This is very Australian specific but still worth checking out to see how broken our rating system is…
SO recently Fallout 3 has been denied rating due to drug use, there has since been a major backlash from Australian gamers. This following the recent GTA 4 censorship is another painful stab in our already tender bellies and recently on the ABC show Q&A the issue was raised. Well when I say raised I mean it in the sense that a piñata is raised. The kids don’t give a shit about the actual object they are hitting, they just know if they keep hitting it sweets will pour out.
You can see the painful Q&A clip here
The panel and host have not the faintest idea on video games; they didn’t even know that there was ANY rating system for games. Yet there they were voicing off all importantly on a subject they know nothing about. The arrogance and self importance makes me cringe. I won’t go into it too much as it’s just a big great mess.
Our problem is that gamers traditionally aren’t the same people who participate in politics, we aren’t the same people who appear on Q&A panels and to be honest we are rarely well spoken and have trouble formulating arguments. Joaby from Game Arena was asking the questions from the crowd and he did a good job trying to get what he could out. Australia is the only democratic nation with no R 18+, but hey you can still buy cross bows in Tasmania can’t you? I’m from Canberra originally, the place of parliament and where Porn and Fireworks line the streets, but as an adult I can’t play things I want to play and I have to be insulted by ignorant politicians telling me how these games are going to destroy my mind.
I fear that the only time we will get an R rating is when everyone in power now shrivels up and dies. I’m a patient guy and in the mean time the money that would otherwise go into the Australian economy for these games can go over seas or nowhere at all as gamers that are more than happy to pay for their already overpriced games are pushed to piracy.
I think part of the problem is that those outside of the gaming generation are just uninformed and it’s up to us to ‘educate’, I guess, these people.
1 | Fleeek July 27th, 2008 at 10:13 pmWithout some form of understanding, they will never understand why we want this R18 rating.
I’ve done my best to stay away from televised debates about games - they usually wind me up more than the Falklands War and I start shouting at the TV (but then I shout at the TV when the iPhone commercials appear) but I think in this problem, time is on our side. As consoles become more mass market and more prevalent, the number of people who haven’t played a game or even watched one being played is going to shrink so eventually, those make the rules and laws concerning games will have played/might still play computer games and should hopefully have a better understanding.
Or at least, I hope that happens!
2 | Samorai July 28th, 2008 at 7:35 pmI feel your anguish. There is nothing worse that outdated views on new technology (and science for that matter). It really hampers advancement in certain areas I feel.
I can think of two solutions. Start some kind of black market trade of games ( i’ll be your UK contact for the right price ;] ) or as Samorai mentioned, just wait it out. The type of people who are so against this are the old, and to put a blunt point on it, they will soon be past their sell by date or six feet under. I’m sure as consoles and the internet grow their antiquated view will be a thing of the past anyway, but as long as it is old uneducated politicians making the laws we all will just have to grin and bear it.
Or stock up on guns and go postal.
3 | Continental Drift July 28th, 2008 at 8:13 pmWe can’t let the uneducated oldsters go to their graves easily though. I propose some sort of scheme we we write/email these people and tell them that once they are dead, video games will dig up their graves and desecrate their corpses. The thought of their bones being molested by an old Earthworm Jim cartridge should frighten the crap out of them. Or it’ll get me arrested.
4 | Samorai July 28th, 2008 at 9:41 pmThis is assuming they know who Earthworm Jim is! Actually I bet it’s a very small age group that would remember. Much like Bubsy the Bobcat. Anyone remember that?
5 | Continental Drift July 29th, 2008 at 6:12 pmpour. not poor. lol :)
6 | Ninja August 5th, 2008 at 8:09 amAs a US citizen you have my deepest apologies for your government sucking more then a black hole but honestly you can surely find away to order these games from an american site at american prices. Sure you might need the US version of the console or some kind of modding but at the price you are paying if you could get things at the price I pay then you’d be fine.
I really do feel bad that things over there are so bad. Time will cure the problem. And so will knowledge. Sadly I have noted that the older people become the less willing they are to read so you’ll just have to wait them out. Best of luck.
7 | Will August 27th, 2008 at 5:14 pm