Grats Australia

[Lion_Slicer]

True, but the 18+ rating is still banned. On Becember 10th, we'll see if we are still allowed to play these games. Or if I'll have to leave the country.

No. That isn't what it means.

It means that R18+ games will be allowed now. It means that adults won't have to deal with censored games. It means the threshold for what gets banned in this country is now raised.

This is a good thing.

 

[Merkavar]

True, but the 18+ rating is still banned. On Becember 10th, we'll see if we are still allowed to play these games. Or if I'll have to leave the country.

No. That isn't what it means.

It means that R18+ games will be allowed now. It means that adults won't have to deal with censored games. It means the threshold for what gets banned in this country is now raised.

This is a good thing.

i think he was right. atm the games can be classified as 18+ but untill the AGs decide they cant be sold. but the AGs meeting is like this friday

 

[Trogdor1138]

I see this as a step in the direction of banning violent video games all together.

But I'm American, so thats just me.

You say that like it's a good thing...

Oh no, on the contrary, I believe its a horrible thing. Tone and Voiced expression dont carry well of the interent.

I see this as a step in the direction of banning violent video games all together.

But I'm American, so thats just me.

... How? I don't see any reason this would mean what you think.

Think about it. You push the rating system back a little, after so mayn games of have already been played. Sure, you cant punish people who own these games that would not be unable to (if they have a grandfather clause like we do in the US), but that fact you're just changing it. And tahts fine, I suppose. But its harder to get those games now. So you push the issue a little more, and make them even harder to get, saying theyre even worse by making a bunch of BS studies that could be easilly disproven. Eventually, you push and push, and then POOF, its gone! Everyhting, its gone, and those games that were originally made for 18+ are no longer available.

They're not trying to punish anybody, this is about having games being classified properly when they haven't been doing that. The R rating means kids won't be able to go into stores and buy them, and that's what we want, because they shouldn't be playing them if they're underage and have content unsuitable for them (unless the parents go and get them, then they can't hold videogames responsible).

I don't have any idea why people would consider this a bad move and why people need to pull theories out of the air about what could happen to gaming in the future. Do you not understand that this is ensuring the more violent games aren't falling into the wrong hands?

Some people seem to be against this and I imagine it's mostly people who are under 18...

 

[Lion_Slicer]

i think he was right. atm the games can be classified as 18+ but untill the AGs decide they cant be sold. but the AGs meeting is like this friday

The AG meeting is to determine if games can be classified as 18+ as well.
For games to be classified as R18+ they require the Federal Government and the AGs all to agree.
This article confirms that the Federal Government support the new rating. We're just waiting for the AG meeting.
If the AGs decline it will just means that the old system remains.

 

[Nouw]

Awww but I wanted to get those few games that were rated MA15 and R18 over in NZ!
Good on you Australia!

 

[emeraldrafael]

I see this as a step in the direction of banning violent video games all together.

But I'm American, so thats just me.

You say that like it's a good thing...

Oh no, on the contrary, I believe its a horrible thing. Tone and Voiced expression dont carry well of the interent.

I see this as a step in the direction of banning violent video games all together.

But I'm American, so thats just me.

... How? I don't see any reason this would mean what you think.

Think about it. You push the rating system back a little, after so mayn games of have already been played. Sure, you cant punish people who own these games that would not be unable to (if they have a grandfather clause like we do in the US), but that fact you're just changing it. And tahts fine, I suppose. But its harder to get those games now. So you push the issue a little more, and make them even harder to get, saying theyre even worse by making a bunch of BS studies that could be easilly disproven. Eventually, you push and push, and then POOF, its gone! Everyhting, its gone, and those games that were originally made for 18+ are no longer available.

They're not trying to punish anybody, this is about having games being classified properly when they haven't been doing that. The R rating means kids won't be able to go into stores and buy them, and that's what we want, because they shouldn't be playing them if they're underage and have content unsuitable for them (unless the parents go and get them, then they can't hold videogames responsible).

I don't have any idea why people would consider this a bad move and why people need to pull theories out of the air about what could happen to gaming in the future. Do you not understand that this is ensuring the more violent games aren't falling into the wrong hands?

Some people seem to be against this and I imagine it's mostly people who are under 18...

I didnt say they were going to punish people. I said they probably cant. Its a bad move because already Australia edits games. Keep pushing it and soon there wont be games like this at all. and thats great, for kids. but when those kids grow up, they're going to want that. This isnt about it falling into the wrong hands. Kids can steal. Kids can ask somoene to but it for them. Kids are inventive, tehy'll find a way if they want it. This is about censorship in worst, taking away from the future under the guise of saving the present.

 

[Lion_Slicer]

I didnt say they were going to punish people. I said they probably cant. Its a bad move because already Australia edits games. Keep pushing it and soon there wont be games like this at all. and thats great, for kids. but when those kids grow up, they're going to want that. This isnt about it falling into the wrong hands. Kids can steal. Kids can ask somoene to but it for them. Kids are inventive, tehy'll find a way if they want it. This is about censorship in worst, taking away from the future under the guise of saving the present.

You're missing the point. What this R18+ rating means is that games no longer have to fit into the MA15+ category.
It means that Australian adults will be able to play the games uncensored, as the developers intended.
The R18+ category will bump up the threshold for what is banned with video games, so we won't have to worry about things like Left 4 Dead 2 being censored to fit into MA15+. It will be allowed unedited in the R18+ category.

 

[Adzma]

Everyone who isn't Australian seems to be getting confused by all this.

Australia does not have its R18 rating yet. All that has happened is that our Federal Government's cabinet has voiced its support of introducing the rating, to prevent games rated M17 in the US and 18 in the UK getting classified MA15 here.

The final decision still rests with the Attorneys-General who are meeting to discuss it on Friday.

 

[RN7]

This seems like a step in the right direction, preventing kids from playing overly-gratitious (or not) games while allowing competent adults to play whatever the Hell they want to. Still isn't going to stop oblivious parents from buying games like GTA and Call of Duty for their kids and then blaming it on the industry.

 

[PrimoThePro]

I feel like the control in Australia keeps going over more and more to the government. Can an Aussie intelligently explain the whole political situation down there?

 

[SenseOfTumour]

"Mr O'Connor said it was relatively simple for gamers to find ways of restoring the games to their original versions using special codes easily available on the internet."

If this is TRUE and not wild speculation based on one or two games being able to be patched to pre-Aussie completion, then why waste money demanding they be patched in the first place?

If there was an ounce of sense in the people making these decisions, they'd now see that as there's an 18 rating, there's no need to censor stuff that is STILL weaker than you'd see in most horror movies.

Now I'm entirely in favour of age restrictions on games, movies, etc. NOT to 'protect the children' however, but to satiate the rabid desire to 'protect the children', if a teenager has to get parental approval to play GTA, that's a good thing, and would mean in an ideal world that there wouldn't be raving tabloid stories about Rockstar personally forced a 3 year old to play GTA and then go kill people.

So I'm all for ratings, if they then remove the censorship which I assume was there to 'protect our mindless fuckwitted children who can't think for themselves', damn, am I saying parents need to decide for themselves if their kids are ready? maybe I am.

 

[Lion_Slicer]

I feel like the control in Australia keeps going over more and more to the government.

This R18+ rating isn't what you think it is. It will mean less censorship is required.

 

[seditary]

I was thinking about time the government supported it (despite it not being up to them) until I read 'Mr O'Connor also gave a guarantee he would not allow games that had been banned in Australia to be approved for release under the new R18+ classification, if it is approved.'

If previously banned games fit into the R18 classification, why would they still ban them? Sounds like they're saying that they'll pretend to give us what we want while not actually following their own guidelines.

 

[Plurralbles]

I absolutely love the title/image choice.

I agree. The wrong message? maybe.

Good Job aussie government. really, you, a "western" nation smashing its boots into peoples' faces. YOu rock. YOu are the coolest guy ever. You Doesn't afraid of anything!

Maybe there will be a few less retards on X-box live though, think abou tit that way.

 

[Trogdor1138]

I see this as a step in the direction of banning violent video games all together.

But I'm American, so thats just me.

You say that like it's a good thing...

Oh no, on the contrary, I believe its a horrible thing. Tone and Voiced expression dont carry well of the interent.

I see this as a step in the direction of banning violent video games all together.

But I'm American, so thats just me.

... How? I don't see any reason this would mean what you think.

Think about it. You push the rating system back a little, after so mayn games of have already been played. Sure, you cant punish people who own these games that would not be unable to (if they have a grandfather clause like we do in the US), but that fact you're just changing it. And tahts fine, I suppose. But its harder to get those games now. So you push the issue a little more, and make them even harder to get, saying theyre even worse by making a bunch of BS studies that could be easilly disproven. Eventually, you push and push, and then POOF, its gone! Everyhting, its gone, and those games that were originally made for 18+ are no longer available.

They're not trying to punish anybody, this is about having games being classified properly when they haven't been doing that. The R rating means kids won't be able to go into stores and buy them, and that's what we want, because they shouldn't be playing them if they're underage and have content unsuitable for them (unless the parents go and get them, then they can't hold videogames responsible).

I don't have any idea why people would consider this a bad move and why people need to pull theories out of the air about what could happen to gaming in the future. Do you not understand that this is ensuring the more violent games aren't falling into the wrong hands?

Some people seem to be against this and I imagine it's mostly people who are under 18...

I didnt say they were going to punish people. I said they probably cant. Its a bad move because already Australia edits games. Keep pushing it and soon there wont be games like this at all. and thats great, for kids. but when those kids grow up, they're going to want that. This isnt about it falling into the wrong hands. Kids can steal. Kids can ask somoene to but it for them. Kids are inventive, tehy'll find a way if they want it. This is about censorship in worst, taking away from the future under the guise of saving the present.

This seems to be the opposite of what you think it is. The fact that there is FINALLY an R rating for video game classification after all this time means there will be less censorship and the country will be more open to the content portrayed. If kids can find a way, fine, at least they aren't going to be legally buying them off shelves which cause trouble for both industry and retailers. If their parents want to get it for them, then they can. This is what we've all been wanting.

Why would there be no violent games or even more censorship? They're taking measures to prevent that from happening now. Why can't you see this? I don't understand...

I'm glad this is all finally going to happen, I've been increasingly shocked at what they continuously allow to meet an MA standard in games. There's no reason a lot of these games shouldn't be rated R.

 

[PrimoThePro]

I feel like the control in Australia keeps going over more and more to the government.

This R18+ rating isn't what you think it is. It will mean less censorship is required.

No, no, I get that entirely, this makes sense, but with that guy Jack Thompson influencing politics there, I'm unsure what to think of the whole situation. Clearly democratic, I just want to know more from a gamers perspective.

 

[WorldCritic]

Well that sucks. I mean it doesn't effect me because I don't live in Australia and I'm 19, but still. Ouch.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I don't think you guys realise this, but the lack of an R 18+ in Australia has ensured some games to be censored in order to get past the regulations without being banned. One example of this is fallout 3. Australian gamers have wanted this for a long time, Im not sure what you lot are complaining about.

Fallout 3 isn't a good example. Certainly the gamed was initially refused classification for having 'morphine' as the game's healing drug. Bethesda responded by replacing 'morphine' with 'stimpack' in all versions of the game, so it's not like there's a special version just for Australia.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I'm glad this is all finally going to happen, I've been increasingly shocked at what they continuously allow to meet an MA standard in games.

Rebellion certainly were when the latest AvP got an MA15+ on resubmission by their publisher.

 

[UberNoodle]

I feel like the control in Australia keeps going over more and more to the government. Can an Aussie intelligently explain the whole political situation down there?

You've gravely misunderstood the issue. The Australian rating system is as follows. It's pretty logical:

G - FOr anybody
PG - Parental guidance
M - Recommended for 15s and up
MA15+ - Restricted to 15s and up
R18+ - Restricted to 18s and up

This is not about "gov't control". That's is a real American fear but Australia doesn't share quite the same neuroses. The rating system in Australia is controlled by a gov't body, the OFLC. Games granted above the MA15+ rating have not been allowed to be sold in Australia because the R18+ rating was not available for games. The news is that it most likely will be in the near future. The PM has approved it. This is great news because now games no longer need to be edited for the lower rating. The R18+ rating criteria is very fair and open, and it's actually more open than the BFCC's adult rating. Many movies cut in other countries are untouched here, unless we inherited their cut prints. I see this development as a great step.

As for control going "more and more to the government", they aren't. They are the same as they always were. Anyway, as long as that gov't isn't a corrupt corporatocrasy run by bickering fools only interested in lining their own and their rich friends' pockets, I think things should be fine. Not naming any names or pointing any fingers, but privatisation of societal moderation is not the way to go. Corporations and private interests care even less than about the people than the worst politician.