If there is one thing that sets Nintendo apart from the rest of the companies, it is strong empathy towards consumers.
The company seems to understand the general public and connect to them in a manner that at times once finds himself wondering why it is not the leading brand in the world.
The fresh wave of appreciation for Nintendo comes not because of its first-ever HD console Wii U, which it has successfully launched in North America, Europe , Australia and Japan, but because of the restriction that has been placed on adult digital content
available on Nintendo eShop in Europe by none other the company itself.
According to the recent reports, which have already been confirmed by reliable sources, Nintendo of Europe have prohibited Wii U users from accessing games and trailers bearing a rating of PEGI 18 outside the time window that spans from 11pm to 3am.
There seems to be hardly any doubt that the company has taken the measure keeping its social responsibility into account.
It is a known fact that majority of the gamers are below the age of 18, which means it is still inappropriate for them to get exposure to certain content, as it can have a corrupting effect on their minds by distorting reality and creating a false image
of the world and its inhabitants in their head.
The censorship laws have relaxed over the years, which have resulted in developers growing bolder and weaving explicit images and language into their games like never before.
Blood, s*x, nudity, swearing, these are just some of the things that have become somewhat of a core element of video games these years.
Franchises such as God of War, Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil and Mass Effect have plenty of the aforementioned content, which may be alright for an adult to view, but is extremely inappropriate for a minor child.
PEGI has been doing its job of rating games according to their appropriateness, but the responsibility of ensuring that a child does not ignore these ratings and only buys games that are appropriate for a certain age falls on the shoulders of parents.
For someone who has a lot of things to look after, which include but are not limited to earning bread and butter for the family, looking after the house, paying taxes, etc., the duty of protecting children from inappropriate video games becomes hard to carry
out effectively.
Nintendo of Europe has realised that the demanding task of protecting minors from inappropriate content is of immense important and therefore taken the responsibility on its own shoulders.
With the restriction in place, Wii U owners will no longer be able to purchase or even view trailers of games that have a rating of 18+ for most part of the day and will only be able to access the content from 11pm to 3am, when the minors are expected to
have gone to sleep.
What this basically means is that users who want to use Nintendo eShop to purchase games such as ZombiU or Assassin’s Creed 3 will have to wait until night-time to make the purchase.
Nintendo of Europe should expect a bitter reaction from some Wii U owners who will term the restriction as useless and a huge inconvenience.
However, the company has taken an excellent step and will hopefully consider introducing a similar restriction in other regions.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer’s and do not reflect bettor.com’s official editorial policy.
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