New government, new chance at getting the R18+ rating for games. It seems that this government is interested in acknowledging IEAA figures that show the average Australian gamer is 28, more than 50% of gamers are over 18 and 88% of Australians support an R18+ rating for games. It is a shame that this information from The Age comes with the title “R-rating risks influx of excessively violent games”, but overall the mood of the story is neutral towards giving adults the choice to play adult games.
Bond University associate professor Jeffrey Brand, who wrote the research report, said Australia was the "only developed democracy" that did not have an adult classification for games.
He said the lack of an R18+ rating meant some games deserving of adult classification were being let through by the Classification Board as MA15+, and people who wanted to obtain banned games could easily get them from the internet or overseas. "These games are entering the marketplace despite the classification restriction and so, very often, parents, who in some cases are the least savvy in the household about games, are unaware that this adult content exists,"
What do we sacrifice in order to satisfy our curiosity ...
I'm all for more mature games but I don't think an R rating is necessary. Sure we may be the only developed democracy to not support an R game rating but why does that mean we have to become like the rest ?? Why can't we be mature enough to have limitations ?
Games are already quite violent with the existing rating and I guess the only taboo for games here is sexual content. Personally I don't even see the need for sexual content becoming more accessible in games ! We're surrounded by so much of it already in just about every other media and just because it's everywhere else doesn't mean it should be for games too. On one hand it will allow such taboos to be explored in the mainstream game environment but on the other it allows all the other trash in too that exploits things such as purely hardcore sex and ultra violence to make profit. These taboos can already be extensively explored in other media, do we need more ???
I don't see much of a benefit to the parents either. Sure they say it can be easily obtained via other means oblivious to parents but having an R rating here won't improve that, in fact it would mean there would be more of that content around as any one of legal age but not necessarily of responsible maturity will then be able to go to the shops and pick up R rated content. What if an older sibling purchases adult game content, leaves it in the x-box and then the little sister jumps on for a game thinking her Viva Pinata disc is still in there...? Games may be growing to provide more mature content but it still is something that targets a large child market, there's going to be exposure to them like the way many younger gamers are already exposed to mature rated games beyond their legal limit.
If we want more maturity in games why can't we be mature enough to have some restrictions to what we expose in our games which are going to find exposure to children who make up a majority of it's market ?
Society is saturated in the crap that's come with our genuine need to satisfy our curiosity, where exactly do we draw the line these days...
The flaws in our system are just too apparent
In fact, it's just downright embarrassing. It's a concern when games that are intended for adults (and rated accordingly overseas) are changed in a way to fit our MA15+ rating, since we just don't have an R rating. It's glaringly obvious that our current games rating system simply does not work as intended.
When "Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure" game was refused classification here, it had a lot of people scratching their heads. Here was a game that was banned from sale because it crossed some undefined line. The OFLC panel that made this decision said that it would influence those playing it to commit *REAL crimes*. Where was the evidence that this would happen? Where were the scientific reports backing this up? And how did this game pass for a MA15+ rating by the OFLC and then fail after being pressured by a politician? I bring this up to outline another big flaw of our games rating system. The lines for a game getting classification is getting hazier, and the system is being abused by our politicians to promote their own agendas. If there were an R rating for games, the flaws and abuse of our ratings system would disappear straight away.
You're making the assumption that games that fit into the R rating are all be violent and graphically sexual. While some are, what happens when a game that deals and explores mature themes in a meaningful way is released? Have you heard of Mass Effect? How would you feel if the movies "Reservoir dogs" or "Lolita" were outright banned? The lack of R rating for games is blocking out a whole range of mature themed games. With the majority of gamers in Australia being of adult age (many over their thirties!), it's time to stop thinking that this media is specifically for children only, and so has to be shaped and regulated to protect the children.
Do you let your children watch movies that are not rated for them? Of course not. Why not provide the same attention and care that you do to prevent them from seeing those kind of movies to video games as well? It would be astounding if we banned violent movies simply to protect the children, so why would we use that excuse for video games? Why are video games so extraordinary to warrant this special treatment?