This is pretty much the only place I can talk about it, since it's more or less the generic games forum here.
Okay, now since most of you are Americans, here's how the ratings system works in Australia for film and literature:
G (Everyone)
PG (Parental Guidance Recommended, ages somewhere between 8 and 12 are good for here)
M (Recommended for Mature Audiences only)
MA15+ (Restricted to those above 15 years only)
R18+ (The Adults Only rating)
X18+ (Duh…)
So, that's the film and literature classifications in Australia. HOWEVER! When it comes to videogames, there is no R18+ rating. This means that if a game contains content that the Australian Classifications Board decides should not be viewed by those under 18, it is refused classification and banned from sale. The other problem with this at the moment is that it means that the most restricted a game can be, still permits minors to play them at 15 years. Games like Fallout 3, which were given Mature and Adult ratings in America and Europe, have been classified as MA15+, and this game that is simply not suitable for minors to play, was available to millions of gamers across the nation.
You may be asking now, "So why don't you have an Adults Only rating for games? You've got one for film, after all." and that's where the problem arises. Michael Atkinson is the Attorney General for South Australia. Now, every few years (not entirely sure when) all of the Attorney Generals, or some group of politicians, have to discuss certain topics on an agenda, on which the proposal to introduce an R18+ classification for videogames has repeatedly come up. But while every other Attorney General has agreed that videogames should have an Adults Only classification, Michael Atkinson has continually disagreed, and since it has to be a unanimous decision (ratings can't be enacted at a state level, as people can just drive over the borders), this basically gives one man a veto power.
If you're now wondering why he would oppose to having an R18+ classification for games, prepare to go into the mind of a believer; someone who honestly believes that they are doing the right thing, and whose opinion cannot be changed by any amount of logic, reason or statistics.
You might have guessed it, but Atkinson's entire argument for vetoing the proposal every time is basically "Think of the children!" and that is it. Unfortunately, here's where it gets hard for me to fully explain, because he has so many straw man arguments and there are so many reports about his head being stuck up his ass that I just don't know where to begin.
I will now take the opportunity to say why so many Australians are pushing for him to either change his mind or to get him unseated so that someone who does want the law to be passed can take place. It is not, as he claims and believes, that we want more interactive material that contains depraved sex acts, incredibly detailed violence, or drug usage with positive game experience. We want the Adults Only rating for two reasons:
1) We want to have the same freedom and liberty that we have with film
2) We do want to protect the children as well, by keeping games like Left4Dead 2, Fallout 3, Dark Sector, and Aliens vs Predator, all of which were originally refused classification or slightly modified to still be unsuitable for children, but toned down enough that they can scrape through with an MA15+ rating, restricted to Adults.
I cannot begin to express just how infuriating it is to me and likely to gamers all over Australia — probably even outside AUS, too — when we see Michael Atkinson call us zealots who want nothing more than to impose our will on society and demand for more violence, sex and drugs, or say that we are a small, vested interest, going against the public interest.
Let me lay out the figures for you:
Gamers worldwide: 1 billion
Gamers in Australia(using the above statistic): 3 million
Mature gamers in Australia who are affected by this issue: 1.5 million
Attorneys General 7,8, something like that
Attorneys General who believe that having an Adults Only rating for videogames will permit games like Rapelay or Narc to be on the shelves, then in the homes of innocent children, where they will definitely manage to play them, because none of the current generation consoles or PCs have parental controls: 1
Please, tell me who looks like the zealot, who wants to — and is — imposing their will on society and is a small vested interest.
I do not want to go on for too much longer, especially as the more I talk or even think about him and his abuse of his power to enact a personal vendetta against gaming, the more angry I get. I literally have not gotten this angry over anything, in YEARS!
Even more worrying to me, is the principle of the whole thing, as a game designer myself, how am I supposed to make games that progress with the times when my home country can't even stock them? I do have my sights set on a couple of Australian development studios, and while working for a company like Valve, or, if I managed to maybe learn Japanese, Nintendo, would be amazing, I do want to start in the place I was born. Sure, I might not specifically want to make those games anyway, but as I said, the principle.
Now, here are some links that I really do mean it when I say you HAVE TO check them out, if only to get a feeling for how full of himself Atkinson is after 20 years in office:
A six page reply on the subject of R18+ classification from Michael Atkinson himself, with the final paragraph even going far enough with his superiority complex to show that he openly challenges gamers to run against him in March, 2010.
Seriously, that first one is the most important, as it describes his straw-man better than I could hope to. It's long, but it's the only way you can be completely aware of how much of an asshole he is.
An (Australian) ABC report about the refused classification of Aliens vs Predator
A radio report about Modern Warfare 2 and how it was given a Mature or Adult rating everywhere else in the world, but only MA15+ here.
The newly formed party that is running against him to specifically take him down in March(they've got some nifty artwork in response to violent videogames not being safe for children; check the "Art" section. Well, just check all the sections)
I urge for your support, even as non-Australians, in this issue. Like I said, the principle of the thing is easily spread, and so much could be done to harm not only games, but even film and other forms of art by waving the "Think of the children!" banner high and mighty. If anyone still watches The Simpsons, remember what happened in the episode where Marge got Itchy and Scratchy banned. That nightmare is becoming more and more realised in the gaming world as the years go by.
This is my hobby, it my passion, it is my career, it is my life, and I don't want it to be destroyed before I can even see it begin.
Okay, now since most of you are Americans, here's how the ratings system works in Australia for film and literature:
G (Everyone)
PG (Parental Guidance Recommended, ages somewhere between 8 and 12 are good for here)
M (Recommended for Mature Audiences only)
MA15+ (Restricted to those above 15 years only)
R18+ (The Adults Only rating)
X18+ (Duh…)
So, that's the film and literature classifications in Australia. HOWEVER! When it comes to videogames, there is no R18+ rating. This means that if a game contains content that the Australian Classifications Board decides should not be viewed by those under 18, it is refused classification and banned from sale. The other problem with this at the moment is that it means that the most restricted a game can be, still permits minors to play them at 15 years. Games like Fallout 3, which were given Mature and Adult ratings in America and Europe, have been classified as MA15+, and this game that is simply not suitable for minors to play, was available to millions of gamers across the nation.
You may be asking now, "So why don't you have an Adults Only rating for games? You've got one for film, after all." and that's where the problem arises. Michael Atkinson is the Attorney General for South Australia. Now, every few years (not entirely sure when) all of the Attorney Generals, or some group of politicians, have to discuss certain topics on an agenda, on which the proposal to introduce an R18+ classification for videogames has repeatedly come up. But while every other Attorney General has agreed that videogames should have an Adults Only classification, Michael Atkinson has continually disagreed, and since it has to be a unanimous decision (ratings can't be enacted at a state level, as people can just drive over the borders), this basically gives one man a veto power.
If you're now wondering why he would oppose to having an R18+ classification for games, prepare to go into the mind of a believer; someone who honestly believes that they are doing the right thing, and whose opinion cannot be changed by any amount of logic, reason or statistics.
You might have guessed it, but Atkinson's entire argument for vetoing the proposal every time is basically "Think of the children!" and that is it. Unfortunately, here's where it gets hard for me to fully explain, because he has so many straw man arguments and there are so many reports about his head being stuck up his ass that I just don't know where to begin.
I will now take the opportunity to say why so many Australians are pushing for him to either change his mind or to get him unseated so that someone who does want the law to be passed can take place. It is not, as he claims and believes, that we want more interactive material that contains depraved sex acts, incredibly detailed violence, or drug usage with positive game experience. We want the Adults Only rating for two reasons:
1) We want to have the same freedom and liberty that we have with film
2) We do want to protect the children as well, by keeping games like Left4Dead 2, Fallout 3, Dark Sector, and Aliens vs Predator, all of which were originally refused classification or slightly modified to still be unsuitable for children, but toned down enough that they can scrape through with an MA15+ rating, restricted to Adults.
I cannot begin to express just how infuriating it is to me and likely to gamers all over Australia — probably even outside AUS, too — when we see Michael Atkinson call us zealots who want nothing more than to impose our will on society and demand for more violence, sex and drugs, or say that we are a small, vested interest, going against the public interest.
Let me lay out the figures for you:
Gamers worldwide: 1 billion
Gamers in Australia(using the above statistic): 3 million
Mature gamers in Australia who are affected by this issue: 1.5 million
Attorneys General 7,8, something like that
Attorneys General who believe that having an Adults Only rating for videogames will permit games like Rapelay or Narc to be on the shelves, then in the homes of innocent children, where they will definitely manage to play them, because none of the current generation consoles or PCs have parental controls: 1
Please, tell me who looks like the zealot, who wants to — and is — imposing their will on society and is a small vested interest.
I do not want to go on for too much longer, especially as the more I talk or even think about him and his abuse of his power to enact a personal vendetta against gaming, the more angry I get. I literally have not gotten this angry over anything, in YEARS!
Even more worrying to me, is the principle of the whole thing, as a game designer myself, how am I supposed to make games that progress with the times when my home country can't even stock them? I do have my sights set on a couple of Australian development studios, and while working for a company like Valve, or, if I managed to maybe learn Japanese, Nintendo, would be amazing, I do want to start in the place I was born. Sure, I might not specifically want to make those games anyway, but as I said, the principle.
Now, here are some links that I really do mean it when I say you HAVE TO check them out, if only to get a feeling for how full of himself Atkinson is after 20 years in office:
A six page reply on the subject of R18+ classification from Michael Atkinson himself, with the final paragraph even going far enough with his superiority complex to show that he openly challenges gamers to run against him in March, 2010.
Seriously, that first one is the most important, as it describes his straw-man better than I could hope to. It's long, but it's the only way you can be completely aware of how much of an asshole he is.
An (Australian) ABC report about the refused classification of Aliens vs Predator
A radio report about Modern Warfare 2 and how it was given a Mature or Adult rating everywhere else in the world, but only MA15+ here.
The newly formed party that is running against him to specifically take him down in March(they've got some nifty artwork in response to violent videogames not being safe for children; check the "Art" section. Well, just check all the sections)
I urge for your support, even as non-Australians, in this issue. Like I said, the principle of the thing is easily spread, and so much could be done to harm not only games, but even film and other forms of art by waving the "Think of the children!" banner high and mighty. If anyone still watches The Simpsons, remember what happened in the episode where Marge got Itchy and Scratchy banned. That nightmare is becoming more and more realised in the gaming world as the years go by.
This is my hobby, it my passion, it is my career, it is my life, and I don't want it to be destroyed before I can even see it begin.
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