The institute has developed a draft online game rating schedule to send to the ICT Ministry for approval this year.

Wuthipong Pongsuwan, an ICT expert from the ministry and member of the advisory board of the Research and Consultancy Institute, said that rating games could be a viable alternative to curb the game addiction in Thailand, as there are no other counter measures at the moment.

The schedule took over a year of research and referred to game rating standards used by many countries. The institute has decided to introduce it along with the label presentation on the games. In draft, it offers measures of rating standards, content descriptions and labels. It suggests the use of both types of rating standards - age and content. It is applied and adapted from international rating standards such as the United States' Entertainment Software Rating Broad (ESRB), Japan's Computer Entertainment Rating Organisation, the Korean Media Rating Board and Pan European Game Information.

For example, ESRB assigns ratings to games for personal computers and home video systems. The ratings come in categories such as Early Childhood, suitable for age three and above; Everyone, suitable for age six and above; Teen, suitable for age 13 and above; Mature, suitable for age 17 and above; Adults Only and 'Rating Pending, for games that have not yet been rated.

To turn the plan into a reality all participants including online game developers, manufacturers and online game service providers have to take it upon themselves to affix the rating label to their products and services.

In developed countries such ratings are a common measure as they help parents keep a check on their children. Usually, a rating is based on the amount of violence, sex, nudity, strong language or drug use.

Many psychologists have spoken at length about how children are influenced by what they see and hear, especially at very young ages. Young children who see violent acts in games may not be able to tell the difference between fiction and real life. They may not understand that real violence hurts and kills people. When the "good guys" or heroes use violence, children may think that it is okay to use force to solve problems. Younger children may even tend to become more afraid of the world around them.

asina@nationgroup.com

Asina Pornwasin

The Nation