Try Your Hand at Australian Censorship With Ban This Game

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
1
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Try Your Hand at Australian Censorship With Ban This Game


Get ready to Ban This Game, a goofy little exercise in frenetic mouse clicking that shines yet more light on the plight of gamers in Australia.

Created by Conor O'Kane [http://cokane.com/], an independent game developer living in Melbourne, Australia, Ban This Game is a simple quickie in which players click on game boxes and websites as they come flying across the screen. But there's a catch: They can only be clicked once they near the bottom of the screen and, with each click bouncing them up like a Pong ball, they must be clicked three times before they're banned. The concept is simple enough but with dozens of boxes bouncing all over the place and "Yakety Sax" blaring away in the background, the pace becomes rather frantic.

It's entertaining in small bites - rounds last about 45 seconds - but Ban This Game is obviously more about getting attention than about providing a solid gameplay experience. At the end of the game, a "tell me more" option provides interesting tidbits about the deplorable state of videogame ratings in Australia. Most of it will already be familiar to regular readers but for those unaware of the country's heavy-handed approach to censorship, it could be a bit of an eye-opener.

But there's also enough stupid fun here that I've played it at least a dozen times and will almost certainly hit it again a few times before I give up once and for all. My high score currently stands at 20 points; Michael Atkinson seems pretty happy with it but Stephen Conroy looks unimpressed. Think you can do better? Get a copy for yourself at banthisgame.com [http://www.banthisgame.com/].

via: GamePolitics [http://gamepolitics.com/2010/01/04/try-your-hand-banning-content-down-under]


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Beefcakes

Pants Lord of Vodka
Aug 11, 2008
835
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Oh yes
Oh so very very yes
I think this will be banned soon, though
Yay Australia!
Edit: I got 15 on my first try, and have since given up. Yay effort
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
5,630
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lol, I liked the Bennie Hilll theme been used against it XD
 

David_G

New member
Aug 25, 2009
1,133
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The best I've done so far is 14, it's pretty hard, but also it's fun.
 

MiodekPL

New member
Apr 5, 2009
96
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"Yakety Sax" blaring away in the background, the pace becomes rather frantic.
"Yakety Sax" blaring away in the background
Yakety Sax

Awesome detected. This game is win. :)
 

RelexCryo

New member
Oct 21, 2008
1,414
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Mandatory Video game censorship? I thought that proposal got voted down or something.

First they ban handguns bigger than .38 caliber, then they ban videogames with any content more adult than 15 years old, and now they are banning the internet to an unknown level. Poor Australia :(

There are some people who believe that human rights should never be violated, ever, even if you think it could make the world a safer place...and then there are people who think that human rights are really just priledges, and that the government should have the power to violate any and all rights for the sake of making things safe.

Of course, that's not even taking into account the fact that there is no hard evidence to link videogames with homocidal mania.
 

Galaxy613

New member
Apr 6, 2008
259
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Heheh I feel like this is an accurate representation of the process they take. In the game you might end up banning youtube, but Manhunt might slip through unclicked.

RelexCryo said:
Of course, that's not even taking into account the fact that there is no hard evidence to link videogames with homocidal mania.
Isn't there evidence to the fact that videogames have reduced violent crimes sense they are an 'positive' outlet?
 

Sevre

Old Hands
Apr 6, 2009
4,886
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That's a pretty cool game, I like the way indie devs use their art to spread a message.
 

gillebro

New member
Nov 13, 2009
221
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i played it 3 times and my highest score was 3. showing both that i suck, and that i hate censorship.
i learned nothing, in other words.
 

Coaxill

New member
Dec 22, 2009
100
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Earthmonger said:
Australia Censorship, promoting piracy in the name of family values.
Amen. I don't live in Australia but if I did, I would stop buying games legitimately.
 

Andronicus

Terror Australis
Mar 25, 2009
1,846
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Khell_Sennet said:
that song "Land Down Under" by Men At Work
It's not that bad...

Meh, it tells me nothing I haven't already read about before, but it is a bit of fun, and the music just makes it hilarious. I only got to 14 points though...
 

ahiddenfigure

Hunter of Monsters
Sep 14, 2009
141
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Absolutely hilarious!

If there's one thing I like about my country it's that we can poke fun at ourselves.

High-score is 20 so far.