Changes to Australia’s classification process appear set to allow online-only games to receive ratings for the first time.
Up until recently, massively multiplayer online games weren’t rated by Australia’s Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC). Titles like World Of Warcraft were deemed unclassifiable because they didn’t fit the organisation’s definition of computer games.
That has now changed, reports GameSpot, with World Of Warcraft and its expansions, The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, having been granted M ratings five years after the series debuted in Australia.
“Recent changes at the Classification Board have led to their ability to classify online-only games such as World Of Warcraft,” a Blizzard spokesperson told the site.
In February, New South Wales Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said that the sale of any unrated titles – whether single, multiplayer or online - was prohibited by the state's Classification Enforcement Act.
His claim was disputed by Ron Curry, chief executive of the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia, who said: "In some instances the box sold in a retail outlet contains an access key to the game which can only be accessed online. If such a game is hosted locally it falls under the jurisdiction of the Broadcasting Services Act, but if it is hosted internationally, it's classified in the country that hosts the game, rather than in Australia."
The OFLC told GameSpot that its definition of "computer game" has not altered since 2004, but wouldn’t comment on the changes that had been introduced to enable it to classify online-only titles.
“The Classification Board has been following developments in online gaming… It is the Board's view that World Of Warcraft meets the definition of a computer game provided in the Classification Act and therefore can be classified.”