Australia rejects R+18 rating (AGAIN)

[Lion_Slicer]

It's not over just yet. Just delayed for now.

The poor excuse is that the WA minister felt he needed more time to discuss with his cabinet and they feel they need more time to gather public and "expert" views on this.

The sad thing is that the minister knew that this meeting was on many months before it happened. So what the hell was he doing in that time?

As for public opinion. They gathered it when they did a public consultation but the ACL didn't like the result so they claimed that the people who supported it misinterpreted their own opinion.

Now for the expert's views. This is where it gets messy. The ACL are somehow considered experts but as you can see from any Jim Wallace quote about the issue, they have no fucking idea.

We will fight on. All we want is parity with movie classification. Yet somehow, for some strange reason, this cannot be done. They claim that they will be accessed by children, maybe for children whose parents are too stupid to read(funnily enough they're the ones likely to complain when they see that Bloody death blood blood is too violent for little jimmy, even after they bought it and ignored the rating). In the politicians and prudes strange world, all those other things dangerous to children such as R rated movies, alcohol, tobacco and the bible are somehow not accessible to children.

 

[DancingInTorchlight]

There are no words. *headdesk*

 

[SentryGun]

all i can say to this is lol wut?

the gamers want it, many anti video game lobbyists want it (abeit for vastly different reasons)
hell the general public want it for gods sake...

but no, theres one way to never see somthing here in australia and that to get the goddamn chrisitan lobbyist groups bitchin about it...

i weep for humanity while a commity and a single lobbyist group can cockblock common sense.

 

[Zedayen]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/r18-adult-rating-for-pc-games-rejected/story-e6frgakx-1225969108337

The plan was rejected at a meeting of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General (SCAG) in Canberra today.

SCAG? SCAG!?! I HATE SKAGS!
[image src=http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100418151861/borderlands/images/d/dc/Skag_Whelp.png]

OT: Each time they raise our hopes so that they can watch them fall just that little bit harder.

 

[HK_01]

I just don't understand this at all. What exactly is the problem with having an 18+ rating?

 

[kahlzun]

well crap.

 

[kahlzun]

There still members of my government I have to respect their decisions and even if I didn?t insulting them won?t change their minds.

I don't think we, as Australians, need to dogmatically defend the decisions of our government. Patriotic jingoism tends to be the purview of the gun-totin' right wing Americans (though, i do note the 'America can't be wrong' attitude seems to cover mostly Republican politicians...)

 

[TilMorrow]

I'm confused. Is this a good thing because a large number of games get to keep the 15+ rating or is it a bad thing because some of these 15+ games are not rated 18+ when they should be and possibly ensuring other games don't go through the Fallout 3 and L4D2 acception process?

 

[Octorok]

Does anybody understand their logic even a little?

Yes. Yes, I do. You see, this is so mind-bogglingly stupid, that I believe this is Michael Atkinson returned from his disgusting pig-sty of a career, and has adopted a new disguise.

Think. Who else would be stupid enough to say, "Companies want money selling goods to adults, instead of goods to children. SEE THEY ARE EVIL!"? He once said that a vote he lost was "unfair" because. and I'm not kidding, only people who cared about the topic voted.

Based on the fact that nobody else could possibly be that stupid, I think that their logic is based on a lack of understanding of Earthling behaviour, and Atkinson and his cronies are alien dog-creatures, here to kill fun with the spiked bat of "morality".

 

[ethaninja]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH FUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so not happy again.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

Australia! Seriously, you guys flip-flop on this issue more often than Senator McCain does on most of every legal issue he is involved with. That is not a good quality. At all.

Puritan's suck the enjoyment and logical sense out of life, as proven yet again.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Australia needs some new politicians.

 

[Cazza]

Not surprised. Our government doesn't like change. They don't want to cause any problems with the "Think about the children" groups.

The debates I heard were

For

Adults get adult content
Most gamers are over 18
It will help parents decided what is right for thier children

Against

With R Rating games in homes kids are more likily to play them


The big I didn't hear was in the for For

Games like Fallout 3 slipping under the radar by being slighty modified. They did what to it? Change the drug morphine to med X. I thought the issue was an addictive drug use. Not the name of it. Thats not to start on all the gore. Oh look your heads in hundreds of little bits. Thats okay for 15yrs to see.

With the biased government there was only a little chance that it would actually pass.

 

[Sark]

People don't understand the issue at all. Anyone over the age of 18 with the mental capacity of someone that age has a means of aquiring video games that have been refused classification or can access a non-censored version.

If you aren't smart enough to work around the system, than most likely you fall into the dangerous catagory of people who would be influenced by games to commit crime and other such nonsense.

The refusal of classification only really applies to people under 18, who shouldn't be playing these games anyway. It is the best way of preventing minors from viewing material that they are unsuited for, as their families often buy games without understanding the content, as they think all video games are for kids.

 

[Bob_F_It]

I'm confused. Is this a good thing because a large number of games get to keep the 15+ rating or is it a bad thing because some of these 15+ games are not rated 18+ when they should be and possibly ensuring other games don't go through the Fallout 3 and L4D2 acception process?

It's a bad thing. As pointed out somewhere on the escapist (I think it was one of Shamus Young's columns), by not having an R18 rating, games with contents meant for adults only get enough trimmed off so that it fits in the new highest catagory. It remains an adult game, but no longer labeled as such, poorly informing parents as to what the game is like.

 

[Diablo27]

Gore and porn is on the internet which is available to children much younger than the ones who play video games.
Gory movies are everywhere, like the Wolfman and Zombieland which while rated MA15+ didn't have gore in any of the trailers so what would've happened if a parent took their child to see a fun comedy movie like Zombieland?
Porn movies are right next to the fucking kids movies in video stores.

But when it comes to games? Fuck that we need to ban the bad ones.
FUCK YOU AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT!

 

[moretimethansense]

Does anybody understand their logic even a little?

Yes. Yes, I do. You see, this is so mind-bogglingly stupid, that I believe this is Michael Atkinson returned from his disgusting pig-sty of a career, and has adopted a new disguise.

Think. Who else would be stupid enough to say, "Companies want money selling goods to adults, instead of goods to children. SEE THEY ARE EVIL!"? He once said that a vote he lost was "unfair" because. and I'm not kidding, only people who cared about the topic voted.

Based on the fact that nobody else could possibly be that stupid, I think that their logic is based on a lack of understanding of Earthling behaviour, and Atkinson and his cronies are alien dog-creatures, here to kill fun with the spiked bat of "morality".

See I'd have just said there was no logic, but I like this awnser so much I am adopting it in to my personal cannon. XD

 

[Cid Silverwing]

I thought This would stop being a fucking issue since Atkinson left. How many idiots are there in the government.

Actually, don't answer that question. The response would probably depress me.

Scary. You read my mind perfectly.

I thought they replaced that crotchety old fuck Atkinson with someone who was going to fight tooth and nail to BRING IN the 18+ rating.

 

[Merkavar]

i wish that the government/AGs would stop faffing about and just make a 18+ rating. whats the worse that could happen?

but i guess getting on with their jobs would be against their employment contracts or something and cause then to get fired.

 

[The Journey]

God - freaking - damnit.

This country is full of complete and utter fuckwits in administrative positions of authority. Go suck a tailpipe and give everyone else a break.

Christ almighty....

Edit:

Ok that was perhaps a little harsh, but seriously, what is the hate against the 18+ rating? To the christian group, who cares what the industries reasoning is for having it, it only benefits your campaigns to protect the little kiddies as an 18+ label does, if only momentarily, make people think twice. And some store clerks too.