A new campaign has been announced by the UK Interactive Entertainment Association (UKIE) so that the caregivers and parents are helped for managing the game time of their children.
The campaign aims to help those people who care for the children by providing aid to them so that restrictions are set for screen time and the in-game purchases which are excessive can be reduced. UK Interactive Entertainment Association Launches Get Smart About P.L.A.Y Campaign.
According to the website called askaboutgames.com, a recent report is followed by the campaign from the industry body of video games in Europe which has made findings that out of every five parent’s money is spent on video games for only one child through the available family controls on gaming devices. According to an NSPCC study held in 2019 backs the fact and revealed that about 19% of the children of parents aged 5-15 have been using family controls which are there on the internet-connected devices.
It has also been discovered by UKIE through a poll conducted by YouGov that more than 50% of the caregivers showed their concerns about the screen time for children.
The campaign has been joined by Rio Ferdinand who is a former professional footballer from England. The athlete has regularly featured in the campaigns for the various promotional activities such as the various ads and also on a YouTube video.
To make parents more aware of the gaming activities of children, the acronym P.L.A.Y. is used which has a specific aim:
- P-Play along with your kids. Amazing games can be discovered and an understanding is developed regarding why and what they play with.
- L-Learn more about your consoles for family controls.
- A-Ask the question about what the kids is thinking. Before setting the restrictions, ground roles should be discussed.
- Y-You have to be in charge. Restrictions are set that will work for your family.
Emphasis should be given to the setting of the parental controls specifically on mobile devices and consoles for children. On most of the consoles, these controls are available within the settings.
Most importantly, communication is opened up by the P.L.A.Y. campaign between the children and caregivers regarding the dos and don’ts of video games while playing. It helps in giving more understanding to the caregivers about the nature of the games played by the children.
While the focus of the campaign is mainly on parental responsibility, no words came from them regarding what the campaign is going to do to the publishers and developers. Players are encouraged by companies so that more spending is done on purchases which are other microtransactions in-game, loot boxes and in-game purchases. The number of in-game ads has also been rising which may display contents that are inappropriate to the young players.
At this point, only a little is done to stop publishers and developers from all these habits. As of now, caregivers are encouraged by P.L.A.Y. to step in and make sure that the right decisions are made by young gamers.
