A new draft of the R18+ classification has been released by home minister Brendan O’Connor through the Australian Federal Government. The new guidelines closely match those in place for Australia’s film industry. The new R18+ rating removes restrictions on bad language, drug use and nudity; in contrast, the current guidelines forbade the classification of any adult-themed games.
O’Connor’s draft claims that the R18+ rating will allow “virtually no restrictions on the treatment of themes”, and violence in games “except where it offends against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that it should not be classified.” As far as sex, the draft says, “Sexual activity may be realistically simulated. The general rule is ‘simulation, yes – the real thing, no'”.
Of course, “standards of morality, decency and propriety” is still troublesomely subjective, while “simulation, yes, the real thing, no” is comicly inept for videogames, where everything is simulation. You may be able to tell when live actors are actually performing sexual acts, but when can you tell a videogame character is actually having sex?
O’Connor stated:
“The Gillard government wants to provide better guidance for parents and remove unsuitable material from children and teenagers. The introduction of an R18+ classification will help achieve that and will also bring Australia into line with comparable nations. This issue has been on the table for many years, without the necessary progress to make a change. We’ve recently seen several states publicly express their support for an adult only rating for games and I’m keen to reach a unanimous decision at the July meeting.”
Rather than banning games, why not punish stores for selling mature games to underage children? Or put the onus of raising children on the parents?
Hey guys, why does Paul have to leave? I know you’ve been saying you would leave if you didn’t get enough comments, so I’m sorry I didn’t post last episode! I’ll miss you being on the show, glad we still get some more episodes with you, you have a fun energy and insight into gaming that makes the show great.
It’s also terrible about that story about the young woman committing suicide, another sign of ignored infrastructure of our roads, bridges and mental health of the people. This isn’t politcast though (joke for Dan Q).
I want to know if Jonah has been playing the Pillar’s of Eternity, I’ve been playing quite a lot and enjoying it. I think it really recaptured the feel of the Infinity Engine games, great writing and even improved upon it. For example the Text Adventure choices were a nice addition to the game. They also fixed old abuses like with the Rogue being able to stack a bunch of traps and cheese kill a boss, you can only place one trap per area so no insta kill. Not to mention the pickpocketing merchants and selling the items back to them.
@Game Time commitment: I agree with you about the time issue, getting older I have less time and this is why I stopped playing World of Warcraft and avoid all MMO’s. I only play games that I can quit out of at a moment’s notice if needed to. I’m still into RPG games; PoE isn’t as open world as Skyrim was. Paul is right about story, a game can have a great story but if the gameplay is boring grinding of fighting to get your XP up enough to advance to the next area you just don’t want to bother.
@Lego Dimension characters: I love the idea of Doctor who we need some games these characters, I think DW should have a puzzle game series it’d fit the character and show idea more than what they have done so far. A Lego DW will have to do for now I suppose. For me I’d want the older Doctors like the 7th or 8th doctors, I loved the Victorian Tardis those two had.
@Nintendo Theme Park: Excuse me while my inner child goes berserk with sheer joy. I would die of just pure happiness being able to walk through a Hyrule castle or Mario land. Paul is right the Nintendo IP’s deserve a large scale area of rides, exhibits, games, and more. I mean I’m actually thinking there needs to be some sort of bounce house where you can step or jump on goombas, have a Yoshii Ride and so on. I also loved the Harry Potter world stuff and hope the Nintendo theme park will be as good as that. Could you imagine a foam sword fighting as Link? I can!