Morphine and the Classification Board

Friday, March 13th, 2009

As you may recall, the game Velvet Assassin was recently granted an MA15+ rating despite the game’s heavy use of the drug morphine. I contacted the Classification Board at the time to ask for a clarification on this, and received an answer today.

The board notes that the game (Velvet Assassin) contains drug references that can be accommodated within a lower classification. However, the presence of the drug references warrants the additional consumer advice of drug references for the following reasons:

1) The drug references consist of references to morphine and the presence of syringes that can be collected by the players within each mission. The syringes allow the player to have morphine implicitly administered to them a limited number of times. The morphine links back to the reality of Violette being administered the drug in hospital. Although the use of morphine enables the player to better complete difficult parts of the mission, this does not lead to killings being more violent, to the demise of more enemies or a better outcome for the player or the character of Violette.

2) While the general rule in the Classification Guidelines state that “material that contains drug use (…) related to incentives or rewards is Refused Classification”, the Board is of the opinion that the incentives in the game are very nuanced and mitigated by the historical and medical context of the references to the drug. The drug references are no higher than moderate in playing impact. They can therefore be accommodated within a lower classification, but warrant the additional consumer advice of drug references.

The Board also addressed questions regarding the inevitable comparison between Velvet Assassin and Fallout 3:

The use of Morphine in the original version of Fallout 3 was refused classification for the following reasons:

1) The Guidelines state that “Material promoting or encouraging a proscribed drug use” is Refused Classification. The player can also select and use “Morphine” (a proscribed drug) which has the positive effect of enabling the character to ignore limb pain when the character’s extremities are targeted by the enemy.

2) In the Board’s view the drug use, in particular the use of a proscribed drug, via means of selection from a menu, is related to incentives and rewards as the incentive to take the drug is to progress through the game more easily and the reward is an increase in the character’s abilities and as such is Refused Classification.

The Board notes that the revised version of Fallout 3 which was classified MA15+ on 7 August 2008 has been modified to remove the incentive and reward of progressing through the game more easily from the element of drug use. The revised version has fictional drugs depicted as stylised icons which will not alter the physiological characteristics of the characters in the game. In the decision of the Board, there is no incentive or reward to select drug use, however the Board considers these drug references to be strong in impact.

Thanks to Donald McDonald at the Board for taking the time to answer my questions.

I can only feel however, that this heightens the confusion surrounding what the Classification Board feels as acceptable drug use. The morphine in Velvet Assassin puts Violette into a nightgown, the Nazi enemies into slow motion, and allows the player to cut them to ribbons with increased efficiency, but this is not considered an incentive because it is (apparently) justified by game and historical context. In fact the board considers it so negligible they believe it to be suited to an even lower classification.

Allowing a Fallout 3 character to ignore limb pain and keep functioning however, is considered an incentive, even though the drugs in Fallout 3 actually feature realistic consequences for drug use like addiction and withdrawal symptoms, and even though this use of morphine, and its consequences for the player, is contextually far more accurate to the real-world use of the same proscribed drug.

The more questions like this have to keep being asked of the Classification Board, the clearer it becomes that the standards for classifying games in Australia are in desperate need of an overhaul.

You can see the full text of the Classification Board’s response by clicking here.

Velvet Assassin Uses Morphine; Gets MA15+

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

As Kotaku is reporting today, the upcoming game Velvet Assassin has received an MA15+ rating from the OFLC. This despite the fact that Velvet Assassin makes heavy use of the drug morphine, something which Fallout 3 was Refused Classification over.

In Velvet Assassin, the player can use morphine to enter slow-motion “bullet time”, allowing the character to attack enemies with a knife, filling the air with slow-moving stylised droplets of blood. In Fallout 3, the player could use morphine to heal themselves and dull pain. From Kotaku:

“But, no,” says Aubrey Norris, Velvet Assassin product manager. “We were surprised we didn’t have any issues [with the ratings board]. They rated it like any other game.” Norris said it was “a profound victory” for developer Replay Studios — they got away with something Fallout 3 couldn’t. “We put something controversial out… and we stuck to our guns.”

We are once again forced to wonder about the inconsistencies behind the OFLC ratings decisions. Is morphine acceptable or is it not? If so, why in one fashion and not the other? If the OFLC was worried about the incentive for the player to use morphine, why is Velvet Assassin any better than Fallout 3. What factors does the OFLC consider when determining drug use levels?

I will be contacting the OFLC with these questions, and will post up any answers I receive.

Source: Velvet Assassin Gets Away With Morphine In Australia (AJ Glasser, Kotaku AU)

Site Updates: Case Studies (And Banners)

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

I have added a case studies section to the website. This section will house detailed articles on games which have been Refused Classification in Australia, as well as those which were initially refused and then let in under an MA15+ rating. I encourage people to check out this section and report any errors to me so that I can correct them. You can also go straight to the individual case studies by clicking on the relevant game on the left hand side of the page, under the “Help Us” box.

Update: I’ve also added a series of banner images to the About page. If you would like to use these images to link to this site and raise awareness of this issue, please feel free.

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)