Online and app-based video games are also encouraged to consider obtaining and dis certainlyplaying Pan European Game Information (PEGI) ratings. PEGI ratings provide consumers with the information they need to make informed choices about what their children play. The ratings also use parental controls on video game consoles to allow parents to manage their children’s access to age-appropriate games.
The Video Standards Council Rating Board has set out a series of best practice recommendations for online games platforms, which are available on their website. Ratings may be obtained for online flash games via PEGI itself or via the International Age Ratings Coalition (IARC). IARC offers games companies a streamlined process for obtaining PEGI age ratings for online games by filling in an online questionnaire. According to the guidelines, online games must register with a self-regulatory body, and only games that have been registered and recognized by the body will be able to operate lawfully in India. The regulations also stipulate that online gaming intermediaries must do further due diligence and provide user protections. Further in the following paragraphs we will understand the overall impact of these rules on safety of players, government revenue, increase in number of consumers and quality of grievances.
Additional due diligence must be observed by significant public media intermediaries under Rule 4, with sub-rules inserted that concentrate on any permissible online real cash game.
SROs are mandated to safeguard users from harm, including self-harm and psychological harm, safeguarding kids through parental adjustments and age-rating mechanisms particularly. Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Guidelines, 2023 introduced rules for online gaming platforms to modify the area. This new set of rules is a breakthrough in the space and an effort to balance innovation and the protection of users. The innovative regulations have defined ‘online games’ as being a ‘game that’s offered on the net and is accessible by way of a user through a computer resource or an intermediary’. It in addition has given online games the status of intermediaries in-line with social media intermediaries, therefore, putting on some obligations on online gaming intermediaries.
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