Australian Censorship

Censorship in games

I like to think Australia is very laid back. You can walk around shopping with no shoes on, there is no real dress code, every other sentence has a swear word in it, generally it’s a very easy going and relaxed place to live, where no one takes them self to seriously. So I was shocked when I turned on ‘South Park: Stick of Truth’ and had 6 whole scenes cut and covered with a picture of a crying koala.

Back in 1991 computer games where not covered by classifications which means anyone could buy any sort of violent game. Then after the release of games like ‘Night Trap’ and ‘Mortal Kombat’ they decided to create their own rating system. Starting from E - Exempt from classification, G, PG, M, MA15+ and that’s where it ended. This made a lot of games unavailable or highly censored in Australia as they didn’t have a rating higher than 15+. Grand Theft Auto IV, Postal, Saints Row and Alien Vs Predator all suffered in the Australian market due to this system.

It wasn’t until 22 July 2011 in a meeting of attorneys-generals did they decide to introduce the R18+ classification for videogames. This was meant to open up the market and allow adult gamers to enjoy a good old violent game. But still they manage to treat adult gamers like kids. Even with this R18+ rating the censorship board has still refused to classify both Saints Row IV and State of Decay. I think after a while this R18+ rating with be easier to obtain as things become more socially acceptable and the rating board gets used to the new classification, but in the meantime its annoying.

After looking into censored games, the UK has only ever banned 3 games, Australia, on the other hand, has banned 28 games and heavily censored more.

I know that the classifications are there for a reason and on the most part I agree with them.  The problem I see with it is that this extreme approach will hinder the gaming community in Australia.

I mean an R18+ rating isn’t really going to stop a 12 year old kid crying at mum to buy him a copy of blood raping death race (I might copyright that game title).

- Loz

@laurencehead1