Australian politicians display lack of gaming knowledge
Monday, 28 Jul 2008 14:16
Fallout 3 still hasn't received classification, although with the 'views' espoused by some Australian politicians, it might not ever do so
As Fallout 3 still struggles to gain a classification from the Australian censors, the question of a potential 18+ rating for games was raised.
A panel of Australian politicians were asked by an audience member on a Question Time-esque show whether they thought such a rating could and should be introduced.
The answers have provoked substantial bewilderment across the world, specifically about how ill-informed some of the comments were.
"You can't say just because you can see it, therefore you should be allowed to see it," said Senator Barnaby Joyce, "otherwise you legalize snuff movies and all sorts of profane things which I don't think take our society ahead."
"We had the thing with avatars - is that the right term? - where people can actually go out and rape people. Now, this is not acceptable. You have to draw a line."
Even for seasoned 'experts' like ourselves here at Gamezine, we are having difficulty thinking about what possible game the Senator could be thinking of.
"I have four kids," Senator Joyce added. "You've got to think I want these kids to grow up in quiet, unaffected streets. And if there's someone playing a video game where they're raping someone, I'm not feeling good about the place, so, knock it out."
Heather Ridout, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, said: "As a mother of three kids, two of whom spend a lot of time playing these sorts of games, I just find the whole thing appalling, the sort of minds that come up with this stuff.
"Grand Theft Auto was one of the more famous games ... it seemed to turn everyone into a car thief ... I'm not a censorship girl ... but violent games, violence breeds violence."
Senator Mark Arbib was a bit more cautious in his statements: "I think there's a strong argument to actually have a ratings system for all games ... not just an R rating, but ratings just the same as for the movies".
He was backed up by Christine Jackman, who said a ratings system would at least help parents decide what their kids should be playing, regardless of any other knowledge of the game in question.
"First and foremost, it is a guide for parents ... it is the first step towards knowing, at least you can pick up the thing and think this isn't something [children] should be watching or playing," she said.
To see the whole thing, just shift your eyes downwards slightly to the handily placed YouTube video: