Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
Not really, but the Australian Government’s plan to turn the controversial ISP filter eye towards unclassified interactive entertainment (video games) such as World of Warcraft and Second Life could have further ramifications than the obvious.
It has been as loophole for some time now. In the whacky world of video game classification that is Australia, where the most adult rating a title can get in order to hit store shelves is the ambiguous MA 15+, games that predominately rely on an Online experience, constructed largely from the community playing the game, such as World of Warcraft are not easy to classify.
Ratings are dealt out by the Classification Board, and are based on playing through the game, and as you would expect, making a judgement call based on levels of violence, sex or offending material contained in the title. Any game that is considered too risky to be classified MA 15+, is deemed unclassifiable, and therefore banned from sale in Australia.
There have only been a handful of games effectively banned in this way, with most shoehorned into the MA 15+ classification (whereas they would receive an 18+ rating in other parts of the developed world), or developers make slight Classification Board pleasing edits to the game to satisfy the MA 15+ rating. GTA IV for example, received a little mopping up of some spilled blood, and modification to camera angles to go on sale down-under.
Then there is the aforementioned MMORPG’s (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Play Games) and their ilk, strangely they are available on Australian retail shelves, without a rating sticker (not even a “online play may change the rating” indicator), effectively they are unclassifiable due to the content being so dynamic and dependent on community actions.
Whilst this situation could easily be cleared up with the introduction of the easily understood R18+ classification, the government has a better idea.
As recently reported, a spokesperson for Senator Stephen Conroy’s, minister for broadband, communications and the digital economy department has indicated the currently trialled ISP nasties filter could be utilised to block access to games and online retailers of games that have not been classified by the Censorship Board.
Whilst not spelt out in the statement, this encompasses a lot of territory in today’s connected world. Increasingly franchise fans are looking to web sites such as playasia.com to import uncensored PAL versions of titles either banned or compromised for the Australian market.
It is online retailers such as these that immediately spring to mind as a target for blockage, but another part of the government statement: "computer games such as web-based flash games and downloadable games, if a complaint is received and the content is determined by ACMA to be Refused Classification". Leaves us wondering what other entertainment opportunities could feel the filter wrath.
Specifically, closing the MMORPG classification loophole by blocking WOW – or similar game – servers, but why stop there?
Surely interactive games such as Linden Lab’s Second Life poses a threat to our young ’uns. With all that online interaction and user created content, morals are sure to be broken along the way.
Even in the ultra controlled environment of PlayStation Home, the Sony advert laden version of Second Life for the PlayStation Network? Who knows how our young could be corrupted by dance-spammers in the bowling alley, best block that as well.
And why concentrate on the graphical based internet interactions? Words can corrupt just as easily; look at the cyber- bullying situations. Best if the government protects us from these threats as well.
For convenience, here is a blocking list that the ISP Filtering trial could use to maximise the effect of the technology. (Well that is until we use our off-shore proxy servers, shhhhh).
Things to block:
Game import sites
Servers for World of Warcraft, Second Life, Everquest, Club Penguin and so on
All discussion forums
PlayStation Home
Xbox LIVE
PC Flash games
Telephone conversations
Letters to Santa Claus
David Bass
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