We still don't have an R18+ rating in place for Video games in Australia. It's an industry responsible for around $1.3B annually, and home to some awesome developer studios (Played de Blob? Fruit Ninja? Yeah... made here.), but we're stuck using an antiquated system of classification... I've been wanting to have a rant about this for a while, so i'll warn you. I'm gonna let it all spill out onto the keyboard. I've (hopefully) been careful not to lay the blame on anyone too... I merely want to show how broken our system is.
I'm a Australian Gamer... and I support R18+AU.
So what does that mean for me? As a gamer, it means that someone else gets to decide what games are 'too much' for me... and I'm at an age now where it's perfectly legal for me to walk into a sex shop, a strip club, or hell, a brothel. I can even, subject to some pretty stringent background checks and licencing, purchase a firearm. However, the latest Mortal Kombat remains out of my reach, with, Manhunt, and the unedited versions of Left 4 Dead 2 and Silent Hill:Homecoming sitting alongside it on that 'super-high shelf' in the kitchen.
You know what else had to be edited before it could be released here? 50 Cent: Bulletproof, Soldier of Fortune: Payback, BMX XXX. Hell, we didn't think Duke Nukem Forever would make it through unscathed (It did, thankfully, but also helps make my point).
There's 14 games that remain on the Refused Classification list. Mortal Kombat may be the latest, but it's a franchise that has always had over-the top stylised violence at it's core. Postal 2 I can understand... that game is waaaaaaaay offensive. How do I know? I had a friend with a pirated version. When you ban something, people want it more. We're all smart enough to know that. I'm not advocating piracy in any way, shape, or form. At all. I can though, see how many gamers decide that it's the only way around a system that is repeatedly failing them. The saddest part is that it's not the Classification System that loses out there... It's the people who've spent all that time and money making the game. I'd hate to have put so much effort into something, to find out that people were essentially stealing it.
It also means that we're left to import games. Honestly, with the price mark-ups here, i'm surprised more gamers don't... most titles can be found for almost half the shelf price here. Of course, the ever-watchful customs department has been instructed to 'confiscate' any copies of MK they find. Which means going through mail.
All this for a game franchise that's been stirring up controversy since 1992? Hell, Ozzy Osbourne had about as much of an uproar, and look what happened to him!
What bugs me most of all though, is the arbitrary nature of our system. A group of people, different each time, are led into a room, shown scenes from a game, and have to match that against a list of criteria for an (at most) MA15+ rating. So often, games are crammed into this category, or slip through without notice. Remember all the fuss about CoD's Russian Airport level? Did it get banned? Hell no. You can still play that level over and over again, murdering innocent civilians to your hearts content. GTAIV? Plenty of controversy there... yet still, after a hard day at work, you can cause a much wanton destruction as you can get away with.
I'm not saying these games should've been banned. My point is that almost every game designed for gamers (the core demographic sitting around the 18-30 age range) has something that someone else won't like in it. I'd rather make the decision on my own though... not have it forced upon me.
For some more interesting reading, head to the List of banned video games (Australia) Wikipedia page. Then compare the list with the other countries there...
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