At 5pm tomorrow, Friday 15th of July, the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) will cease taking submissions of a questionnaire that will help them decide whether or not to introduce an R18+ classification for videos games sold in Australia. Bear in mind that these are games that are sold almost everywhere else in the western world and parts of Asia… places that have an R18+ or equivalent rating.
Currently, if a game is deemed unfit for minors because it has adult themes, which could include varying degrees of violence, simulated sex and other naughty things, then the game could be banned in Australia—banned out-right. Mortal Kombat is a recent example. It features some gruesome fatalities that I know are quite unfit for 13 year olds to take part in (of course, when I was 13 I LOVED tearing my opponent’s heart out—and I turned out just… fine… I JUST ATE MY TOENAILS)! Worse than an outright ban is when game publishers are forced to water down the content just for the Australian market, just to get it past the censors. I would rather play no game or another game than play a watered-down game.
Adult gamers can’t buy Mortal Kombat in Australia because there is no mature age classification for that game to sit under. They could, of course, buy the game from the UK for much less than it would retail here anyway.
I love gaming—it offers the gamer an escape whether it’s for five minutes or a whole Sunday. The worlds and scenarios created by games developers allow gamers to do things they could/would never do in real life. Yes, that could mean casually tearing up an airport (and innocent people) with machine guns like in Modern Warfare 2. I actually enjoyed that scene—it was really well produced. How many times have you wished you had hood-mounted Browning machine guns after some jerk cuts you off? That’s a little bit of fantasy brought on by a moment of rage… it doesn’t mean you’re going to do it (plus, machine guns are very hard to come by).
Who are the gamers?
According to a 2008 article on Kotaku, the average gamer is 30 years of age. If I do some number crunching, those gamers are now 33 and I can bet you they’re still playing! So how is it fair and in the interest of the adult majority of game consumers if the government won’t give them an adult classification? The average age of non-gamers was 40 (who are now 43)… that might also be the average age of concerned, ill-informed parents of pubescent children.
Opponents (various child, family, community and religious groups) are not gamers (well they certainly don’t understand it). My guess is that they still assume all video games are for children. That may have been true 20 years ago (actually, it wasn’t Nighthawk F117-A for Amiga 500 anyone?)… but those 80’s and 90’s kids have brought gaming into their adulthood.
Video games have matured with video game players.
To the parents and children’s advocacy groups out there—it’s good you’re looking out for kids, but you are misguided. I think all children should be encouraged to play video games; most age groups are catered for. Sure, it’s bad if children play adult games (as much as it’s bad if they stay up late and watch adult-themed movies on TV). I do agree that they should be sheltered from mature-themed games until they are old enough to deal with the concepts and to understand the difference between fantasy and reality.
The best way for you to protect children is to take an active interest in what they are doing. Maybe stop using the PS3 and Xbox as a dumb baby sitter and get involved in what they are doing. Perhaps even be there when they’re making those purchase decisions to ensure they’re buying appropriate content. An R18+ rating will help with that decision. Don’t force adult gamers (the majority of gamers) to go without, or worse still, buy a watered-down version of a game, just because you don’t know what your kids are playing.
Hopefully this time around the government listens to us. I say this time around because they’ve actually done this before. More than 98% of respondants supported the introduction of an R18+ classification for video games in a similar survey at the beginning of 2010.
Gamers and advocates of reason, you’ve got until 5pm tomorrow (Friday 15th July) to get your submissions in. I won’t lie to you; it’s no easy task… the form is long because it asks a lot of questions. They’re all written answers with no multiple choice—the form has not been designed by or for gamers so there’s no instant gratification. Also, it’s not well made—they clearly don’t use testers at the ALRC. It’s boring, but please put that controller down, stop Zumba-ing in front of your Kinect, get off that Wii Fit board and stop mining that gold for half an hour and tell the government you want an R18+ classification for video games in Australia.
Source: The Vine
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