In a recent conference held by the Office of Film and Literature Classification, overseas censors gave their opinion on games censorship in Australia. The Age reports...
..the director of the Film Classification Board of Sweden, Gunnel Arrback, said Australians were getting carried away about the dangers of computer games."In Sweden we don't control games at all," she told the OFLC International Ratings Conference. Ms Arrback said a number of studies had shown playing games allowed the release of tension. "The joy of being skilful might override any other problematic points."
The director of the British Board of Film Classification Robin Duval said games were not banned in the UK but were classified according to their content. "We haven't really been persuaded by the research that we have seen that there is a very special problem with video games," he said.
But OFLC director Des Clark said the distinction between games and films was becoming blurred and the potential influence of games was growing...
You can read the rest of this report at the Age.com.au. At the same conference, academics presented studies showing game violence has nothing on TV violence...
Video games get all the bad press but violence on television is more likely to lead to aggressive behaviour, a Queensland academic told a conference in Sydney yesterday.Dr Jeffrey Brand, director of the Centre for New Media Research and Education at Bond University, said studies showed game playing was more cathartic than watching a violent program.
"We would argue that the play experience does dominate and allows players to actually ... vent frustration and senses of aggression while they play," Dr Brand said.