Let's hear it for David Doe from Firemint for actively doing something against our broken games classification system. The Gamers 4 Croydon party was formed by David to run against South Australian Attorney-General and stubborn R18+ games rating denier, Michael Atkinson, in next year's state election.
Kotaku AU has an interview with David and asks what triggered him to start the campaign, as well as his thoughts on the problems around the lack of a R18+ rating for games. David argues that the OFLC are actually doing a good job in denying the highest MA15+ classification for various games in the past, and says that all these issues we are experiencing for titles such as Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead 2 can be solved incredibly simply with the introduction of the R18+ rating...
(David Doe) ...I think that the Classification Board does an outstanding job. I agree with their decision to Refuse Classification for Left 4 Dead 2 on the grounds that it is graphically violent. This isn't about the board, it's about the lack of an R18+ rating that effectively hamstrings what the Board can and can’t classify.
If we give them the ability to classify videogame content as R18+, we wouldn’t be having this discussion as they would have rubber-stamped an R18+ on the L4D2 application and it would have saved Valve a bunch of money and dev-time re-tooling the game just for the (small) Australian market, and the rest of us undue heartache and misery. It’s important to remember that the Classification Board is not the enemy, the guidelines it adheres to are.
The interview also contains information on how you, particular those who live in South Australia, can help out in the campaign, so head on over to the Kotaku AU interview for all the details...
I'm pretty sure that everyone
I'm pretty sure that everyone is aware it isn't the OFLCs fault. You don't jump into an online game and hear everyone talking about how "The OFLC, those guys, if I knew where they live...". Instead it's about Atkinson (and yes, I've witnessed many, many people make threats on his life :p).
Anyway, I saw the website for this, didn't know it was being done out of Melbourne by a Firemint employee, go man go!
Interesting
While I doubt much will come from the initiative, it's interesting to see someone taking up the fight. It's especially nice to see it done in a professional manner and not a series of expletives and death threats. I'll be keeping an eye on it.
More odd ball statements from Atkinson
Jot this down as yet another oddball comment from South Australian Attorney-General, Michael Atkinson.
"The voters of Croydon will now be asked directly whether they want interactive games in which gamers score points by raping a mother and daughter, blowing themselves up, torturing human figures . . . killing people and taking drugs to improve their sporting prowess"
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,26319937-2682,00.html
He's like australia's very
He's like australia's very own jack thompson.
Risk
Having just read in a bit more detail, I recognised a potential risk in the situation. If, as is likely, Gamers 4 Crotydon is unsuccessful, Mr. Atkinson may attempt to play up the situation as if Australia has expressed its view on the subject. This could be a cunning political maneuvre that could actually set back the cause.