I recently read a nice analogy for Australia’s game classification board:
Australia’s R18+ debate is a lot like NASCAR: it has just been going round and round in circles without a whole lot happening. Every now and again there is a collision when a controversial game looses traction as it rounds the corner…Sometimes, like Left 4 Dead 2, it makes the finishing line a butchered wreck.
~ Pg 13, Game Informer #1
This sparked me to contemplate again the debacle of Left For Dead 2. Although I was able to acquire it uncensored, I still suffer the affects of the Refused Classification order as there seems to be less people on Australian servers and consequently less interest for games amongst my friends and gamer acquaintances. More often than not I see people playing the original L4D in it’s uncensored glory.
The next cause for my flailing arms was Aliens Versus Predator 31 which initially received the dreaded RC as well. But, rather than kneecapping their game like Valve, SEGA stood up with the following official statement:
We will not be releasing a sanitised or cut down version for territories where adults are not considered by their governments to be able to make their own entertainment choices.
After review, AVP3 had the “ban” lifted and I can’t help but wonder whether this marginally insulting official comment helped bring this about since the ratings thing seems to be politically infused. Of course it is most likely wishful thinking that the world works in a logical way but it was nice to see someone bite the hand of the lumbering giant and get favourable results back. Yet, a brave new world haunts the horizon.
- Nothing to do with the incredibly awful films spawned from this awesome computer game franchise. [↩]
When I first read “RC is not a hobby in australia”, I thought you were refering to “radio control”. I was a bit confused..
Anyway, it’s very encouraging to see a games developer stand up to those ridiculous ratings and refuse to hack away at their product to satisfy some pathetic government department that passes judgement on something they couldn’t possibly be more detached from than they already are. I’ve always despised cencorship in art because an artistic product is the truest expression of human nature. (And I think that games are an artform). It is an expression of emotion and intellect and is slaved over until it has been perfected. I think that IF a work of art is inappropriate for a certain group or certain groups of people, then those groups simply should not have access to it. I absolutely do not believe in distorting or altering anybody’s creative output.
The underlying problem I see is that the people who make the decisions about access to art, and who mutilate the work of other people in the name of cencorship, almost never have any real understanding of the art that they’re passing judgement on. If you are not interested in games and involved in the gaming community then you DO NOT understand gaming or games and should NOT have any say whatsoever in how or if a game should be censored, nor what restrictions should be placed on it. It’s no different for internet censorship, or anything esle like music or drugs or sports or any of the things that the government deems “dangerous” and has no understanding of, and usually restricts in pointless and ineffective ways.
But even though I am a pessimist and a nihilist I do think that things will change for the better soon, I think that they’re going to keep getting worse until a critical point is reached and then the artificial barriers will start to be broken down. And that will be most satisfying
Well its interesting times in Aus with the ban on small boobs and female fun-time, and totalitarian inroad in information control with the net filter.
I have read the 2nd Game Informer mag and the followup article on the R18+ debate. I imagine that the Australia Government would be getting some funny contributions to their discussion paper. The Classifications Board’s comment on the withdrawal of AVP R.C. is pretty funny:
Are they retarded? How did they not see this first time round? And the last part does not seem to make any sense…