Editing Video game (section)

===Content rating===
{{Main|Video game content rating system}}
[[File:ESRBrating.PNG|thumb|right|A typical ESRB rating label, listing the rating and specific content descriptors for ''[[Rabbids Go Home]]'']]
Video games can be subject to national and international [[content rating]] requirements. Like with film content ratings, video game ratings typing identify the target age group that the national or regional ratings board believes is appropriate for the player, ranging from all-ages, to a teenager-or-older, to mature, to the infrequent adult-only games. Most content review is based on the level of violence, both in the type of violence and how [[Graphic violence|graphic]] it may be represented, and sexual content, but other themes such as drug and alcohol use and gambling that can influence children may also be identified. A primary identifier based on a minimum age is used by nearly all systems, along with additional descriptors to identify specific content that players and parents should be aware of.

The regulations vary from country to country but generally are voluntary systems upheld by vendor practices, with penalty and fines issued by the ratings body on the video game publisher for misuse of the ratings. Among the major content rating systems include:
* [[Entertainment Software Rating Board]] (ESRB) that oversees games released in the United States. ESRB ratings are voluntary and rated along a E (Everyone), E10+ (Everyone 10 and older), T (Teen), M (Mature), and AO (Adults Only). Attempts to mandate video games ratings in the U.S. subsequently led to the landmark [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] case, ''[[Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association]]'' in 2011 which ruled video games were a protected form of art, a key victory for the video game industry.<ref name="legal results">{{cite web|last=McCauley|first=Dennis|title=The Political Game: A Brief History of Video Game Legislation|url=http://www.joystiq.com/2006/08/18/the-political-game-a-brief-history-of-video-game-legislation/|work=joystiq.com|access-date=20 January 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121224031138/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/08/18/the-political-game-a-brief-history-of-video-game-legislation|archive-date=24 December 2012}}</ref>
* [[Pan European Game Information]] (PEGI) covering the United Kingdom, most of the European Union and other European countries, replacing previous national-based systems. The PEGI system uses content rated based on minimum recommended ages, which include 3+, 8+, 12+, 16+, and 18+.
* [[Australian Classification Board]] (ACB) oversees the ratings of games and other works in Australia, using ratings of G (General), PG (Parental Guidance), M (Mature), MA15+ (Mature Accompanied), R18+ (Restricted), and X (Restricted for pornographic material). ACB can also deny to give a rating to game (RC – Refused Classification). The ACB's ratings are enforceable by law, and importantly, games cannot be imported or purchased digitally in Australia if they have failed to gain a rating or were given the RC rating, leading to a [[List of banned video games in Australia|number of notable banned games]].
* [[Computer Entertainment Rating Organization]] (CERO) rates games for Japan. Their ratings include A (all ages), B (12 and older), C (15 and over), D (17 and over), and Z (18 and over).
* [[Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle]] (USK) rates games for Germany. Their ratings include 0, 6, 12, 16, and 18.

Additionally, the major content system provides have worked to create the [[International Age Rating Coalition]] (IARC), a means to streamline and align the content ratings system between different region, so that a publisher would only need to complete the content ratings review for one provider, and use the IARC transition to affirm the content rating for all other regions.

Certain nations have even more restrictive rules related to political or ideological content. Within Germany, until 2018, the [[Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle]] (''Entertainment Software Self-Regulation'') would refuse to classify, and thus allow sale, of any game depicting [[Nazi]] imagery, and thus often requiring developers to replace such imagery with fictional ones. This ruling was relaxed in 2018 to allow for such imagery for "social adequacy" purposes that applied to other works of art.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-08-09-germany-relaxes-stance-on-nazi-symbols-in-video-games | title = Germany relaxes stance on Nazi symbols in video games | first = Matthew | last = Handrahan | date = 9 August 2018 | access-date = 9 August 2018 | work = [[GamesIndustry.biz]] | archive-date = 13 July 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210713220333/https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-08-09-germany-relaxes-stance-on-nazi-symbols-in-video-games | url-status = live }}</ref> [[Video games in China|China's video game segment]] is mostly isolated from the rest of the world due to the government's censorship, and all games published there must adhere to strict government review, disallowing content such as smearing the image of the [[Chinese Communist Party]]. Foreign games published in China often require modification by developers and publishers to meet these requirements.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.pcgamesn.com/fortnite/fortnite-china-ban | title = Fortnite, PUBG, and Paladins have reportedly been banned by the Chinese government | first1 = Ali | last1 = Jones | date = 11 December 2018 | access-date = 11 December 2018 | work = [[PCGamesN]] | archive-date = 6 August 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200806211701/https://www.pcgamesn.com/fortnite/fortnite-china-ban | url-status = live }}</ref>