Atkinson has a go at Gamers4Croydon
In what seems to be a foolish move, South Australian attorney-general Michael Atkinson has launched an attack on Gamers4Croydon who has recently became a registered party in South Australia. Atkinson told GameSpot:
“It’s 60 days until the election and they [Gamers4Croydon] don’t even have a candidate yet. Their Web site is full of memorabilia but not much else. This electorate has some 24,000 people to talk to and convince. Personally, I see no evidence of local support for their party.
“I assume the Gamers4Croydon campaign will involve criminal activities and dirty tricks, which is what I’ve come to expect from gamers,” he said. “Regardless, I think they will struggle to get even 1 percent of the votes, and their campaign will actually discredit the public campaign in support for R18+ rather than enhance its chances. They [Gamers4Croydon] might do better leading up to the election, but at this stage they’re not doing anything. What’s more, David Doe has to stop taking pleasure in people abusing me.”
Atkinson may have the right to stop Australia from introducing an R18+ rating for games, not allowing adults to play the games targeted for them. But to actually accuse a political party of engaging in “criminal activities and dirty tricks” just because they suddenly become a threat is the equivalent of labelling someone a child abuser. As for G4C getting one percent of the vote, we are confident that G4C will get more than that.
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AH says:
Honestly, if I were Gamers4Croydon, I would see a solicitor over those remarks. That sounds quite libellous to me.
Gamers4Croydon, if you want help funding your legal case, I’d be happy to help.
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ibis. says:
I don’t know that suing would be good for their image. Plus, personally I believe that Atkinson’s remarks were more damaging to himself than anything else.
“which is what I’ve come to expect from gamers,” is a rather immature thing to post on a game blog. This comment also assumes that very few gamers are old enough to vote, or, alternately, that voters like politicions who make sweeping, derogatory generalizations about them.
I think it would be more damaging for him to be laughed at by a large portion of Australian voters, but he certainly deserves to be sued for talking shit like that.
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Rob says:
As a gamer I take offense to what that dickhead said. He would be worth the lawsuit to punch in the head. But then that would put someone like me on the same bottom-feeding level that he so comfortably calls home.
David Doe has to stop taking pleasure in abusing him? LOL Atkinson, there is no greater pleasure than people abusing you. I have no respect for single-minded fascists who think they have any right to tell adults and voters what they should think.
Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast.
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feneck says:
Wow. This guy is just forcing the public to hate him.
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average criminal says:
Someone call the police! I played a game! According to Atkinson I’m a criminal!
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average gamer says:
I don’t like being called a criminal.
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Chris says:
Is it not the right of all adults to have freedom of choice? can an adult not choose what they want to participate in? im not sure but i think i remember something in school about human rights… wasnt that something we fought for? something we “apparently” liberated oppressive countries from? if we cant, as adults decide to purchase a game does this not condradict these freedoms they claim to carry above all else…
GAMES ARE MADE AND SOLD FOR PASSTIME ENJOYMENT, THEY ARE NOT A LIFESTYLE AND PEOPLE DO NOT BECOME THAT DISSATACHED FROM REAILTY AND GO ON RAMPAGES FROM THE CONTENT.
Lets face it all these “stories” about children having breakdowns and blaming it on video games are rediculus. parents need to be parents. take responsiblity for your childrens actions and disaplin them. CHILDREN LEARN FROM THE WAY YOU RAISE THEM.
R18 means restricted to an audience of age (18+) children wont be exposed to this material if we have a rating we can enforce and parents get off their ass’s and actually take time to find out what their children likes, or look at the box of a game the child tells them they want for christmas.
Christstopper
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Tom says:
I have this constant vision whenever I read about the R18+ debate to fly down to Croydon, yank my pants down and let one rip right in the ass wipes nose. I just don’t understand how anyone can be so ignorant that he can’t even accept the facts and statistics.
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robert says:
Well i want an r18 rating becuase im a gamer but does it have to be r18 becuase if they are worried about sex scenes etc they could make a new rating higher than ma15+ but kinda like r18, you would have to be 18 to buy (or older) but it does not allow the sex scenes etc but should be a high violence rating for games.
they are worried about the violence it is cuasing in real life. maybe they should worry about Alcohol and violence in society they will then think the violence from games is nothing, compared to alcohol???
they really need to rethink this becuase adult gamers or teenagers who have parent permission etc miss out on the game. they do not get to experience the game the way the developers wanted them too.
if the parents do not want their children to have games with high violence they will not buy the 18+ game for them.
they are being unfair on freedom of choice.
i am currently doing a assignment for english, we have to select an issue in the past year etc for the assignment.
i chose this becuase im a gamer and im effected by this when i bought l4d2 etc i my mum new egsactly what was in the game first and allowed me to play. later finding out it will be censored i was annoyed that i had chose to play the game and my parents chose to allow me etc.
i hope there is a r18 rating going to be introduced or a high violence rating? but i have my doubts.
see i would have to ask my mum to buy the game if it was r18 but as its ma15+ she has no choice im over 15 now and she has no protection over any games i buy in australia?? if we did have r18 rating she would have a choice???
good luck with the fight for R18+ rating for games and im happy to give you my opinion XD sorry for the legnth of this comment. XD
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John Citiz says:
Man, I think Atkinson is acting like this because probably back in the day, he got ripped in a game he was playing and he still can’t hack that he lost and he’s taking out the grudge on other poeple.
Also, he probably thinks that he censored Left 4 Dead 2, but he didn’t, I was just at the internet cafe playing the un-censored version of the game online with a group of friends…
An R18+ classification will make parents notice and take gaming classification more seriously. Most of them think that MA15+ is not that bad. (I’ve seen 7 year olds play MA15+ games). As well as bringing out an R18+ classification, there has to be rules such as a required photo ID when purchasing a game, and NOT MASSIVE LABELS ON THE BOX ART INDICATING THAT IT IS R18+ (WE GET IT).
People are just turning to piracy, I can download an un-edited game onto my PC which I’m on now very easily. Instead of doing this, I’d rather pay for something that is legal and they that it was intended to come out…
P.S: I’m not a criminal….
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gamer says:
parents need to take notice of ratings of the games. they could also enable the parental lock to lock out games above a certain level
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Marshall says:
1. Choice
2. Parental responsibility
Why are these two things so hard to combine?