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Radioactive IT Let’s talk dirty: Discussion paper on R18+ games to be released
Radioactive IT Let’s talk dirty: Discussion paper on R18+ games to be released | Let’s talk dirty: Discussion paper on R18+ games to be released |
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| by Mike Bantick | |
| Tuesday, 21 April 2009 | |
  
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Australia has long been an anomaly within developed nations in that it has never had a higher rating for video game content than MA 15+. This has meant a number of things for the Australian market; generally any game that fails to be classified as MA 15+ by the classification board, be it due to sex, violence or drug use will effectively be banned for sale. This happens to only a handful of titles, one – NecroVisioN - so far in 2009. Quite often, titles will be shoehorned into the MA 15+ rating, some with minor edits, such as Grand Theft Auto IV. Others still, such as MadWorld , simply get classified as MA 15+ without edits, whereas this game garners an 18+ sticker in other regional markets around the world. The effect is a confusing system for consumers, and in particular parents or care-givers, that is out of step with the entrenched and understood brood categorisation of TV and film releases. So the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General (SCAG) have been pondering this situation for over a year now, proposing a discussion paper out of the March 2008 SCAG meeting. Since then, over various meetings, SCAG have been unable to agree on the discussion paper wording, with much of the dither blame falling on shoulders of South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson – long the bane of the mature gaming public. So it is with interest we learn from gamespot.au that the release of the discussion paper is now imminent, having been removed from the SCAG by the office of the Commonwealth Minister of Home Affairs, Bob Debus. Whilst there is no specific timing announced, the report quotes ACT attorney general Simon Corbell; "Because there was no unanimous agreement amongst all states and territories about the release of the discussion paper, the commonwealth is circumventing our requirements for unanimous agreement and will release the discussion paper under their own name. The paper will be released shortly." He said. Whilst this is a mild breakthrough in a rather laughable situation, long term commentators, such as Jason Hill of the Melbourne Age and Sydney Morning Herald, are not so positive. “The discussion paper and public consultation process might provide some hope for those campaigning for the introduction of an R18+ rating for games, but that hope seems misplaced. The only hope is to vote those attorneys-general who can't even agree to the release of a supposedly neutral discussion paper out of office.” Hill says. Parents, gamers, the press, moral crusaders, game developers and publishers await the next step. |
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