Gamertell

Censoring video games has been an issue since Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil. If parents don’t want their children to play violent games, that should be up to them and no one else. However this isn’t the case in Australia where censoring laws are so strict, not even a forty-year-old man can play Grand Theft Auto.

Australia uses the rating R18+ for their mature games. With censoring laws as they are, however, it is very unlikely to ever see a game on a shelf with that rating. Australia bans any game that is deemed too violent, includes sexual content or has too many drug references. Apparently the government is full of old fogies who think video games are only for kids. Not only is this not true but it is ridiculous.

The Australian government feels that minors should be protected from the content of mature video games, which is their reasoning for the insane censoring system. They believe that even having these R18+ video games on shelves will mean that a child has access to it’s filth. This is all well and good but what about the millions of adults who are mature enough to play these games but are not being allowed to? Isn’t that slightly unjust?

According to Tom Crago, chief executive of Tantalus and president of the Game Developers' Association of Australia (GDAA), most game developers have to rework their games for them to be published in Australia. Most developers find it not worth the expense because of Australia’s small market, so Australians end up missing out on some great titles. Most Australians are forced to resort to piracy to get the games they want, which is not only illegal, but it hurts the gaming industry.

Bottom line, the Australian government needs to wake up and realize that video games are a largely growing phenomenon of entertainment for children and adults. Protecting children from mature content is a very good thing but it should be the jobs of the parents, not the government. Even though all game systems come with parental blocking systems, simply monitoring what your child plays, especially when she/he goes to a friend's house, is all the protection they'll need. Let the poor adults of Australia play Grand Theft Auto and Fallout!

Read [ABC] Also Read [GameSpot]

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