Maybe Atkinson is right about R18+ games

Mike Bantick
Monday, 16 March 2009 15:47

Opinion and Analysis

It is great that Mr Atkinson is involving himself with his children’s activities; once again this is an argument of the pro 18+ classification side.  That giving parents the information clearly at the point of purchase will aid family video game purchases.

Atkinson admits he doesn’t trust a government department to always get it right; “There are many games that are ultra-violent and accessible to minors. I accept that one can't always trust the Office of Film & Literature Classification to apply the guidelines in their plain meaning - it will stretch them to get things through for the industry.”

So isn’t Mr Atkinson right?  It looks as if he is weathering a storm of abuse for his trouble.  Something that is possibly not aiding the pro 18+ classification lobby, as discussed on Jason Hill’s excellent ScreenPlay blog .

There is much that is right about what Mr Atkinson is trying to achieve, and he has a counter argument for just about every pro R18+ classification point.

But – he is missing or unable to rationalise the main problem with the whole lack of a R18+ rating within the system.

As a parent, there is no way I would let my children play games such as Resident Evil 5, F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin or Grand Theft Auto IV.  All games that garnered 18+ ratings overseas, and receive minor or no edits to get stamped with MA15+ in Australia.

By not allowing a full spectrum of classification ratings, titles will continue to be shoehorned into MA15+, games will be imported or increasingly digitally, downloaded (either legally or illegally).  This means even more minors will be exposed to the content that Mr Atkinson fears so much

The best thing that can be done, logically, is to give the Classification Board the power to give accurate ratings to the interactive entertainment that a broad demographic of Australians are craving. 

And sooner rather than later.