South Australian Attorney General defends lack of R18+ rating |
As the attorney general of South Australia, Michael Atkinson has been one of the most rabid critics against the introduction of an R18+ classification in Australia. This has made him a frequent target for Aussie gamers.
GameSpot recently had a chance to ask Mr. Atkinson why he's so against the R18+ rating. Here's what he said:
I don't support the introduction of an R18+ rating for electronic games, chiefly because it will greatly increase the risk of children and vulnerable adults being exposed to damaging images and messages.
In case you're puzzled about the definition of a "vulnerable adult", here's a handy dandy link. Atkinson also took the chance to differentiate the effects of video games and movies. Simply put, video games = greater evil:
The interactive nature of electronic games means that they have a much greater influence than viewing a movie does. People are participating and 'acting-out' violence and criminal behaviour when they are playing a video game. They are essentially rehearsing harmful behaviour.
The repeated act of killing a computer-generated person or creature desensitises children to violence. It makes violence part of their everyday lives and what is especially concerning is that it is their re-creation. A child being able to watch sex and violence in a movie is damaging to the child, but the child participating in sex and violence in a computer game is worse.
The attorney general also said that he realizes that he's stepping on quite a few civil liberties in his quest to keep Australia's children pure and pristine, but "the small sacrifice is worth it."
He ended by saying that he supports the issuing of a public discussion paper on the subject of an R18+ classification. Said paper will supposedly be released shortly. He's already withdrawn his support for such a discussion paper in the past, though, so you Aussie gamers might want to keep that in mind.
While Mr. Atkinson's goals are arguably noble, I can't help but think that he just doesn't have any faith in his countrymen. Kinda reminds me of how Gerald Broflovski acted in that South Park episode where Kenny became addicted to cheesing. Yeah, a bit of a tortured analogy, but there you go.
Related articles:
- Silent Hill: Homecoming edits for Australia explained
- About bloody time: Australian R18+ rating to be discussed in public consultation
Via GameSpot
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Comments [refresh]
Who would let a vulnerable adult play or child play an R18+ computer game anyway, it's no different to letting a vulnerable adult watch an R18+ movie. Interactive or not is relavant, I've watched the GTA games get more and more realistic over the years it hasn't made me want to mame anyone. In fact I would probably say these games are a great tension release for anyone in a high stress environment.
There are R18+ DVDs on sale one aisle over from the computer games in most stores in Australia no one in the media is reporting any issue with kids or "vulnerable adults" being able to access these. I think R18+ games should be allowed, people who understand that it is make believe should be able to experience these games.
I believe there is still room for a game to fall in the X (not for classification) rated category but games which are R rated in everywhere else in the world should be R rated here too. The situation at the moment is the game comes out everywhere in the world as 18+ so lets say a 15 year old wants that game in Australia, no billy that game is 18+ you can't have that game. Oh wait they've knocked the corners off the game so the overall actions are the same but you just don't see them oh it's MA15 you can have that game now billy. Michael Atkinson if you're reading this (which I doubt) have you ran that scenario through you head. By having your stupid lack of 18+ classification system you're actually exposing younger gamers to these games then what you would have otherwise??? Wake up you stupid old fool.
Get it through your thick skull that nothing changes when you turn 18.
its getting old, sorry its not just you
* i dont mean stealing from me this all spread from iso ( you bastard lol) seems like every article i go on has a wtf!!?? its always wrong but they do it
Get it through your thick skull that things do change when you're 18. All of a sudden in Australia you are responsible for your actions as an adult, we consider that you can make decisions for yourself. When you are a parent you will understand and be grateful that your children are able to have the physical attributes of an adult from the ages of 13 but not held responsible for their actions. In this period of rapid mental and social development they do not need exposure to stuff which only a person who is responsible for their own actions should be exposed to. No one is suggesting that when you turn 18 you magically know what to do. The simple fact is we need to give people a child hood, our laws and our attitudes all reflect this, our ratings system should also.
Didn't steal WTF from any tool named ISO whoever the firecracker that is. Have been using WTF for about 15 years I'm guessing you're probably not even that old.
Adults can't seem to be trusted not to go on a crazy shooting rampage with firearms, so they have to provide a reason for owning one. I have no sympathy for a culture which legislates individual choice out of the hands of ADULT men and women. You want to own a handgun, THE GOVERNMENT gets to decide whether your reason is sufficient enough. You want to play a videogame, THE GOVERNMENT gets to decide whether its suitable enough.
im 5 1/2
i apologized b4 and said it wasn't just you it just seems wtf has become a cop out rather than writing a proper subject line
hell i barely use punctuation but i'm not THAT lazy
n e wayz
Hi im death been using these forums for about 2 years
never seen you around been here 15 years you say?
Lets not bring the gun situation into it just yet.
Games don't kill people, I kill people, just kidding. Seriously though no one is going to buy a copy of GTAIV and kill someone with it. Most recently what has been removed from the games is sexual or drug related content to make it suitable for a 15 year old to play. The violent aspects of these games are being introduced fully intact. What I'm saying is if we want to introduce these games into the country keep them as they are but leave them as 18+ as they are in the rest of the world. I mean seriously any 15 year old is going to know what it means when Niko's car is rocking up and down (the view you get in the Aust version of GTAIV is the bumped bar moving up and down) when he picks up a hooker, lets take the game away from the 15 year old all together and leave it as 18+.
On guns just be aware that Australians had absolutely no say in the removal of fire arms from us by the then Government which has only just been removed mostly due to the incompetence of our only other major political party. After the Port Arthur massacre they decided that they would use it as an excuse to take the guns away from the people, the ironic thing is of the two political parties this is the more conservative one, so most of the rednecks who voted him in were up in arms (literally), but that government made it's mission to be more of a dictatorship then a democracy so we lost that right to have semi automatic weapons.
Not saying I support the Howard Government's buy back of guns from the people of Australia but if you want to make comparisons between that and America look no further then Bowling for Columbine. Michael Moore takes a long hard look at why gun crime is so bad in the USA, his conclusion is not the availability of guns but the lack of a decent social security system. The poor are so fncking desperate they end up going nuts or their children are just inadequately supervised. He makes a case study of a black woman who had to work three cr4p paying just to support her daughter. Most of the time the daughter is unsupervised and the daughter who is all of 5 gets a gun and takes it to school and shoots another little girl in the head killing her.
Jumping back to Howard, if you tie Howard smashing apart our own social security system (which he set about doing as soon as he got into power) because he's a conservative *****. With the fact that bad social security systems + gun crime, it kind of makes sense. We had in his first year of government the worst massacre in Australian history, the Port Arthur massacre. Alot of people asked how could this person have been even allowed onto the street if he was capable of something like this. Computer games got blamed and guns, so we had one of the most stupid laws introduced into history games were immediately censored (Duke Nukem 3D the first one), and the government set in place it's gun buy back scheme, which no one wanted but we were given no choice (at all). That was the first of many knee jerk politcal movements from the Howard government, they staged a fake scene where refugees were supposedly tossing their children overboard to cloud issues remain in power and setup a draconian scheme where any refugee seeking to come into Australia would be held outside of Australian waters in little hell hole prison camps, again for no reason other then he's a conservative *****. This is analogous to how GW Bush took away all your civil liberties after 911 and you all let him because you were scared. Then you were stupid enough to vote him back in again in spite of 911 only happening due to his incompetence.
You want to talk about people going crazy and shooting people look in your own back yard, America is the worst country in the world for that fncked up *****. Maybe Obama can make a difference for you, I hope so, though I doubt it. Most like your country major decisions are made by the then governments these things aren't put to vote. Did you get to vote to have all your civil liberties encroched on post 911,
It isn't a cop out when used in the right context, I'm saying that what Mr Atkinson is saying is bull. I normally use the subject as my first line comment. 15 years as in been typing on forums and BBS discussion boards not necessarily this one using WTF. I would only have been on here for about the same. Surprising you haven't seen me on here I know I've spotted your tag a few times.
I stopped reading when you brought up Moore. Then I read some more, and I laughed. You're grossly misinformed if you believe that any rights have been taken away under the previous administration.
Violated? Probably. There is no end to the amount of violations ocurring out here or anywhere, but we do a pretty good job of policing such violations and righting the wrongs.
For example, when the mayor of New Orleans ordered the confiscation of all firearms, the case was taken to court and eventually the owners were able to get their guns back.
Now think about this for a minute. Thousands, possibly MILLIONS of people were denied their EXPLICIT right to "keep and bear arms" as acknowledged (note I write acknowledged not granted nor given nor proclaimed nor any other word) by the Constitution, yet folks like Moore will bemoan the social injustices or perceived intrusions on comparatively insignificant situations and groups of people. Often times, folks will blame their plights on "not enough social security" (the idea, not the program) as you say while ignoring other factors that lead to crime (the breakdown of the black family as a result of welfare, for example). The solutions, from these folks, to such problems rarely every involve the notions of SELF-RELIANCE, RESPONSIBILITY, and ACCOUNTABILITY.
Whatever bad things that Democrats believe George Bush brought about are ironically the things that Moore advocated - more government interference in the lives of the people.
Moore never bemoaned anyone's right to bear arms in fact he made a comparison to your neighbouring country canada where the fire arms laws are even more lax. Yet they have hardly any gun crime. The difference between America and Canada is that Canada has a decent social security system.
The fact that you're defending GW Bush says to me you're about as likely to change your views as hitler was to ever embrace the Jewish people. So I'll stop talking to you now. Think twice before bagging Australia for shooting rampages.
Actually no, nothing changes when you turn 18. You're just automatically given rights and are treated like a citizen of the country you live in, you dont actually transform into an all knowing being. And define "child hood". Perhaps some people dont want one? Of course that all depends on your definition.