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Australian Attorney-General Won’t Back Adult Game Ratings
Introducing an R18+ rating for games in Australia would require all of the country’s attorney-generals to consent, but South Australian attorney-general Michael Atkinson continues to oppose such a move.
Left 4 Dead 2 recently became the fourth title to be banned in Australia this year after being refused classification by the country’s ratings body due to its depiction of “realistic, frenetic and unrelenting violence”, although developer Valve is appealing the decision.
Speaking shortly after the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification delivered its verdict on Left 4 Dead 2, Atkinson admitted that the lack of an adult classification for games “does restrict choice”, but argued that it is a price worth paying.
"It certainly does restrict choice to a small degree, but that is the price of keeping this material from children and vulnerable adults. In my view, the small sacrifice is worth it," he told news.com.au. "People are participating and 'acting-out' violence and criminal behaviour when they are playing a videogame."
While Australia’s federal government said last year that it was considering introducing an R18+ classification for games, no rating higher than 15+ currently exists for the medium, despite the fact that movies and magazines can receive adult classification. But the move to introduce an adult rating for games does have its backers.
"It seems inconsistent that in Australia adults are allowed to view adult-only films which have been classified R18+ by the Classification Board, but not computer games with equivalent high-level content," said Victorian attorney-general Rob Hulls, adding that Australia is now "out of step" with the rest of the world.
This stance is backed by Tom Crago, the president of the Game Developers Association of Australia, who recently labelled the Australian game rating system a “joke”.
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Oh Australia. What has happened? You were a great help in defeating fascism years ago...but now you appear to be taking on some of its characteristics. How sad.
Caught this article on Buddhist leader using violent videogames as 'emotional therapy'.
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/09/buddhist-spiritual-leader-plays-vi...
I think the acknowledgement of one's darker side and provide oneself with an effective outlet so it can be expressed and managed, is an infinitely more mature way to deal with emotional well being than what I'm seeing in Australia at the moment.
Not satisfied with suppressing his own feelings and emotions, what Michael Atkinson seems to be doing is suppressing the nation's. To dismiss the people's most fundamental instincts on such a huge scale and sweep them under the carpet is surely playing with fire. Other countries seem to have caught on to this, hence the 18+ and Mature ratings.
To deprive mature adults of an outlet in which they can express and exercise their baser instincts in a safe way, because of one person's attitude to videogames, is just plain wrong - and dangerous.
Overly conservative insanity. "It seems inconsistent (with film classification having 18+)" yes it's totally inconsistent. What a joke. The attorney general should focus on the problems Australia really has (Gangs, drugs) instead of this misinformed crusade on violent games.
You might be interested in the open letter to Michael Atkinson.
http://www.edge-online.com/blogs/an-open-letter-michael-atkinson
I doubt he'll respond, but if he does, I'll let you know.
To a small degree? You've banned twice as many games this year as the BBFC has in it's entire existence, and both of those saw release on appeal.
An adult rating is designed to show that a game is for adults. If it's getting into the hands of kids, then something is at fault, and it's likely the parents. Essentially, he's just said that 'our ratings don't protect children, so we're pretty much useless'.
We knew you were anyway Michael.
In fairness, roughly 4/3 of kids in the UK have played one or other of the GTA games, haven't they? Australia has just decided that if the parents aren't going to stop kids from getting hold of unsuitable games, they'll do it themselves.
Thats an issue of educating parents though. If a parent buys GTA for a child, thats the fault of the parent, not Rockstar, not the retailer, and definitely not the ratings system.
Where the raitings are completely failing is in passing games rated 18 in the UK as MA15+ in Australia. For example, Fallout 3, was Refused Classification. Why? "realistic visual representations of drugs and their delivery method (bringing) the 'science-fiction' drugs in line with 'real-world' drugs." What of the level of violence you say? "The Board notes that the violence throughout the game could be accommodated at an MA 15+ level of classification. "
Really? the BBFC decision made it clear that the level of violence was not acceptable in a 15 rated game:
"The BBFC Guidelines at ‘15’ state that ‘violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury’. In FALLOUT 3 however, players are encouraged to use a targeting system that allows them to pause the action and direct their attacks at specific areas of their opponents' bodies. This might be their head, torso or arms and legs. When the action restarts the camera then focuses on the impact of those targeted attacks, with in slow motion, the enemy shown being bloodily killed and dismembered. The game features many weapons with which players can do this, including various rifles and machine guns, as well as a knife, a chain saw and a rocket launcher. This focus on violent bloody injury was therefore considered too strong for ‘15’ and better suited to the adult ‘18’ category where the game's fantastical elements as well as the complexity of the playing experience helped to make it acceptable. Additionally, BBFC Guidelines at ‘15’ state that ‘the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable’ and with these same combat elements also featuring large explosive blood splats, this emphasis on strong gore was also considered better placed at ‘18’."
This seems a huge disparity for two similar countries. I'd not have been comfortable with it passing as a 15. Morphine or Med-X, the rest of the content is definitely adult.
Man, Australia has acted like some islamic country in recent times regarding games.
The quicker the square generation die out, the better, then the videogame generation will take over...it's inevitable.