A meeting of state and Federal representatives has agreed to introduce a R 18+ category for computer games. This is intended to make the new breed of very violent games unavailable to children, and at the same time allow into Australia content for adults that had previously been denied classification.
The existing top rating of MA 15 + was considered inappropriate for the level of violence shown and it is likely that many games bearing that classification will be upgraded to R 18+, similar to the grading applied to the film industry.
The cynical amongst us will probably concede that this is a good idea, but it will do little to prevent R 18+ games circulating between young people under eighteen years of age.
Our law books are full of legislation designed to filter what we consider harmful products out of reach of young children. It is a serious offence to supply those under sixteen with cigarettes, and yet those wishing to smoke seem to have no problems obtaining supply.
Sex, violence and nudity are now part of the film culture and back in the days when going to a cinema was the only way to view a film, age classification could be controlled by vigilant theatre managers. The march of technology brought in the hire movie industry and when the ability to screen movies on the family TV became a fact of life - age control became a thing of the past.
The next frontier for the classification people will be trying to control the product of the underground film industry - which is refused any sort of classification because of it's content. Keeping that out of the country seems to be a lost cause. It can be downloaded via home computers, brought back in travellers luggage - and is many cases is actually created right here in Australia.
Gaming falls into exactly the same category. Social networking such as Twitter and Facebook spread the word when something illicit - and therefore appealing - makes an appearance, and from there human ingenuity will always triumph over the plodding pace of legislation.
Classification reform has been long overdue. Pity that it will make little difference to what is circulating here in the real world !
No comments:
Post a Comment