The IEAA has a new Chief Executive Officer – Ron Curry. Jason Hill of Screenplay caught up with him for an interview and asked Mr Curry about the issues he will be looking at this year in the Australian games industry. Mr Curry outlined 3 priority issues which are: tackling game piracy, the “harmonisation” of the R18+ classification, and getting a closer relationship with similar bodies in Australia and internationally like the ESA.
I think we are continually looking at it and saying "why is piracy high?" We know that piracy is high in most content providers because some people believe content should be free. People are used to not paying for content. It's a long history, not just in Australia, but also internationally of people swapping, downloading, passing across content for nothing. It's a much bigger issue than just "what is the price of software?" No matter what the price of software is, people will copy it. DVDs are so cheap at the moment, yet people are still pirating them quite extensively. There's not necessarily a link between price and piracy.
I think his heart is in the right place here, but the ways in which he plans to go about addressing these issues remains unclear. Hopefully we will get a better idea of a plan of action once he’s had a chance to settle into the position.
1. Nick Thu, 24 Jan 2008
The R18+ classification would be useless anyway. The majority of games that have challenged it have been on consoles, and the console manufacturers do not endorse (i.e. license) any game with an R rating, either here or in the United States. This refers to all three (Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft).
It would only be there for the minority, games released on PC. These can easily be imported from overseas.
The idea of having a one size fits all classification system is nice, but the bottom line is that R18+ would be superfluous.
Manhunt
Superflous? Like a third leg?
Considering the dozens of games, the majority being Console games, that the OFLC has refused classification or requested be censored it seems a bit silly to state that console developers don't "endorse" such titles......an attitude akin to that of someone who believes that consoles are solely for "kids"....say it ain't so...
I think that there should be a R18+ rating for games, I doubt I would actually play any game released under this rating (unless it got it for sexual *shock horror sex in a game!* content rather than ultraviolence or whatever). I have the right as a discerning adult to choose what I consume without censorship (this has it's limits but is a damm good guide). I may never play one of these games but I fight for the right to choose to play one if I so wish.
The fight for a R18+ classification is important because it would be an overdue recognition of the legitimacy of the interactive industry and the games medium. It doesn't matter that we might not see many R rated games in the short to medium term, but it does matter that our leaders finally acknowledge that games are no longer just for adolescents.
Yawn. We hear this every 3 months and I've seen no effect on the industry at all.
Next time you interview him, please push him a little harder Jason.
It's a matter of principle. Do we want a government telling us what games we can and can't play? At the moment we are being treated like children. It would not be superfluous to be finally treated with due respect.
i think everyone has just gone crazy with the term ' superfluous'
1. Rory Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:21:24 EST
No no no everyone has gone crazy with the superfluous use of the word 'superfluous' :P
I'm as interested as anyone in the industry about getting an R18 rating, but lets be honest ... it ALL comes down to Mr Michael Atkinson, the South Australian Attorney General. And from everything I've read, he isn't going to budge on the issue. Ever. Which means while he is still in office, Australia will never get an R18 rating.
resident evil 4 was rated ma15+ here and that was fairly violent
maybe it was because they weren't really human
like if instead of a fps where you ran around shooting humans and you changed the enemies to robots or aliens would it then pass censorship?
i think its more important that the game is good
but at the same time tv and film seems to get away with far more than you could in a game
i think most of it has to do with people (usually people who don't even play games) thinking that a games interactivity makes it more influential and that games are for kids so the kids will be exposed to violence etc
and stories on the news that a kid goes on a shooting spree who played games doesn't help either
the fact that a kid has a gun and is obviously not in a healthy state of mind is usually not even mentioned its always about how they played games