Following the news of a treatment center in the UK expanding its offerings to include treating game addiction, an Australian academic has called for a similar program to be launched down under.

Sydney University Psychiatric Professor Vladan Starcevic, also billed as a game addition expert, made the call for action to the Herald Sun citing his own recent research in which he polled 2,000 gamers. The results of the survey led him to believe that up to one in ten subjects showed signs of addictive behavior. Starcevic said that his study was undertaken due to more patients exhibiting signs of being addicted to games.

Of the UK’s Broadway Lodge treatment center, Starcevic noted, “I think it's good that someone has taken this seriously. I think it should be recognised that this is a problem for some people.”

Starcevic’s full study will be released in this month’s Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.

A 30-year old Australian videogame tester has formed a political party and aims to give South Australian Attorney Genera Michael Atkinson a run for his money in next year’s election.

David Doe and his Gamers4Croydon party plan to challenge Atkinson only in the Croydon electorate with a sole purpose to “exert pressure on the Attorney General for South Australia, Michael Atkinson, as he is currently the only Attorney General voting 'no' against the introduction of an R18+ classification rating for videogames in Australia.”

Noting that winning a seat based on a single campaign promise would be difficult, Doe outlines a few other items he would attempt to get enacted if elected, which include extending solar rebates, making rainwater tanks for new homes mandatory and providing rebates for electric vehicles.

Doe is accepting donations for his run and promises to donate any left-over post-election funds to Child’s Play.

|Via Games.on.net Thanks Ryan|

The leaked Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 footage has raised the hackles of a few parties in Australia.

The footage, which showed gamers playing the part of a terrorist and taking part in a massacre of civilians at an airport, prompted the Australian Council on Children and the Media to call for a re-review the game’s MA15+ rating.

The group’s President, Jane Roberts, told Australia’s The Age:

The consequences of terrorism are just abhorrent in our community and yet here we are with a product that's meant to be passed off as a leisure time activity, actually promoting what most world leaders speak out publicly against. We understand that it's a game but ... we're not far off when you look at the images that you could actually put it on a Channel Nine news report and you'd think maybe that is real.

South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, who is usually described as the main reason the country does not have an R18+ rating for videogames, offered that, “Expecting game designers to be responsible by not glorifying terrorism will always lead to disappointment."

Electronic Frontiers Australia lobbyist Nicholas Suzor was a bit more rational, saying the topic highlighted even further the need for an adult rating in Australia:

Films often show the villain's perspective and, by doing that, they get across the character's story and the heinous nature of people who carry out atrocities. Games, too, are becoming more expressive, and are telling more involved stories

Suzor added:

We may make an argument that these sorts of topics are not suitable for children, but I don't at all accept that it is unsuitable for adults.

An Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) spokesperson said the Board could not review its own decisions.

Activision has since said that the scene in question is skippable by players.

Thanks Ryan and Dante

Australia’s Classification Board wants to extend its sphere of influence to mobile applications.

Classification Board Director Donald McDonald (left) has written to Commonwealth Censorship Minister Brendan O'Connor on the issue and also relayed his concerns to a Senate Estimates Committee, expressing his unease that:

Some so-called mobile phone applications, which can be purchased online or either downloaded to mobile phones or played online via mobile phone access, are not being submitted to the board for classification.

The delayed rating of World of Warcraft down under—it took five years for the title to receive a rating—apparently spurred McDonald’s interest in rating mobile content, reports Australia’s ITnews.

A Classification Board spokesperson clarified that McDonald’s rating talk was referring only to “mobile applications which are computer games.”

Apple currently governs its own content on iTunes, but said that if changes needed to be made, “We do what the Australian Classification people tell us to do.”

In rating any mobile content, the Classification Board said it would “apply the National Classification Code, the Classification Act, and the Guidelines for the Classification of Films and Computer.”

|Via Edge-Online| Thanks Ryan

Australian gamers will have to make do with a modified version of Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 as the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) board again denied the title classification following a re-review of the game.

A three-member panel of the board declared that the game could not be accommodated within the MA 15+ classification, reaffirming an earlier decision. Valve and distributor Electronic Arts had appealed the earlier judgment, but as a backup they also submitted a toned down version of L4D2, which received an MA 15+ rating. The edited version removed depictions of decapitation and dismemberment.

Further commenting on the original, Refused Classification version, the board said:

…it was the Review Board’s opinion that there was insufficient delineation between the
depiction of general zombie figures and the human figures, as opposed to the clearly fictional
‘infected’ characters. This was a major consideration of the Review Board in determining the
impact of this game on minors.

A media release on the subject from the OFLC can be viewed here (PDF).

News.com.au reports that a resubmitted and modified version of Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 has been granted a rating by Australia’s Office of Film and Literature Classification board.

The original version of the zombie-killing title was refused classification by the PFLC, rendering it unreleasable. The edited version has received an MA 15+ rating. Distributor Electronic Arts told the website that it still holds out hope that the resubmitted full version of the game would receive classification and that is the version it would still prefer to release.

The OFLC's full report (PDF) on the modified Left 4 Dead 2 title contains consumer advice of “strong bloody violence,” though the board noted that “the game no longer contains depictions of decapitation, dismemberment, wound detail or piles of dead bodies lying about the environment.”

In the Board’s view “the element of violence in the game has been sufficiently modified.”

Via: Edge-Online

Image Via: Cheezburger.com

Using his Edge-Online blog, Alex Walker has penned an open letter to South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson about the lack of an R18+ rating classification in that country.

Walker notes that “the Classification Board has refused classification to twice as many games as the British Board of Film Classification has in the 23 years since it first rated a video game.” He calls out Atkinson on some of his recent statements and uses comments from David Cook, Director of the British Board of Film Classification to aid his case.

Walker finishes with a challenge:

I’m not sure how, given the weight of evidence, you can stand by the inconsistencies in the Australian approach to classifying film and video games. I call on you to stand aside, and allow for a debate on the classification system, a debate which you have so far stifled.

Walker adds that he did email a copy of the letter to Atkinson, but he does not expect a response.

Byteside has a video interview up with Australian film critic Margaret Pomeranz discussing the state of Australia’s classification system.

Pomeranz specifically calls out South Australia Attorney General Michael Atkinson, who is against adding an R18+ rating, as GP discussed earlier this week. She states:

You have one AG calling the shots for all of Australia. It must be very frustrating for videogame players who do want to play R rated games.

Pomeranz thinks that governments should act in an advisory role only when it comes to rating media:

“It’s the start of danger, where you have a government effectively saying this is what we will allow you to see. Fortunately, they have very little power these days because we can see anything we want, as long as we are prepared to break the law. What you are doing is turning middle class people into criminals.”

An upcoming lecture in Queensland, Australia, looks to tackle the topic of first-person shooters and real-life violence, according to a news story at Crispy Gamer.

The lecture, entitled "Are Video games to Blame" and to be delivered by academic Peter Mantello, plans to ask if "these kinds of games by their very nature desensitize young adult males and teens to violence, conflict and war and ignore conflict resolution." Apparently, Mantello is a gamer and a founder of the Center for Advanced Media Arts Studies at Ritsumeikan University in Japan.

The Crispy commenter takes issue with the way the university news story on lecture, wondering if certain quotes by Mantello are direct or taken out of context. For example:

“Players transform into cyborg soldiers and patriotic crusaders whose goal is to liberate failed nations, protect national security interests and vanquish pre-modern evil."

The lecture is scheduled for Oct. 5 at the University of Queensland’s School of Political Science and International Studies in St. Lucia.

In light of the refusal of the Australian Classification Board to classify Left 4 Dead 2, some authorities are rethinking the country’s game ratings.

While R18+ ratings exist in Australia for films and other media, videogames still top out with a MA15+ rating, meaning that games that fall outside the spectrum can’t be approved for sale.

Adding an R18+ rating would require the agreement of all Australia’s attorney generals, but News.com.au reports that at least one member of that group is holding out, South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson. Atkinson’s take:

It certainly does restrict choice to a small degree, but that is the price of keeping this material from children and vulnerable adults. In my view, the small sacrifice is worth it.

Victorian Attorney General Rob Hulls disagrees, saying that Australia is “out of step with the world,” adding:

It seems inconsistent that in Australia adults are allowed to view adult-only films which have been classified R18+ by the Classification Board, but not computer games with equivalent high-level content.

Valve and Electronic Arts have appealed Left 4 Dead 2’s refusal of classification.
 

In response to last week’s refusal of the Australia Classification Board to rate Left 4 Dead 2, an Electronic Arts spokesperson had some choice words for the government entity.

Speaking to GameSpot Australia, EA’s Tiffany Steckler began defending the Valve Software title by suggesting that adults should have the right to choose what games they play. She continued:

It’s funny that a place like Australia, which has come up with some pretty violent material in the past with something like Mad Max, can effectively ban video games for the same reason.

There’s still no word on whether or not Valve will institute changes to the sequel in order to get it approved down under.

Update: According to Blue's News, Valve appealed the Classification's board ruling yesterday. Also listed on Blue's are ratings for Left 4 Dead 2 from a variety of territories around the world.

Via Gamasutra comes news that the Australian Government has refused to classify Valve Software’s multiplatform follow up Left 4 Dead 2.

Electronic Arts applied for the rating and was issued a classification of “RC,” for Refused Classification, meaning the game will have to be heavily modified to have any chance of being released in Australia. The ruling (PDF) stated:

These close in attacks cause copious amounts of blood spray and splatter, decapitations and limb dismemberment as well as locational damage where contact is made to the enemy which may reveal skeletal bits and gore.

Australia’s videogame ratings comprise four categories: G (General, very mild content), PG (Parental Guidance Recommended, mild content), M (Mature Audiences, moderate content) and MA15+ (not suitable for people under 15, strong content).

The original Left 4 Dead garnered a MA15+ rating in Australia.

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Adelaide has linked regular video game play to gambling addiction.

Australia's ABC News reports on comments by Paul Delfabbro of the University's school of psychology. Delfabbro's team studied more than 2,500 Australian teens and found that more than half admitted to gambling within the preceding 12 months. Delfabbro commented on his findings:

If you look at those young people who are classified as pathological gamblers you will find that they do have a higher frequency of involvement with many different types of videogame. They're much more likely to play games on Xboxes and similar consoles. They are also more likely to play arcade games...

 

Some young people who don't have a lot of structured activities in their life... what they'll often do is spend very large amounts of time playing videogames or often be more likely to be the ones who go off to street venues to play arcade games.

Those sort of young people who've had this need for more sort of unstructured activities probably also drift into gambling a bit more because it's another activity which you can do if you're out on the street.

However, University of Sydney psychology professor Alex Blaszczynski said that the evidence gathered by Delfabbro does not support a causal link between video game play and compulsive gambling:

Does an interest in gambling lead to people becoming involved in video games or do video games lead to people becoming involved in gambling? Or is there a third factor which accounts for both gambling and videogames?

There’s also the possibility that some people with certain characteristics would then tend to engage in both video and technology type gaming activity and gambling as well. And that may well be linked to things like risk taking or impulsivity or other factors.

The University of Adelaide research will appear in next month's Journal of Gambling Studies.

Yesterday, GamePolitics reported on Risen, the latest game to fall victim to Australia's outdated content rating system. The RPG, currently in development by Piranha Bytes, was refused classification for the Australian market, largely because Down Under lacks the equivalent of the ESRB's M (17+) rating.

The situation frustrates Tom Crago, who heads the Game Developers Association of Australia. Crago spoke to itwire about his concerns:

Well it’s a joke isn’t it?  We are once again caught in this awful, ridiculous web of the antiquated classification system...  Here in Australia the sooner that changes, the better; it is obviously a battle to ensure common sense prevails.  We will get there eventually, but in the meantime as gamers in Australia we suffer, and to be honest we are embarrassed at how backward our government is...

The biggest problem we have here in Australia is that we don’t have an R classification for video games...  It’s ridiculous because it assumes that games are fundamentally different to film and outrageous in that it assumes that adults shouldn’t be allowed to access adult content in video games... 

We are the butt of a lot of jokes; I travel, obviously a lot, talking to other developers and publishers and people cannot believe it that we still have this ridiculous system here in Australia, designed twenty or thirty years ago, and hasn’t changed since...

[South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson] is of course the problem... clearly this is a guy that doesn’t get it, and to be honest, I don’t think, ever will get it...

The upcoming role-playing game Risen has become the latest victim of Australia's flawed game content rating system.

Refused Classification reports that Australia's classification board has declined to assign a rating to the game, which is being developed by Piranha Bytes. The board's action makes Risen the third game of 2009 to be RC'd Down Under; the others are 1C's first-person shooter Necrovision and something called Sexy Poker.

In the U.S. market, Risen has been rated M (17+) by the ESRB. Australia, however, has no rating higher than MA15+, which means that any title judged not suitable for a 15-year-old is effectively banned. Australian gamers have been lobbying their government unsuccessfully for an R18+ rating for several years.

The classification refusal might not be the final word, however. Risen could be edited by its creators enough to slip by Australian censors. This approach has worked for other games, most recently Necrovision.

Risen is scheduled for October release on Xbox 360 and PC. The website R18+ is a useful source for information about the ongoing Australian content rating debate.

Developers of Sony's upcoming God of War III are concerned that the game's graphic violence may prompt a ban on sales of the game in the Australian market, reports Digital Life.

Australian censors have historically been tough on games featuring extreme violence. That's largely due to the lack of an R18+ rating Down Under. With Australia's highest rating currently at MA15+, any game not suitable for a 15-year-old is refused classification.

GoW III art director Sean Cunningham commented on the design team's worries over the game's Australian rating:

There is (concern). We try to push the boundaries a little bit. (But) we’ve had meetings and discussions and internally we all have a good gauge on what’s 'too far'.

You throw something past [content rating boards] and they might say 'Absolutely not! You could not do that!' and we’re all like: 'Aww, c’mon, that was a great idea!' There have been a couple of those…

Also visually, everyone’s really excited. The disembowelment of the centaur, ripping Helios’s head off, the reaction from the floor has been amazing. Everybody in the studio is very happy....

God of War III is due in 2010. As the first GoW game to appear on the PlayStation 3, the visual quality of its violent scenes will certainly be more intense than those found in the franchise's PS2 games.

Via: Kotaku

Thanks to: Australian GamePolitics reader Ryan for the tip!

Faced with rumors of a Second Life ban by Australian government authorities, publisher Linden Lab issued a statement last night to reassure SL users Down Under that no such action has taken place. At least, not yet.

Here's what Linden said on the issue:

Linden Lab has received no indications from the Australian government that it plans to block Second Life and will keep our community apprised of any developments on that front. In the meantime, we want to assure Australian Residents that Second Life remains accessible and functioning in your region.

Australia has and will continue to be an important market for Linden Lab, and we’re committed to providing the best possible Second Life experience for the users... Some of the most exciting uses of Second Life have come out of Australia, a diverse community of Residents that includes major universities, large enterprises and many thousands of consumers, who spend hundreds of thousands of hours inworld each month.

The Second Life rumors surfaced after the Australian government said that it planned to block Internet access to games which would not meet the MA-15+ content rating standard.

Meanwhile, New World Notes reminds us that the community of Australian SL users is a rich one, indeed:

There's a number of Australian organizations, including several universities, with an official presence in Second Life, there's been several SL-based fundraisers to benefit various Australian non-profit causes... and coming soon, a feature film starring several of Australia's top actors which depicts Second Life in a positive/neutral manner...

As GamePolitics reported last week, the Australian government is moving to block online access to games containing content which would exceed the country's MA-15+ rating. The proposed filtering scheme would affect online retailers selling such games as well as games played online such as MMOs.

In last week's coverage we noted speculation that such a ban could affect games like World of Warcraft and Second Life. At least one site is now reporting that Second Life has, indeed, been banned. The Inquisitr, invoking Nazi (!) imagery, writes:

It was confirmed by Australian Minister for Censorship that online games such as Second Life is banned in the country. There was confirmation from Censorship Minister Stephen “Goebbels” Conroy...

It is surprising because this policy has always been known to everyone. When Conroy was asked, he didn’t give direct answer. The more Australian government confirms the issue, the more totalitarian the policy is becoming if compared to China.

But Wagner James Au, who tracks SL happenings on New World Notes, writes that rumors of SL's Australian demise are greatly exaggerated:

Over the last 24 hours I've been peppered with links... which seem to suggest the Australian government is imminently planning to block access to Second Life from that country...  I'm far from an expert on Australian jurisprudence, but near as I can tell, any relation with this news to Second Life is highly tenuous and conjectural at best...

 

Nothing in the [Inquisitr] editorial actually confirms [a ban], and the very second sentence compares the government administrator involved to Joseph Goebbels, which is such a ham-fisted violation of Godwin's Law*, the only thing it really confirms is the author's own penchant for dubious hyperbole...

 

It's likely there are several layers of parliamentary, bureaucratic, and technical implementation before any of this impacts Australian access to Second Life (if it ever does.)...

* Godwin's Law: As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.

Australia's federal government said yesterday that it plans to block access to websites which host and sell games with content edgier than what is allowable under an MA-15+ rating. The unprecedented censorship policy will apply to Australians of all ages.

As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, a spokesman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy (left) said that the filtering scheme willl apply to downloadable games, Flash games and websites which sell boxed copies of MA-15+ games via mail order.

Colin Jacobs of Electronic Frontiers Australia, an online users' lobbying group, criticized the plan:

This is confirmation that the scope of the mandatory censorship scheme will keep on creeping. Far from being the ultimate weapon against child abuse, it now will officially censor content deemed too controversial for a 15-year-old. In a free country like ours, do we really need the government to step in and save us from racy web games?

Mark Newton, described by the SMH as an ISP engineer, told the newspaper that the plan could affect online-only games like World of Warcraft and Second Life as well:

That [online games] exemption [on content ratings] is the only reason why multi-player games with user-generated environments are possible in this country; without it, it'd only take one game user anywhere in the world to produce objectionable content in the game environment to make the Australian Government ban the game for everyone.

One in 12 gamers shows signs of addiction, according to a study being presented this week at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Congress.

Prof. Vladan Starcevic (left) of the University of Sydney told New Zealand's NZTV that his team reached that conclusion after conducting an online survey of nearly 2,000 worldwide respondents:

Their whole lives revolve around this activity and there certainly seems to be a problem there - there is an addiction. And it seems to us that these people seem to... have other mental health issues, and it seems excessive video game playing is a manifestation of these underlying problems.

Problem gamers identified by the researchers were more prone to being socially isolated, at increased risk of depression and more likely to engage in compulsive behavior. Most seemed to play four or more hours per day and preferred MMOs like World of Warcraft. On the other hand, Starcevic noted that 92% of gamers displayed no problems with their gaming:

Most people who play video games are not problem video game players, to put it in simple terms, they're not addicted to video games. It is a minority of people who seem to have a problem.

As GameCulture notes, the 8% figure arrived at by Starcevic is remarkably close to the 8.5% game addiction rate Iowa State Prof. Douglas Gentile reported in a study released jointly with the National Institute on Media and the Family last month. As GamePolitics has reported, Gentile's research was criticized by ABC News Polling Director Gary Langer and Harvard's Dr. Cheryl Olson, author of Grand Theft Childhood.