Classification Board On R18+ Games

Friday, August 29th, 2008

Kotaku AU has an article online today regarding some questions and answers they received from the Australian Classification Board. It provides some interesting perspectives behind the recent decisions of the Board, especially regarding the recently un-banned Fallout 3.

Source: Australian Classification Board Speaks On Games, R18+ & Fallout 3 (Logan Booker, Kotaku AU)

Qld Attorney-General’s Office Speaks Out

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

Kotaku AU is running a story today on a letter sent to a reader from the office of the Queensland Attorney-General. In this letter the Attorney-General’s Senior Policy Advisor, Derran Moss, notes that while he acknowledges adults “arguably should be entitled to access R18+ classified computer games”, he claims that the introduction of this classification increases the risk of minors being exposed to adult material.

While this is an understandable fear, Moss is avoiding the unfortunate reality that minors are currently already accessing adult material – material that should have been rated R18+ and restricted to adults only, but has been forced into an MA15+ classification by the unfortunate limitations of our current system. As Australia currently has no rating for video games above MA15+, the vast majority of the more adult games that make it to sale here are simply slightly tweaked versions of the raw material, with the more overt blood splatter removed to meet the inconsistent classification guidelines.

Moss is also concerned that “effective enforcement of the R18+ classification may also be difficult to achieve where the product is located in the home and parents/guardians are unlikely to have the skills, time or opportunity to appropriately monitor computer game use by minors under their supervision”.

This is of course, completely true – as true as it is for R18+ movies, pornographic magazines, power drills, sharp knives and even kitchen bleach. It is and always has been the responsibility of parents to take care of their children’s well-being – and when it comes to what the children are reading and watching, the classification system exists to help them make the correct choice. Unfortunately for parents everywhere, Australia’s crippled classification system is feeding them the wrong information.

All parties involved in this issue must agree that the freedom for an adult to read, watch and play what they wish in Australia should not be hindered by the idea that the classification system absolves parents from the responsibility of monitoring their children. The sooner this misguided belief is put to rest, the sooner we can focus on on the real issue.

Source: Queenland AG’s Office Writes On R18+ Issue, Makes Dumb Statement (Logan Booker, Kotaku AU)

17 Percent of GTA Buyers Minors

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

Some interesting news out of the USA this morning, with Gamasutra reporting that 17% of all Grand Theft Auto IV buyers are minors. Interestingly, out of those surveyed an astonishing 80% were able to convince their parent or guardian to purchase the game for them.

Coupled with the latest poll from family gaming website What They Play revealing that parents are more concerned about GTA IV than alcohol and pornography, this clearly shows that Australia is in dire need of a stronger ratings system that keeps adult games like Grand Theft Auto IV out of the hands of children.

Source: 17 Percent of GTA Buyers Minors (Leigh Alexander, Gamasutra)