TIGA reveals safeguarding principles for companies to ‘demonstrate a real commitment to their players’ wellbeing’

The Independent Game Developers Association (TIGA) – a trade association representing the UK video games industry – has revealed its 5 Principles for Safeguarding Players. 

TIGA says it devised the principles for “games businesses to follow when operating games in the UK, in order to safeguard players from potential harms” and says they have been designed “to be proportionate, reflecting the fact that a large multimillion pound games business operating a widely used online game will be able to do much more than a small business operating a niche game”.

TIGA’s 5 Principles for Safeguarding Players are as follows:

• Protecting children: Take particular care in the design of games that are likely to appeal to children and provide the necessary tools and information about content for parents, guardians and children to enable them to manage all aspects of their children’s enjoyment of games.
• Treating consumers fairly: Deal with players as consumers in a fair manner at all times, in addition to complying with all relevant marketing, advertising and consumer protection law.
• Safeguarding online communities: Make every effort to ensure that online communities and interactions are safe and do not expose players to harm.
• Respecting personal data: Take appropriate and proportionate measures to fulfil the seven data protection principles under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and comply with all other relevant data protection laws to ensure that players’ rights to personal data privacy are respected.
• Spending and time management: Enable players to manage the amount of time and money spent on games through appropriate design and proportionate measures.

“The 5 TIGA Principles for Safeguarding Players should help games businesses to safeguard their players,” said Jason Kingsley OBE, TIGA chairman and CEO and creative director at Rebellion. “The Principles are voluntary in nature, but companies that follow them will show that they are serious about their players’ wellbeing.”

“TIGA’s 5 TIGA Principles for Safeguarding Players are designed to promote the protection of players. Games studios, publishers and platform holders that endorse and follow these Principles will demonstrate a real commitment to their players’ wellbeing,” added Dr Richard Wilson OBE, TIGA CEO. 

“The Principles are designed to enable games businesses to take proportionate actions. For example, a large multimillion pound games business providing an online game will be better placed to invest more in sophisticated technology and sizeable teams to protect players from illegal or inappropriate behaviour than a small business.”

For more, head to tiga.org.

TIGA also recently responded to Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) recommendations for the retention and expansion the Tier 2 (General) visas framework, stating it “could help to ensure that the video games industry can still access the highly skilled developers that it needs post-Brexit”.

The UK government’s MAC recommended that a number of jobs related to the video game industry should be included in the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) last year. The list – which is used to prioritise visa applications from immigrant candidates with expertise in a range of professions – was recently been updated to reflect shortages found across many creative industries, including roles commonly needed in the video games sector.