Australia bans another game

Mike Bantick
Wednesday, 12 August 2009 06:42

Your IT - Entertainment

Another one bites the dust, this time the role playing game (RPG) Risen has fallen on the bad side of the Australian Classification Board due to chatting up prostitutes and smoking imaginary drugs

It is comforting that our government is looking after us so well, protecting the adult populace from the evils of virtual worlds.

This time the game in the Classification Board’s sites is the multiplatform title Risen, a typical sword and sorcery role play game from developer Pirhana Bytes, makers of the well received Gothic series.

Obviously the game is aimed at a mature market, with the ratings board in Europe (PEGI) giving the game a 16+ stamp and the U.S’s ESRB giving the game a ‘Mature’ stamp of approval.

The ESRB describes the game-play of Risen: “During the course of the game, players can interact with prostitutes (referred to as “whores” in the game) at a local brothel. Players can trigger a lengthy dialogue to engage in their services; sexual activity is strongly implied, but never depicted on screen. Many of the characters in the game smoke a fictional drug called “brugleweed.” The “wood reefer” plant is described as having a mild relaxing effect on users, and can be bought, sold, and used by players. Some profanity (e.g., “f*ck” and “sh*t”) can be heard in the dialogue.”

Lacking a higher rating than MA 15+ in Australia, the Classification Board is many a time hamstrung in handing down a UC, or Unclassifiable decision for some interactive entertainment.  Effectively this bans the game from sale in the country. 

This is a situation that frustrates people like the Game Developers Association of Australia president Tom Crago, who describes the classification system down-under as a joke.

In Australia, Risen was to be distributed by Madman Interactive. A spokesperson told Kotaku that the Classification Board felt that the game contained “sexual activity and drug use related to incentives or rewards.”  This means a UC under the board’s guidelines.

A Madman Interactive spokesperson has subsequently told iTWIre “We're working with the Publisher/Developer & the Classifications Board to ascertain our options & the right way forward.”  Giving a glimmer of hope to Risen fans in Oz.