Head of Aussie Game Developer Group Slams Govt. over Ratings Issue

Head of Aussie Game Developer Group Slams Govt. over Ratings Issue

August 4, 2008

Australia's lack of a rating beyond 15+ continues to be a political issue. Adult gamers want to be able to enjoy games with complex themes and Australian game developers want to make them. However, as we've reported on GamePolitics, the government hasn't gotten on board.

Tom Crago, president of the Game Developers Association of Australia has penned an op-ed for the ABC News site, criticizing the continuing official resistance to an R18 rating:

...when it comes to video games, we have one of the toughest regimes in the world in terms of dictating exactly what is available to our adult population. On one hand Australia is an oasis of game development... On the other hand Australia's lack of an R18+ classification means that some of the world's most important video games are effectively banned from appearing down under at all.

 

This unfortunate paradox is centred on the horrifically outdated view that games are just for kids... The most recent game to be refused classification in Australia illustrates just how absurd the situation has become. Fallout 3 is a highly anticipated instalment in a series that began 10 years ago. Many adult gamers were eagerly awaiting the title's release, only to be thwarted by our archaic classification system...

 

If the publishers of Fallout 3 want to release their game in Australia, it will need to be reworked just for the Australian market. Because of the small size of our market, this is usually not worth the expense. So not only are Australian gamers being deprived of several titles per year, they are literally being pushed towards piracy, which hurts every part of our industry.

 

Comments

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Re: Head of Aussie Game Developer Group Slams Govt. over

Didn't he hear?

People will find a way.

I don't know what that really means, but some people on a talkshow said it so it must be true.

Re: Head of Aussie Game Developer Group Slams Govt. over

He makes a very good point about the economic issues that come up do the the lack of a 18+ rating.  Most Aussie gamers inport their games so that they can play an unedited version which only hurts local gaming businesses or they pirate games in which case developers don't see any money at all.

Re: Head of Aussie Game Developer Group Slams Govt. over

I say find a way to possibly get Atkinson(is thath is name?) removed from power. As far as I know he's the only one standing in the way of it.

Re: Head of Aussie Game Developer Group Slams Govt. over

The only way, short of getting the Governor General to remove Atkinson, would be for the South Australian public to elect a new person.

Re: Head of Aussie Game Developer Group Slams Govt. over

In another thread someone suggested that whenever they altar a game the game companies should put a message at the start of the game.

A message that basically tells the player who's fault it is that they have been stuck with a censored game, lists names etc.

Re: Head of Aussie Game Developer Group Slams Govt. over

That is a really nice idea. Kind of like the classic 'Name and Shame' system that police and other media do

Do it!

Re: Head of Aussie Game Developer Group Slams Govt. over

Father Time - I love that idea, thanks for passing it along!

Yeah, they are only hurting their own economy, and maybe preventing half of the sales they would have had otherwise?  Either way, just make it illegal for people outside of the age range to buy them, and parents that complain about their kids playing adult games when they baught the game for them, like some stupid American house wives (I live next to a herd of them, I know), then they should get in trouble for buying their kids adult games that even they are not okay with. (And have it so they can get their money back for returning the game within 3-6 months excluding taxes.)

I just hate hearing parents complain about violent games after they were the ones that bought them for their kids.  Living right next door to the "nicest place to live in the US" or whatever it is...  The town is filled with rich kids that are over spoiled (drive $100,000 cars then they turn 16, get whatever they ask for...) and house wives that are 10+ years younger then their husband and never had to work a day in their lives, and STILL cant manage to parent their kids.

Anyways, other than the stupidity of the world.  I highly respect these people standing up for the consumers.  Between Howard, Tom, and many others out there, keep up the good fight, and give them hell.

Re: Head of Aussie Game Developer Group Slams Govt. over

Quick question to the Aussia readers here:

Do they confiscate games unrated, and thus illegal in Australia, ordered from outside the country?

[rant]
In my limited experience with censorship, if one supplier is giving me just parts of the product I'm paying for (a censored version) I'll shift my business to one that does not try to scam me like that. I learned it the hard way not to take stuff coming out of the U.K. since they have at it with massive censorship scissors (very common to see over 30 min of material cut, if not more).
What I don't get though is why censor something? Anything at all, music, movies, TV, print media. No really...why? Are we worried about children being affected by this somehow? Are we worried we'll offend someone?

If someone makes a very racist movie, and it gets censored and then released I'll never know about it. I'll not get a chance to BE offended at this movie, to dislike it. I'll not get a chance to decide for myself what I think is appropriate or not.

Certainly some controls should be in place so we don't end up with toddlers clapping along to hardcore donkey porn. But seriously now, how are you going to stop a teenager from finding porn or violence or inappropriate materials? You won't do it by censorship or bans or whatnot. You do it by teaching him sane and proper values (appropriate to wherever you are, believe etc).

You can't just gloss over the bad stuff and pretend everything is fine. If they truly think that violence, porn and whatnot is a problem then go to the source of it. No, not the makers of it, not the developers, but the customer. You can't just hamstring creativity and expect it to die quietly. Teach people to not want violence and your problem goes away. Take it away when they still want it, and you create desire.
And these stupid double standards...it's harmful to my children to see a woman jiggling her breasts but nobody minds if I would, say, tell them they'll burn forever in the lakes of doom if they don't praise the Overgod? What messes up a kid more, to see a naked human being or having their world vision twisted and warped. Can't I just take off my clothes and take a long hard look, is that illegal? All this time and effort put into censorship, control, manipulating what is publically acceptable and still people and children are being abused, do drugs, engage in unsafe/unhealthy activities and so on with no influence from games or TV. Sometimes, that's just how things are. Telling someone who's been sexually active since the age of 13 that you can't see some tits on TV is stupid. (Not referring to myself here ^^)

I'm spoiled though, in terms of censorship. I live in Iceland. Low population with pretty liberal views on stuff like nudity, language and such (so far atleast, some disturbing murmurs give me concern). I can always find another supplier, torrent or whatnot and I've never had to just take it if something I wanted was censored.
And neither should anyone else in my opinion.

p.s.
Another arguement would be that movies and games are art, so censoring them is akin to censoring a painting that depicts something you find offensive. It's not right when it comes to paintings, and it's not right when it comes to Fallout 3 so stop it. Limit it to those who are underage, allow it for those of us old enough to decide for ourselves.

Re: Head of Aussie Game Developer Group Slams Govt. over

/rant

ECA IconA PUBLICATION OF THE ECA RSS IconSUBSCRIBE User LoginLOGIN / REGISTER

Crispy Gamer




       

GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 03/21/10 at 09:10am
JDKJ: BREAKING: Skippy, the Bush Kangaroo, to meet with House Democrat Caucus in effort to win over undecided votes for health care reform bill.
Posted 03/21/10 at 09:02am
JDKJ: BREAKING: Angry mobs of duckbill platypus march on Sydney in opposition to appointment of Skippy, the Bush Kangaroo.
Posted 03/21/10 at 08:56am
JDKJ: Of 437 koala bears surveyed, 420 preferred women with big tits.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:32pm
Aliasalpha: Ding dong the witch is dead eh? Maybe we'll finally be treated as adults here and women can have small tits again!
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:28pm
JDKJ: Survey says no opinion either way. But approval is high among wombats.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:25pm
BearDogg-X: JDKJ: What does the wallabies and crocodiles think of Skippy?
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:24pm
Andrew Eisen: Beardogg-X - Not staunchly, no. However, only one AG has gone on record as supporting an R18+ rating. The rest either stated no position or declined to comment.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:23pm
JDKJ: Of 437 koala bears surveyed, 420 disagree with choice of Skippy for interim AG.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:21pm
BearDogg-X: With Atkinson stepping down, the question now becomes was there any other AG besides him that was against R18+? His stepping down does make R18+ more likely to be approved.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:18pm
Andrew Eisen: Well, Adelaide readers seem pleased with Atkinson's decision. 420 out of 437.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:15pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: Vacant Aussie AG post to be filled by Skippy, the Bush Kangaroo.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:12pm
Andrew Eisen: Flamespeak - Gamecube and Xbox came out in late 2001 with contollers pretty similar to the Dual Shock. You never know thoug. This Fall may be when the standard controller changes from the Dual Shock to a motion wand. *shudder*
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:09pm
Flamespeak: at a quicker rate these days.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:09pm
Flamespeak: I believe that was launched in the first part of 1998. 2 years seems kind of fast too, but then again the world seems to move
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:05pm
Andrew Eisen: Flamespeak - Not when you consider Sony's been using the same controller since the PS1.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:03pm
BearDogg-X: Andrew Eisen: I meant that it won't take as many people to change their votes next election. Besides that, it's become a moot point now that he's stepping down as AG as soon as the election's over.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:02pm
Flamespeak: Seems kind of early considering the PS2 didn't launch until well into 2000.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:01pm
Andrew Eisen: Fleamespeak - I'd say since around the turn of the century.
Posted 03/20/10 at 10:01pm
BearDogg-X: BREAKING NEWS: Atkinson will step down as South Australia Attorney-General; will remain in Parliament
Posted 03/20/10 at 09:59pm
Andrew Eisen: BearDogg-X - Not sure what your point about Atkinson having only 8500 votes is, seeing as that's around 65% (of the total votes counted at the time).
Login or register to post shouts