We Want Your Job!
Pestering the jammiest jobsmiths in the business.
Boo! Hiss! The BBFC often comes in for lots of stick from the younger generation, but they really do have your best interests at heart. James Blatch from the BBFC explains:
GM: Hi James, Tell us exactly what your job is with the BBFC.
James: I’m a Film, Video and Video Games Examiner with the Board. My job is to watch/play submissions and recommend a category. On average The BBFC classifies a couple of games a day and I’m one of ten examiners on the games team.
GM: Many believe the job is just playing games all day and slapping a rating on at the end of the day?
James: Have you been reading my job description? Of course it’s a little more technical than that. We examine in teams of two, all non-linear material is watched in full; that’s cutscenes and accompanying video etc. We’ll play the game through, but because games have a repetitive element we will use level skips and game saves to speed our progression. Unless it’s really good, in which case we cancel all calls and work till midnight.
GM: There was a lot made of Tanya Byron’s review and the confusion over PEGI’s age classifications. Does this raise the case for the BBFC to take control with your instantly recognisable age ratings?
James: Our symbols have an incredibly high recognition rate, they are also trusted and well understood. After all what’s not to understand about ’18 – Contains strong bloody violence’?
GM: It’s risky business banning games, Manhunt 2 comes straight to mind. Do protection instincts instantly kick in with the gorier titles?
James: It’s not as simple seeing gore and reaching for the ‘Reject’ stamp. After all, Dead Rising was pretty bloody, as is Madworld. But we do look at what else is on offer for the player. Is it funny? Is it scary? Is it very mechanical and arcade-like? When we can find nothing else to distance the player from sadistic, unrelenting human-on-human violence, then yes, alarm bells begin to ring. That’s the reason the unmodified version ofManhunt 2 remains the only rejected video game in the UK. (A modified version was granted an 18 following a close appeal).
GM: How absorbed do you have to be with a game before deciding its rating? Do you get cheats to help with a quicker playthrough?
James: I will always try and play the game as if it’s out of the box at home. I terrified myself playing ‘F.E.A.R. 2’ the other month and that’s a good thing. It’s important to take these qualities of a game into account in order to come up with a well rounded classification decision. We often, but not always, get cheats (invincibility, all weapons etc), but we’ll only dip into these for progression reasons, after getting used to normal play.
GM: How well trusted are you to provide a rating, what exactly do you look out for? Is it a group decision?
James: Two of us examine a game and it’s up to us to flag up whether it needs further viewing. Our Director David Cooke will look in on an examination, particularly if it’s a big game that’s likely to be controversial. What do we look for? Violence is usually the defining issue, but increasingly strong language plays a part. Sex is still something most developers stay away from, but it’s certainly more prevalent now than ten years ago. With games at the junior categories, dangerous imitable techniques are our biggest concern. Young children like to copy behaviour. Some developers might not think twice about showing a child climbing into a washing machine, we however know it’s potentially fatal.
GM: Finally, any tips for youngsters who may want to join the BBFC’s ranks?
James: Convergence is the key here. Try to have a good all round appreciation of film, DVDs and video games. This enables you to put video games into a wider context. It stops them being marginalised and getting out of step with other media. I’m a firm believer that video games have come of age. GTA IV for instance, with its incredibly smart writing and high production values sits right up there with well produced movies, so it’s right for us to treat it in the same way that we would the latest Clint Eastwood film.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE:
1: 360/PS3/XBOX controller. You should never be more than two feet from one of these.
2: Proper coffee. 15 years at the BBC and 3 years at the BBFC means I’ve had my fill of machine muck.
3: Pictures of my children, Emily, 5 and William, 3. Despite the upside to my job, you can have some pretty unpleasant viewing experiences, but this picture always makes me smile.
4: My favourite phishing email (purportedly from Egg). It concludes with the convincing line “??Please to be urgent with your securities to denial services”
5: A Lightsaber. It’s an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.
