The Cultural Aspect of Video Game Regulation Practices «A comparative study of the differences in video game rating practices between Europe and Japan» Marita Eriksen Haugland Master’s thesis in Nordic Media Department of Media and Communication THE UNIVERSITY OF OSLO Fall 2018 The Cultural Aspect of Video Game Regulation Practices «A comparative study of the differences in video game rating practices between Europe and Japan» Marita Eriksen Haugland Master’s thesis in Nordic Media II Department of Media and Communication THE UNIVERSITY OF OSLO Fall 2018 III © Marita Eriksen Haugland 2018 The Cultural Aspect of Video Game Regulation Practices: A comparative study of the differences in video game rating practices between Europe and Japan Marita Eriksen Haugland http://www.duo.uio.no/ Print: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo IV Abstract Video games have become a large part of media consumption, both for adults and children. This study contributes to the field of children and media by looking into the perceptions and construction of risk by self-regulatory organizations, as well as into self-regulatory effectiveness. The thesis also discusses the struggle and the compromises between child safety, cultural differences and freedom of expression. It takes up the question of how the cultural differences affect the age ratings and content descriptors. All video games rated in Europe and Japan between 2010-2016 are analyzed to show the differences between the regions. Also, content analyses are performed on 24 video games with emblematic differences in age ratings or content descriptors. The findings suggest that cultural differences in how the two systems view crime, non-realistic violence, realistic blood, non-sexual nudity, romantic behavior, and sexualized behavior is responsible for some of the differences in age ratings and content descriptors. This thesis suggests that regulators should implement measures for further transparency so that it would be possible for caregivers to acquire the knowledge of whether the assessment was made on the basis of cultural perceptions or research-based studies on risk and harm. Sammendrag Videospill har blitt en stor del av mediekonsumet, både for voksne og barn. Denne studien bidrar til feltet barn og medier ved å undersøke oppfatningene og konstruksjonen av risiko hos de selvregulerende organisasjonene, i tillegg til effektiviteten av selvregulering. Oppgaven drøfter også konflikten og kompromissene mellom barns sikkerhet, kulturelle forskjeller og ytringsfrihet. Den tar opp spørsmålet om hvordan kulturelle forskjeller påvirker aldersgrenser og innholdsikoner. Alle videospill som har fått aldersgrense i Europa og Japan mellom 2010 og 2016 ble analysert for å vise forskjellene mellom de to områdene. I tillegg ble det utført innholdsanalyser på 24 videospill med emblematiske forskjeller i aldersgrense og innholdsikoner. Funnene tyder på at kulturelle forskjeller i hvordan de to systemene ser på kriminalitet, urealistisk vold, realistisk blod, ikke-seksuell nakenhet, romantisk atferd og seksualisert atferd er årsaken til noen av forskjellene i aldersgrenser og innholdsikoner. Denne studien foreslår at de selvregulerende organisasjonene bør iverksette tiltak for ytterligere åpenhet, slik at det er mulig for foresatte å tilegne seg kunnskap om hvorvidt evalueringen ble tatt på bakgrunn av kulturelle oppfatninger eller forskningsbaserte studier på risiko og skade. V Acknowledgements This thesis has been the largest project so far in my life and a great learning experience. First of all, a big thank you to my supervisor, Tijana Milosevic (fall 2016 to fall 2018), for her immense knowledge and patience in guiding me through the large and complex work that was this thesis. Thank you to Elisabeth Staksrud for the inspiration for this thesis, which came in the form of her presentation on Rule of Rose, and further for allowing me to work as her assistant on the film rating project, which also advanced my knowledge of subjects that could be applied to this study. Thank you also for accepting the task as my co-supervisor for fall 2018. I would like to express my appreciation for the advice given by Maria Utheim, which was tremendous help in the last stages of finishing this thesis. To all the professors who taught me at the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Oslo: Audun Beyer, Maria Utheim, Marius Øfsti, Charles Ess, Elisabeth Staksrud, Tijana Milosevic, and Ove Solum – as well as guest lecturer Sonia Livingstone. Thank you for imparting your knowledge. I wish to thank Tobias Kløver who provided his time and language knowledge as a valuable quality control for my Japanese translations. To my family, thank you for your patience and support - and apologies for the times when I could not be there because of this thesis. And last but not least, thank you to Kristoffer Bolton, my fiancé, for always being there, even when I did not think I would be able to finish this thesis, and for all the encouragement and late-night comments on the thesis. Marita Eriksen Haugland, November 26, 2018 VI Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... V Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. VI Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... VII 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1.1 Themes ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1.2 Research questions and why choose research on video game rating organizations? ..................................................................................................................... 3 1.1.3 Presentation of CERO and PEGI rating systems ................................................. 6 1.1.4 Previous research on video game rating organizations ........................................ 8 1.1.5 Statement of the problem, summary of research gap, and importance of the study 9 1.1.6 Study design ....................................................................................................... 10 1.1.7 Thesis outline ..................................................................................................... 10 1.1.8 Definitions and translations ................................................................................ 11 2 Literature review .............................................................................................................. 12 2.1 Previous research into video game ratings ................................................................ 12 2.1 Children as media users ............................................................................................. 17 2.2 Theoretical framework: Child safety and risk regulation .......................................... 18 2.2.1 Institutionalized individualization ...................................................................... 19 2.2.2 EU Kids Online’s concepts of risk and harm ..................................................... 21 2.2.3 Moral panics ....................................................................................................... 22 2.3 Cultural norms and differences .................................................................................. 23 2.3.1 Cultural differences in how people view media content .................................... 24 2.3.2 Localization of video games .............................................................................. 25 2.4 Regulation of video games ........................................................................................ 26 2.5 Censorship of video games ........................................................................................ 28 2.5.1 Self-censorship or localization? ......................................................................... 30 2.1 Freedom of expression and transparency .................................................................. 33 3 Research question and methodological approach ............................................................ 38 3.1 Research question ...................................................................................................... 38 3.2 Methodological approach .......................................................................................... 38 VII 3.2.1 Presentation of the rating systems’ age ratings and content descriptors ............ 39 3.3 Quantitative data and statistics .................................................................................. 40 3.3.1 Population and sampling for the first research question (quantitative analysis) 40 3.4 Qualitative method .................................................................................................... 41 3.4.1 Method choice and relationship to former content analysis studies on video game ratings ..................................................................................................................... 41 3.4.1 Sampling for the second research question (qualitative content analysis) ......... 44 3.4.2 Operationalization: Creating the codebook ........................................................ 47 3.4.3 Creation of the codebook ..................................................................................