GDAA President, Australia's game classification system is a joke

Mike Bantick
Tuesday, 11 August 2009 10:33

Opinion and Analysis

MB:  Is it as simple as introducing an R classification?

TC:  Absolutely, that would solve the problem; it would bring us in line with the rest of the world, and it would ensure that games that are presently refused classification, or shoehorned inappropriately into the MA15+ bracket can be appropriately rated.

MB:  Perhaps they should get some Xbox 360’s and PS3’s into the cafeteria up there in Canberra,  get the politicians gaming?

TC:  I played video games with [Senator] Stephen Conroy [Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy], he’s a decent bloke, and he....

MB:  Did you beat him?  Is he any good?

TC:  ...He’s actually not too bad; he spent a lot of his youth playing arcade machines, put up a decent fist first time up playing one of our games, unfortunately it is not his decision on this issue...

MB:  Have you had a chance to play with the South Australian Attorney General yet? [Michael Atkinson is the AG most vehemently opposed to the introduction of a R18+ classification for interactive entertainment in Australia]

TC:  No, well, ha ha, this fellow is of course the problem, he has been interviewed whilst playing games before, but clearly this is a guy that doesn’t get it, and to be honest, I don’t think, ever will get it.  So the battle is unlikely to be won while this gentleman is the Attorney General of, I am embarrassed to say, my home state.

MB:  You mentioned you travel widely, and we are the butt of many a joke, how do other countries classify titles such as World of Warcraft, games that are on shelves but are largely an user generated content experience?

TC:  Its tough isn’t it? And it is a bit of a moving feast as to how you classify that content. And it gets more complex again when you have user generated content, where you not only have a developer that is putting out download or add-on packs with new content for a title, but you also have users generating content too.  It’s another area, I guess, where the law needs to evolve and move with the times, it’s incredibly complex.