as this crazy space exploration epic only for so many people to be disappointed. It felt released about 2 years too early and sure enough big content drops later resolved that for most people.
Do we just accept that? Some games might get shipped before they are ready to keep a studio afloat. Some might never be good enough. I suppose major free updates is part of the contract upon buying a major title, knowing that for the most part something more will come. Just look at Dead Cells or Hollow Knight who had major additions late on. Sometimes it's just a fantastic gesture from them
It’s not a perfect industry and obviously not everything is going to be perfect. Just look at buying a DLC pass in advance is a risk and one that isn't adequately explained or easily refundable. Things often fall short.
One last thing while I am still on my soapbox. This season in the Premier League ten sides have betting companies on their shirts. Not only does this apply with watching matches every week they will be seen by millions more on the FIFA video game. People play hundreds of hours, that level of advertising that most companies can only dream of and it can’t be a good thing. Kids football shirts cannot be sold with them on, so why is the game rated as a 3? Sure it’s the choice of each club to put whatever they want on the shirt but we can do an altered version easily. Yes I have banged on about it but here are no upsides to gambling.
I know this has been a heavy read (more so than normal) but thank you for sticking with it. I really care about this industry but I also want people to be looked after. I promise something far more light hearted in the next post.
Next week a look at Never Stop Cheatin'
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