Fallout 3 banned in Australia

Company
Office of Film and Literature Classification

While our archaic games classification system has taken the brunt of many jokes from around the world for many a year now, the sentiment seems to have moved on to pity for Australian gamers as the current news making headlines in manygamerelated sites around is that the post apocalyptic themed RPG, Fallout 3, has been banned from sale in our country.

Fallout 3 hasn't met the MA15+ standard by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and therefore has been refused classification in Australia. It's uncertain whether it was the in-game drug use or graphic violence that pushed the game past the MA15+ barrier, but it's yet another in the list of high profiled and greatly anticipated games to be denied by the OFLC. It's a shame because this game actually looks pretty damn good.

Frankly, with our high game retail costs, our lousy games classification system, and the unacceptable delays for various games to get here, it's a wonder why gamers here don't just quit this past time and take up knitting instead. Also, a reminder for those many local gamers who have expressed their intentions to import the game from online stores like Playasia that the Australian Customs Service has in the recent past expressed word of caution on importing such titles.

Submitted by compactjerry on Thu, 10/07/08 - 9:37 AMPermalink

This has gone on far too long. How could they ban a game such as Fallout? It's such a great series, it's not immature or unnecessarily violent like most of the other games that have been banned in the past.

GTA aside, I didn't really care about any of the other games that got banned. But this..this really s#*ts me.

sigh...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 10/07/08 - 10:00 AMPermalink

I care about even the sh!t games that get banned.

This is why we need an R rating. Games aren't just for kids, as with movies and music and books.

I'm exhausted arguing the points for an R rating. What ever happened with that public polling that was meant to happen after Atkinson refused to stop hindering civil rights?

Submitted by bozza on Thu, 10/07/08 - 10:08 AMPermalink

I thought this might happen, its pretty much impossible to stay true to the fallout franchise and still meet our ridiculous classification system. Id be interested to see if they can actually tone it down for resubmission to try and get it classified, most of the stuff that wont make it through are actual gameplay elements and not just unnecessary addons (prostitution etc) like gta.

Submitted by StephenWade on Thu, 10/07/08 - 10:51 AMPermalink

I dunno what else we can do aside from send a letter to a local MP or something like that. There were reports submitted to the government years ago suggesting they bring games classification in line with other media. Obviously the government commissioned study failed to produce the politically popular result that violent games should be banned and hence was completely ignored.

Until politicians can see that there is an actual voter backlash for their antiquated position they will probably continue to do absolutely nothing to help mature games/gamers.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 10/07/08 - 10:53 AMPermalink

Shouldn't we encourage Tom Crago to get off his fat arse and actually do something for the game industry, apart from continually beg the government for money?

It's time he used the fees paid to him to letterbox the residents of Croydon in South Australia - or even put up a candidate - to run against Atkinson, because if Atkinson is not in the seat he can't be an AG and can't enforce his stupid beliefs onto the majority of Australians any more.

Submitted by souri on Thu, 10/07/08 - 11:45 AMPermalink

I think the GDAA are already working in league with the IEAA to help push for an R rating classification (with the IEAA in return helping out with the tax rebate push). To be honest, I don't see why the GDAA should be encouraged to push for the R rating at all when it has little benefit for the games development industry, but I guess there's strength in numbers and a mutual benefit for both organisations.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 17/07/08 - 12:50 AMPermalink

I came to this thread too late, so i'm probably just posting for myself, but here goes anyway...

Disclaimers; I've worked in game dev for ten years. I briefly worked at Tantalus, but it was years ago. Tom and i are not particular friends, but we are civil.

No, i am neither Tom nor his mother.

I'm going to assume that your mistake comes from a simple misunderstanding, I'll try to clear that up and hopefully avoid sounding condescending, or being a HUGE jerk (i am actually just an average size jerk)

The GDAA's stated goals are;

* Promote the growth of the game industry in Australia
* Represent the interests of GDAA members
* Attract capital and publishers from offshore
* Retain and attract talent in our local industry
* Promote a sense of community within the industry

You could argue that ensuring Fallout 3's local release is part of the first and second points.

But you'd be wrong. The D in GDAA is Developers. GDAA's focus is primarily Dev houses and what flows INTO them (eg talent, students, money, job contracts). It would take a much larger organisation to ALSO cover what flows OUT of them - to whit, the actual release of games.

And even if the GDAA did focus on that they would actively clash with those directly responsible for the RELEASE of games - US/European Publishers and Aust. Retailers.

That's who we should be angry at. They should put forward the case for Fallout 3 and similar cases.

But they never will. Because if the Retailers stood up in the media glare and said 'screw you, we think that game is okay' they run the risk of even closer govt scrutiny and special interest group (family values and/or religious focussed) backlash.

Which is exactly what happens in the US.

Given that most Publishing Companies are giant, greedy, TardBot-beasts who can't discern a qualitative difference between Halflife 2 and ET on the 2600 unless they check a review, we shouldn't expect too much from them. So if the retailers don't care, then they don't either.

NOTE - i am only discussing Australia, a tiny percentage of any game's potential earnings. When major titles are banned in the US or Europe, the 'I'GDA, the Publishers, and sometimes the retailers DO care and DO kick up a stink.

I guess I'm just saying that if u wanna hate, aim it right.

Some other points

1 - He's not REALLY fat. Unless it happened in the last 6 months.

2 - He's not the best head the GDAA COULD have, but he is the best it HAS had.

3 - He doesn't 'beg' for money, his argument is that funding for game development should be equitable with similar media. e.g. film. (personally i don't entirely agree, but it's certainly an arguable stance)

God, that was long...sorry.

Submitted by souri on Thu, 10/07/08 - 11:36 AMPermalink

This game was banned because it apparently encourages drug use?! It's a similar excuse they used to ban Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure - that game was banned because they reasoned that it could encourage *real* crime.

I think it's time for the OFLC to pony up some research and papers to show the connection between games and REAL crime to back up some of these decisions, otherwise they're just refusing classifications out of their arses, basing them out of nothing.

But honestly, there are probably dozens and dozens of games in the past where morphine or other drugs are used to increase health or do odd things.

Submitted by bozza on Thu, 10/07/08 - 12:10 PMPermalink

Yeah that's what i gathered from the article. It find it a ridiculous concept that a game set in a post apocalyptic world, where radioactive mutants run wild, weapons can be created from junkyard items, and people are running around in "power armor", which has the protagonist occasionally uses drugs like morphine for health gains, all this could somehow encourage our simple minds to go and use drugs as well.

They might have a tiny bit of basis for their argument if the game was set in a realistic, modern environment and glamorized the use of illicit substances, but i just dont understand how they could think there are people out there who could possibly confuse the fallout reality for our own when the setting for the game is so unrealistic.

Ugh, when will common sense prevail...

Submitted by compactjerry on Fri, 11/07/08 - 2:49 PMPermalink

It makes you wonder how bioshock got past the oflc, glad it did though. Maybe because the drugs in that game aren't 'real' or aren't specifically referred to as drugs (plasmids or something isnt it?). Either way that game still shows a positive effect of drug use and a negative of course.

I'd wager that Fallout 3 would show both a positive and negative effect of drug use, but the people that make these decisions can't see past that.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 10/07/08 - 11:09 AMPermalink

I didn't want to pirate this game. But if I want to play it, and I want to continue living in Australia, what choice do I have?

Submitted by StephenWade on Thu, 10/07/08 - 11:20 AMPermalink

Another report of interest is the Classifications Decisions and Community Standards Report 2007 conducted by some hack research company for the Attorney General. It basically admits that in it's research it did not quantitatively measure what percentage of the game playing population want an R18+ rating in spite of some respondents in their surveys suggesting this (vocally), and it also glossed over the fact that roughly 30% of respondents were OF THE BELIEF that there was an R or R18+ classification of games, even though it is not true.

So in spite of the fact that people being interviewed were clearly misinformed in some cases, they still take that 70% of the respondents being roughly satisfied with the classification system as suggesting the system is in line with community standards.

W^&#ers ;)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 10/07/08 - 12:05 PMPermalink

Gee, what's next? The govt censoring art based on knee-jerk conservatism? Oh wait. :(

We seem to governed via "A Current Affair" style opinion polls... manned by the ill-informed "unwashed masses".

Pirate it, download it, illegally import it.

Play it while everyone else is watching "Ow! My Balls!".

Scott.