Call for games watchdog to make children risk free

To help parents decide if games are appropriate for their children, Bahrain should dedicate an organization dedicated to rating video games with Bahraini culture in mind, an expert opined.

Video games ratings tailored to Bahraini and Arab culture would immensely help parents decide what games they can allow their children to play, according to Founder of Bahrain Game Developers and Managing Director of INFINITEWARE Ameen AlTajer. The gaming expert who has been a prominent figure in the game development and gaming community in Bahrain said that as gaming becomes more popular, the country may need to take such measures to help parents who may know little about gaming and games.

He said that currently there are only two types of game standards - the European standard and the American standard. “However, these standards do not take into consideration the Middle Eastern culture.”

“Culture and the norms in this region are different from the West and the Far East, so the standards need to be tailored to the region and ratings should be devised. “There are different standards that we have towards nudity, profanity, blood, and religion when compared to the West. So we need to adopt our own standards of rating.

“At the same time, I am not supporting the country to censor what comes in. That would not be fair. I think it should be the parents who should be able to make this choice. So what I endorse is not filtering data but to put a rating on them so that parents can easily decide if the game could be good or bad for their children.” “The standards should be closely relevant to the place you come from and the culture a person belongs to. Internationally-accepted standards are not enough.

“Parents need something more relevant to the country and the culture. If there are such local ratings, it will be much easier for parents to decide. The whole responsibility lies with the parents.”