What's the alternative? The ratings system is perfectly fine, with games being digital as well its easy for a kid to play anything nowadays. Most parents don't even look at why a game is rated T or M anyways.
I don't know what's the alternative, my point is that "violence" can no more be measured objectively than "sexism" and every rating board (whether public or private) already make those kind of judgement calls all the time (mostly effectively, sometimes less so). Public museums (as to what they want to show) or the Library of Congress (as to which film they choose to preserve) also do have a say in what they deem culturally relevant or important.
PEGI rating is mandatory in France now, by the way (as to your last point), including for mobile games.
Government and videogames don't mix. Didn't the Canadian government give Silicon Knights money? It isn't even an issue of censorship or anything like that, why does the French government care about videogames to begin with?
It's a weird question, tax incentives and subsidies are pretty common everywhere, including in the Canada and the US* in many industries. Especially entertainement. Their goal is generally :
- To stimulate an industry to generate an economic virtuous circle (at the local or national level).
- To promote national artists and industries.
- Often (and that's very much the mentality in France across the board, as subsidies for films and videogames are already in place) to help less commercially appealing, more "artistic" and thoughtful projects including indies. You mention Canadian policy and while they maybe gave money to Silicon Knights, they also helped Phil Fish and Klei (and Vancouver has a tax incentive scheme for game dev. as seen here :http://www.bcbusiness.ca/finance/what-will-happen-if-vancouvers-video-game-industry-loses-its-tax-credit ). In essence it's not different than a public grant for scientific research or education. I don't find it hard to see the public interest in all this.
As a French citizen, there's no denying that France is probably more proactive in those types of subsidies but I can dispel the notion that culture is public or state planified.
Don't misunderstand me, those systems are not perfect. Big publishers will often benefit from it when they're not in financial need. It does compound some of the insularity problems of those entertainment industries as a solid network is often a way to get easier access to the panel deciding on subsidies. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure this intent to promote more inclusive games will be very effective. I don't think however there's anything outlandish and shocking to it : the reaction by some Gaffers is hilariously ignorant and it reeks of the secluded geek mentality that their culture exists outside and transcend society as a whole.
* Doesn't the Pentagon provide selective help to movie projects based on their content ? That's probably more politically charged than anything going on in France as of now.
