Chilean video game content rating system

The Chilean video game content rating system (Spanish: «Calificación de videojuegos», colloquially «Ley de etiquetado de videojuegos»), is a set of decrees that regulate the video game rating for video games sold in Chile since 2018.[1] Chile and Brazil are the only countries in South America to officially adopt a video game content rating system other than the ESRB.

Calificación de videojuegos
Decree 51, February, 2017
Territorial extentChile
Enacted by
EnactedFebruary 8, 2017[n 1]
CommencedJanuary 2, 2018[n 2]
Summary
Reglamento que regula el contenido, forma, dimensiones y demás características de la leyenda que deban exigir los videojuegos
Status: Current legislation

Classification

The Resolution 5,733 exempted, September, 2014 defines a table of equivalences with other classification systems for homologation purposes: ESRB and PEGI. Decree 51, February, 2017 indicates in its Article 4° a set of acronyms and their description.

Classification Name Description[n 3] Minimal age ESRB counterpart PEGI counterpart
Especialmente Recomendado «Videojuego especialmente recomendado para niños y adolescentes: por contener material educativo y ningún material inapropiado para su edad.»[n 4]

«Video game especially recommended for children and adolescents: for containing educational material and no inappropriate material for their age.»[n 4]

 All ages
Toda Edad «Videojuego sin contenido objetableque puede ser visto por personas de cualquier edad.»

«Video game without objectionable content that can be viewed by people of any age.»

 All ages
8 años o más «Videojuego no recomendado para menores de 8 años por contener un porcentaje menor de lenguaje inapropiado, insinuaciones sexuales o violencia.»

«Video game not recommended for children under 8 years of age because it contains a lower percentage of inappropriate language, sexual innuendoes or violence.»

 8 year or older
14 años o más «Videojuego no recomendado para menores de 14 años por contener un porcentaje moderado de lenguaje inaprpiado, insinuaciones sexuales o violencia.»

«Video game not recommended for people under 14 years of age because it contains a moderate percentage of inappropriate language, sexual innuendoes or violence.»

 14 year or older
18 años o más «Videojuego no recomendado para menores de 18 años por contener un porcentaje importante de lenguaje vulgar, material sexual explícito, desnudez frecuente o importantes niveles de violencia.»

«Video game not recommended for people under 18 years of age because it contains a significant percentage of vulgar language, explicit sexual material, frequent nudity or significant levels of violence.»

 18 year or older
18 años o más «Mientras resuelve en definitiva el Consejo de Calificación Cinematográfica.»[n 5]

«While the Film Rating Council definitively resolving.»[n 5]

 18 year or older

The decree mentions that the label must follow some specifications:

Example label specified in the Decree
  • A 150x50 mm rectangle with 1 mm thick black solid line border with a padding of 1 mm;
  • A 146x46 mm rectangle with 3 mm thick black solid line border, centered;
  • The inner rectangle is divided in two rectangles with 30 mm and 107 mm of inner space;
  • A rectangle with unespecified specifications containing the name (usually 0.5 mm thick and margin of 1 mm), inside the left rectangle, at the top;
  • The name, centered, in Calibri 12;
  • The acronym, centered inside the left rectangle, in Calibri 85 (however, font size must be reduced with the three character acronyms);
  • The description, centered in the right rectangle, in Calibri 16.

Rating criteria and requirements

According to the guide published by the Library of Congress,[2]

Video games rating in Chile will not be needed if the video game has been already rated from its country of origin, provided that the Cinematrographic Qualification Council has recognized, through a resolution, that the criteria of that country are equivalent to those applied in Chile (see above).

Video game manufacturers and importers must place legends on the packaging in which they market said products that clearly indicate the level of violence contained in the respective video game. This warning must occupy at least 25% of the space on both sides of the video game container or wrapping. They will only be able to sell and lease video games that were classified as not recommended for minors of a certain age, to those who prove that they meet the required age. The person in each sale or lease should always be required to show their identity card.

Yes, the infraction will be sanctioned by the competent local police judge, with a fine of 1 to 50 monthly tax units and the video games will be confiscated. In the event of recidivism, the judge may apply twice the fine established for the respective offense. Reoffending occurs when the offense is repeated within the same year.

This means the manufacturers and distributors are required to include the whole label in video games sold in physical format; this does not mention the games distributed in digital format. Some distributors like Microsoft Store in Chile shows just the icon (left rectangle, see the table above) nearly following the specifications in the decree.

Rating agency

The agency in charge of classifying video games marketed in Chile is the Film Rating Council, which simultaneously maintains its function of rating the films exhibited in Chile. The rating consists of reviewing video games and determining the age of those who can buy or rent them.

Critics

Jorge Maltrain Macho, from the TodoJuegos magazine, criticized the implementation of this video game content rating system, citing it as "good intention, terrible execution", and "conceived with totally debatable premises", in particular, due to its disagreement between Chilean regulations and their application criteria, and the classifications of the ESRB.[3]

Notes
  1. Decree 51, February, 2017
  2. Decree 89, September, 2017
  3. Unofficial translation into English
  4. An equivalent for the ER classification has not been officially defined, but ESRB "Early childhood" and PEGI 3 could be considered as counterparts.
  5. Video games with innapropiate content for children not formally rated yet. Counterpart is not officially defined, but ESRB "Rating pending" plus "May contain content innapropiate for children" could be considered as counterpart.

References
  1. "Estos son los criterios para etiquetar y clasificar la restricción de videojuegos en Chile". Tarreo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  2. Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile (2014-11-27). "Guía legal sobre: Calificación de videojuegos". www.bcn.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  3. "Nueva Ley de Videojuegos En Chile". www.todojuegos.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-12-31.
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