My comment on Australia’s R18 rating for videogames
Australia does not have a category for videogames on a par with the USA’s “M” rating, for games which are for those 17/18 years or older. This means such games are barely shaved down to squeeze into the M15 rating, advised for 15 years of age, similar to the USA’s “T” rating. Or the games are kept out altogether, though this is more rare. There is a revived debate about whether to allow games to be classified as R18. In doing so, they would match the ratings for movies, which have the same distinction between M15 and R18.
There is a good discussion of this issue in a transcript of a radio broadcast here:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/nationalinterest/stories/2009/2749224.htm
Here is what I wrote as a comment on that page:
As a parent, I fully support the R18 classification for videogames. Games should be treated no differently from DVDs.
Michael Atkinson’s scare tactics about what games would flood into Australia upon the introduction of the rating are scare tactics, and remind me of the objections of the establishment against the “threats” of rock-and-roll, jazz, comic books, swing dancing, and even further back to times when moral guardians tried to ban Elizabethan theatre, fiction books, the Mass spoken in English, on and on. Must we keep giving credence to these alarmists?
Video games are an expressive art form, albeit an as-yet immature one. The game Fallout 3 can be compared to the Mad Max movies. It is a dark, sometimes funny, exciting exploration of a post-apocalyptic society that made me think about human nature, deep moral issues, and the dread of social decay. Should we not have allowed Mad Max, which was an an R18 movie at the time, to have been made or shown, due to its violence, depictions of rape, and acts of cruelty, some by its protagonist?
Without an R18 rating, games which should have this rating are being shaved down to have just little enough violence to get an M rating. This serves nobody’s interests. As a parent, I want this done correctly.
It is ridiculous for Michael Atkinson to keep citing depraved, violent sex, drug use, and acts of extreme cruelty to characterise games which would fall under the R rating. That is pure exaggeration. He should get on board and make sure such objectionable material stays in the RC category, where of course Rape Play, an odious game on a par with underground snuff films, belong. Let’s talk about real issues and examples, not histrionic exaggerations.
The vast majority of game players are over 18. The ratings board does not want to nanny away their ability to enjoy mature entertainment, just as they can enjoy on DVDs. So it bends the rules to let games in as M which really should not be.
We need an R18 rating now, and we need to debate this issue on fair grounds.
Sincerely,
Matt Ford
Kenmore QLD
