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So we all know the bad news of the week, Left 4 Dead 2 is officially going to be censored in Australia. Well, censored might be the technical term but the gamer term could be "n00bed". After downloading the demo over steam, and with a quick and easy modification, it was obvious how different the games look. Left 4 Dead 2 looks old in its censored form - but uncensored it’s great to look at. Even part of the game play has been removed with the “Riot Cop” zombies no longer available, which is sad because they are a lot of fun to take on.
But why has this happened and what can we as gamers and Australian's do about the current situation? Is anyone doing anything about this? Read on to find out, please ladies and gentleman hold your stones 'till the end of the article.
We in the gaming community are all angry about this but it’s hardly the first time a game has been censored in Australia. Fear 2, Fallout 3, GTA IV (consoles only), Risen, Shellshock 2: Blood Trails, Silent Hill: Homecoming, Dark Sector and of course, Left 4 Dead 2, are just some of the games to be banned from sale in their original form in Australia, many of these games have been released in an edited version since their initial banning.
The most interesting case of all of these is the GTA saga. To refresh your memory, the game was edited for the Australian market. The original and uncensored version was never submitted (as to our knowledge). Not eight months later and the PC version was launched, completely unedited and gamers all around Australia let out a simultaneous “WHAT!?”. The next stupid move of the saga was the DLC for the game that released February 17th, The Lost and The Damned, was released with no censorship in site. This is clearly showing the inconsistency of the OFLC, Office of Film and Literature Classification. We now have GTA: Episodes from Liberty City sitting on store shelves with an MA15+ rating with all the violence that was initially censored.
With an R18+ rating this game would have been left in its "purest" form. Just the way we like it
A matter of constant confusion for the gaming community is trying to figure out why a game was banned and what that means. Well, Australia has the OFLC that classifies media and literature, this includes video games. Literature uses a different rating system than video games and films. This includes four rankings: Unrestricted, Unrestricted – Mature, Restricted Category 1 (18+) and Restricted Category 2 (18+) for literature with pornographic material. For films their ratings include E for everyone up to an R18+, except in the ACT and Northern Territory where it is legal for stores to sell X18+ material. But the confusing bit is video games; they follow the Film classification systems with one major exclusion, an R18+ rating for video games.
This is where the system starts to fall apart for gamers, when a game falls outside of the MA15+, the highest rating for videogames in Australia; it receives an RC or “Refused Classification” rating. This means that the game, film or otherwise that is rated RC are banned for sale, hire or public exhibition in Australia. You can legally own RC rated material as long as it was not given the RC rating due to illegal material such as child pornography.
But can we really blame the OFLC? Well yes and no; their inconsistency is their own fault but the lack of an R18+ Video Game Classification is not. The OFLC are like the police, they can only rate games using the rules they are given. So when a game like Left 4 Dead 2 is too graphic to rate within the MA15+ rating they have no choice but to ban the game from sale. This puts the ball back to the publisher and developers court with two options they can take from here; the first is resubmitting the game, with some games this may be enough for the game to receive an MA15+ rating. The other option is to go back and edit some of the content to a point they believe the game will be rated at MA15+. As was seen with Fallout 3 this could be as simple as changing the name of a drug in game, the opposite end of the spectrum could be retooling the game to remove gore as seen in Left 4 Dead 2, GTA IV and Dark Sector.
Niko deep in thought "Why was I edited but you let my friends go unedited? You will regret this"
Now I can hear the masses saying “why not just add an R18+ rating for videogames?” While I agree that will fix much of the problem with the OFLC, changing the classification system in Australia is a hard thing to do. Each state has an Attorney-General; they control the nation’s classification laws. For something to be changed the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General need to unanimously vote for the change. This is where the system has broken down, if all the other Attorneys-General agree one can block the change. This is where our friend Michael Atkinson comes into the story.
Michael Atkinson, the name is now embedded in the brains and bowels of gamers all over this great country for all the wrong reasons. He is the face of the resistance to the introduction for an R18+ rating for Videogames, unfortunately for us he is also the Attorney-General of South Australia. Since he is the only Attorney-General that has said anything negative about the issue he has copped all the attention, his quote from a letter he wrote to The Adelaide Advertiser
“It is true that I am opposed to an R18+ category for interactive games, but I am one of at least four Attorneys so opposed.”
If this is true then we are extremely unlikely to receive and R18+ rating for video games for many years to come. But since the only other Attorneys-General to comment have been from the ACT and Victorian
To put you in the mind of Mr Atkinson please read the entire letter which is found below, it makes you wonder what world Mr Atkinson lives in.
Face the real world
“A Queensland letter writer (The Advertiser, 7/3/09) claims that democracy is at an end because I, as Attorney-General, will not agree to an R18+ category for interactive computer games; that “every other state AG is against him”; and the only way to bring back democracy is to vote me out at the next election.
It is true that I am opposed to an R18+ category for interactive games, but I am one of at least four Attorneys so opposed.
I welcome a challenge in my electorate of Croydon at the next general election on this issue.
Among my constituents are hundreds of refugees who are trying to find lodgings for the family, gain employment and sponsor relatives from the old country.
Their vote is hardly likely to hinge on the “right” to score gamer points on the computer screen by running down and killing pedestrians on the pavement, raping a mother and her two daughters, blowing onself up in a market, cutting people in half with large calibre shells, injecting drugs to win an athletics event or killing a prostitute to recover the fee one just paid her (Welcome to the world of R18+ computer games).
Those of my constituents who are refugees have been subjected to the practical instead of the virtual suffering that R18+ nerds seek to inflict for their gratification on the computer screen.”
I personally will not comment further on this letter as it will do me and the gamers that read it no positive outcome. But feel free to comment below and point out his spelling mistakes.
Dark Sector had it's launch in Australia delayed due to the lack of an R18+ Rating for Videogames
Mr Atkinson is also the main reason a paper hasn’t been released to the public for debate; he is continuously blocking all attempts to bring this to light and now taking the stance of If I ignore them they will go away. His official word on the subject is that he believes and R18+ Rating will allow children to get their hands on these games. This is completely untrue; imagine an Australia with an R18+ rating. What games do you believe would have been classified under the R18+ rating? Fear 2, Fallout 3, GTA IV, Risen, Shellshock 2: Blood Trails, Silent Hill: Homecoming, Dark Sector and Left 4 Dead 2. All games that we should have made it HARDER for children to get their hands on instead of shoehorning them into an MA15+ rating.
My question to you do you see children easily getting their hands on R rated pornography? No, because the risks are too high for a business to willingly and knowingly sell to a minor. This would be the same for an R18+ game, I personally would not be surprised to see major retailers like JB-Hi-Fi, Big W, Game and of course EB games keep these games under lock and key or in the case of Big W not even stock them anymore. Consider this for a second, the average age of a gamer in 2008 was 28 yet we still aren't allowed to make our own buying decisions.
So what can we do? Well the easiest thing would be for the people of Croydon (Mr Atkinson’s local electorate) to not vote for Michael Atkinson at the next election. But considering that he gained 71% of the vote last time and has been in office for 21 years at this point, the likely hood of that happening can best be classified as low. After Left 4 Dead 2 was banned a man by the name of David Doe had enough and began to form Gamers 4 Croydon, a political party designed to challenge the Labour Seat of Croydon. Michael Atkinson has held this seat since 1989; the next election is in 2010, so a lot of work needs to be done by the members of Gamers 4 Croydon and David Doe in that time. While I believe they are fighting an uphill battle, I also throw my support behind their cause. David Doe comes across as an intelligent person and I wish him and his party the best of luck.
"Look at all that strawberry jam....shh dont tell Atkinson!"
There are other websites that are trying to achieve the same result, but what is the best way to achieve that? Well my opinion would be to write a letter, the older you are as a gamer the better. Send that letter to all the Attorneys-General, keep placing pressure on the issue and keep it relevant and in the minds of those that can actually make a difference.
It is inevitable that Australia will get an R18+ rating, but how long and how easy that is going to be unfortunately isn't up to us. As games evolve and graphics improve more and more, it is not unreasonable to assume that more games will get Refused Classification in Australia than ever before. Not looking forward to seeing if God of War III or Gears of War 3 will make it through.
A Gamers 4 Croydon fan made logo. God speed little packman, God speed.
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Comments
http://bunnitude.com/misc/files/R18-Michael%20Atkinson.pdf
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2009/03/atkinson_addresses_r18_rating_kotaku_reader_responds/