Example of a Regulatory Body failing

 What is the value of the various different regulatory bodies that we have explored today?

The goal of any regulatory body is to protect the consumers of media products from potential harm that may be caused to them. This especially applies when it comes to children media, as there is a potential for them to become traumatised if they are exposed to material that is not appropriate for their age range, for example extreme violence. However there are times where the regulatory bodies fail, weather that be to take it too far until it becomes simply censorship, or I various products slip through the cracks and don’t receive the proper rating. An example of this would be PEGI is 2019 releasing a trailer for the game NBA 2K20 which included casino-style elements in the game, such as a slot machine mini-game and a wheel of fortune mini-game. It received a lot of criticism, with people commented that it looked like a casino ad and was just simply teaching people to gamble.

People were most upset with the fact that the rating given to it was PEGI 3, meaning it was targeted at adults as well as children. However PEGI stood by the rating that it gave out, stating that it wasn’t accurate to real life gambling, as so was fine to show to children.

I think in this instance PEGI failed to properly fulfil its role as a regulator and classification body of media, because although this game did not necessarily show real life gambling, it still had a a clear heavy influence of gambling and may have a damaging effect on the children that end up viewing the content, possibly leading to a gambling addiction.