Age restriction

In the UK video games that have any form of "violence", "sexual content" or "techniques likely to be useful in the commission of offences" has to be classified under the British Board of Film Classification's (BBFC) film rating system under the Video Recordings Act of 1984. The Act claims that it is an offence to supply a game to anyone below the age rating. This offence is punishable by a fine of up to £5000 and or up to six months in prison.

Majority of games are rated under the Pan European Game Information System (PEGI). Under this voluntary code games producers self-certify the content of their games by giving them an age rating as well as a series of symbols which represent various types of content. All games applying for a 12+ age rating under this system are retrospectively reviewed and can be assigned 16+ or 18+ ratings. These ratings are then checked by an independent body before being confirmed. However, the PEGI rating structure lacks teeth because, as a voluntary system, it is not an offence to sell a PEGI rated game to someone under the age rating. Further, research indicates that most UK consumers are unfamiliar with the PEGI ratings system and often find the symbols more confusing than helpful.

Patricia Hewitt who is a Former Trade and Industry Secretary said "Equally parents need to know what they might be buying for their children. Video games are different to films or videos, and not all parents have grown up playing games in the way our children do." Furthermore she states adult games and videos should have a clearer warning to stop parents buying their child a 18+ game and letting their child get their hands on one."We need to look carefully at how we improve content warnings and strengthen sales enforcement."

She was backed by Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Tessa Jowell who said: "You wouldn't let your child watch the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. You wouldn't let them go to a strip club.

"So you shouldn't let them play an 18-rated game. It's the same principle - adults can make their own informed choices, but children can't always and need to be protected."

Social media – age restrictions

Here’s a list of online apps (games, chat, forums, social networks, blogs) with the age restrictions as seen in the sites’ terms of service/use.

Must be at least 16

* Friendster social network

Must be at least 13 and in high school

* Facebook social network

Must be over 13

* Bebo social network
* Blogger weblog publishing tool
* Chamber of Chat Harry Potter multiplayer RPG (no private chat, moderators)
* Gaia Online community with games, message boards etc…
* Hi 5 social networking site
* IMVU chat with friends in 3D
* Jaiku microblogging
* MySpace social network
* Ning social network created around an area of interest (can be open or private)
* Runescape multiplayer game
* Tokbox video chat (works with Twitter & others)
* Twitter microblogging Twitter is now for over-18s. See comments to this post.
* Vox weblog publishing tool
* Weebly website creation tool (includes blogs, forums)
* Wetoku video interview tool (requires parents’ approval)
* Wordpress.com weblog publishing tool
* Writeboard single wiki pages for writing activities
* Xanga weblog community
* 12Seconds video microblogging
* 43 Things microblogging site based around personal goals
-Andy

Hypodermic needle theory suggests that the media injects its messages straight into the passive audience (Croteau, Hoynes 1997). This theory implies that the media show the appropriate messages to an audience who is then influenced by them and therefore think in the way the media wants them too. It is thought that the media can be extremely dangerous as the public is powerless to escape due to mass media and lots of media material being “injected” into them, and so people are end up thinking what they are told to think.
 The expression “sitting ducks” is used to describe the affects of the mass media on the public as people are passive to the massages given by the media and therefore the media can shape the thoughts and views of the public to the direction they want this theory is why most horror films are rated at 18 because it is much easier to influence young children and films like saw, human centipede etc you can argue that such films use the Hypodermic needle theory, but because there are mostly viewed by adults it is more difficult to influence them. - Swarica