Wouldn’t you find it a bit odd that a game gets MA15+ in Australia, yet that same game gets R18 here?
Well, it’s happening (and not for the first time). Australia gets editions of Grand Theft Auto that are cut so then they could get past OFLC ratings. While Australia has an R18, it is strictly limited to films only. Any game that gets R18 is banned. The maximum game rating is MA15+.
A cut version of GTA IV is making it’s way there, and to the shock of Kiwi fans, we’re getting it too, despite us having an R18 rating and never having a cut version of the franchise before. However, the interesting thing here is that the same game is getting our maximum rating, R18, for violence and offensive language.
First thought is that Australia is being quite conservative in banning games that are R18. But isn’t it a bit liberal if a 15 year old can get the same violence, language and sex? Kotaku got a copy of the Australian OFLC report to find that not a lot has been cut, except since that article some reviews have sprouted up where it appears that sex is only displayed as a bouncing car in our version.
This is the country where porn is banned for sale or hire in all but two states. Isn’t it a bit odd that adults can’t see a bit of sex, yet killing people by either blowing them up or stabbing them (or with just a bit of fistycuffs), being able to pick up hookers and solicit sex (A/NZ version only showing a bouncing car), watching people snort cocain and the like, you have to be 15 years to enter? It seems that the intention of banning R18 games had the directly opposite effect to what it was trying to achieve.
Very recently (last month), there has been a push to introduce an R18 rating for video games. Details here. It has been met with some opposition, with a “think of the children” argument. Why don’t the ministers think that this is a Restricted classification? That’s what the R stands for, it is Restricted to persons 18 years and over. Children are not supposed to get it, and if they are, maybe they should be looking at enforcing the law as well.
I’ve started to see it here, I was in KMart when a parent was refused sale because she was buying the R18 game for her seemingly 10 year old child. Just give big warnings that they’ll be fined, and give them some leaflets and they might start refusing access. This seems to be a problem that higher-ups don’t get, you have a ratings system that isn’t being enforced. So don’t ban it, start enforcing what you’ve already got!
If Australia did have an R18 rating, then 15 year olds won’t be having legal access to this game just like they aren’t in every other country. The thought that not having R18 prevents them from seeing content that is in GTA is a farce, they are pretty much seeing brutal stuff as is evident of the R18 rating for the exact same game here in New Zealand. Archaic views that games are for children is affecting what your children do see, and maybe that “think of the children” argument should be used to actually restrict these games to adults, and not punish them.
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