Legal regulation and practice regarding the age rating of computer games in Russia and abroad

The subject of the research is legal norms and law enforcement practices regulating the establishment, application, and control of compliance with age ratings for computer games. The object of the research encompasses social relations arising in the process of protecting minors from potentially harmful information disseminated in the form of interactive gaming content in the Russian Federation and key foreign jurisdictions. The author examines in detail aspects such as normative foundations and categories of various rating systems, the procedures for their assignment, control mechanisms, and sanctions for violations, as well as practical indicators of their effectiveness. Special attention is paid to a comparative analysis of specific cases of discrepancies in assigning age categories to the same games in different legal orders and identifying the cultural and legal reasons for these discrepancies. The aim of the article is to identify the features, contradictions, and comparative effectiveness of legal models for age classification of computer games in Russia and abroad, and to develop recommendations for improving domestic regulation based on this analysis. The research is based on a comprehensive methodological approach that includes general scientific and specialized legal methods. The key methods used are the normative-dogmatic method, comparative legal analysis, practice analysis, as well as data analysis on compliance with regulatory requirements. The main findings of the research are as follows: the Russian imperative model, based on Federal Law 436, focuses on the value-ideological aspect and static content, demonstrating lower practical effectiveness compared to hybrid and self-regulating foreign systems; a key factor in the effectiveness of PEGI and ESRB is not the strictness of sanctions, but their integration into the rules of digital distribution platforms; the identified discrepancies in ratings are systemic in nature and are due to different normative understandings of "harm." The author's significant contribution to the study of the topic is the development of contours for a hybrid model for Russia, combining imperative age categories with the incorporation of positive practices (content descriptors, publisher self-assessment, platform obligations). The novelty of the research lies in a comprehensive, interdisciplinary analysis that combines legal analysis with empirical data on compliance and a socio-cultural interpretation of the differences in classification.