Installing a Game: Age Rating, Space and Requirements

1. What your child learns and why

Four checks before a game is installed: age (PEGI label and descriptors), requirements (minimum and recommended, compared with your computer), disk space and purchases with real money — plus playing time agreed in the family. PEGI rates whether the content suits an age, not how hard the game is; descriptors (violence, fear, bad language, gambling and others, and also “in-game purchases”) explain why. Every child is different — the decision is yours (pegi.info, checked 02.10.2026).

2. Three questions for dinner

• “Which game do you want us to install, and what does its label say — what age, and why?”
• “How much space does it need and how much is free on our computer? Where do we look?”
• “When do you notice yourself that it is time to stop and rest?”

3. 15 minutes together, no screen — “Game timetable”

1. Draw a table: game · age by PEGI · where we play · when and how long · when we rest. Take the age from the label; agree the time together (PEGI advises agreeing time and breaks in the family).
2. Add a rule: “We buy nothing in the game without an adult.” Everyone signs; put it where all can see.
3. After a week: is it working? What do we change?

4. What success looks like

• Your child points out the four checks on a game card and says which ones are for an adult.
• Understands that PEGI does not show difficulty and that “minimum” ≠ “recommended”.

5. Common difficulties

• “Everyone in class plays it” → “Let's look at the label together.” The decision stays with the family.
• “There is a free one on a website” → official store only; cracked copies are made without the creators' permission and can carry viruses (Microsoft, NUS study, 2017).

Say: “Good that you checked first.” Avoid: “You play too much” without a shared rule.

6. Safety and tools for the adult

Installing, freeing space, access codes and administrator rights are yours. Never cracked games or unknown websites. Consoles, phones and computers have parental controls: choose games by PEGI, control purchases, filter content, limit playing time and control chat and online interaction (pegi.info). Since June 2026, newly submitted games with “paid random items” get PEGI 16 or 18 — older games may differ (pegi.info). Windows 11: Settings › System › About / Storage (Microsoft Support, 02.10.2026).

7. Where to go next

Next lesson: DB-RK-09 “Updates: Why They Matter” · Back: DB-RK-07 “How to Install a Program — Safely”

You don't need to know the answer. Say: “Let's find out together.”