For over ten years, the Australian government has argued over the possibility for a new rating system
The main focus from the Attorney-Generals was the instatement of the R18+ rating system, what content should be allowed and monitored and if Australia was ready for this rating. For those who don't know, as of January 1st 2013, Australia finally achieved this victory - with many companies now reapplying their games for sale here - all to which fans are delighted for.
Now as a warning, I have written about this on two occasions in the past, so please bare with me.Since the surge of Australian gamers in the early 00's, video games have been diluted of content and some even banned completely. In the court of the Attorney-Generals, for any laws to pass they must have a unanimous vote of approval and for many years during his occupation of Attorney-General of South Australia, the only man to hold back this new rating was Michael Atkinson or as some gamers referred to him as: "The Cerberus of R18". While all the other A-G members agreed from early 2004 that a R18+ Rating would be suiting for the public, Michael Atkinson completely rejected this idea, claiming in many interviews that "...allowing this bill would open the floodgates of slanderous and horrific content I truly believe the Australian public should not have."
And to this, I - and many Australian gamers would agree with me - would tell him to shove his beliefs up his nether region.
While Mr Atkinson truly believed in this thought, the signs of him being utterly wrong was all around us. I wrote about this subject previously: "Studies have shown that the average age of Australian Gamers are 32 and that women take 47% of the total percent of playing a console. It's also shown that 9/10 homes have at least one console device, whether it's Xbox, Playstation, Wii, ect.
Since February this year (2012), over 47'000 letters, e-mails and such have flooded the offices of the Attorney-General and 98% completely supporting the use of the R18+ rating."
And even before this, children were still buying the banned and uncensored titles, even as Mr Atkinson still kept this bill away from reaching publication.
But came 2011 and the man retired and as his replacement finally came into his office, it was announced that the R18+ Rating would be placed into the rating system. The response from the public was massive; letters, e-mail, videos and even work such as mine, was used in order for protest. Even now, gamers are now playing games they could have never played before and games are now being released without the need for censorship or editing. There are still some who aren't happy that these types of games are flooding the stores but isn't it better that we, as a community, can keep in check what our young kids are playing rather than them using your credit card and breaking the law? Just the other day, I had a fourteen year old boy ask me if the latest R18+ released game, Metro Last Light, was worth buying. I said yes, but only if his mother allowed him to play it. I'm not a parent, I can't tell another person's child what they can or cannot do but I do suggest children to ask their parents before trying anything silly. If they think you can handle the game, then good for you. But as a man who grew up fearing blood and being freaked out by the death scenes in Goldeneye 64 and believing it was real, with the graphics of today that chance is all the more likely and if or when I have a child, I will bring them up to obey the rating system.There is still talks of an X18+ rating coming into the country (For such more lewd games) but for now, the Attorney-Generals are focused on computer and mobile game ratings for now but rest assured that the R18+ rating is here to stay. Finally we can be treated as adults.
Now if you excuse me, I'm going to the play Metro Last Light and head to a specific place in Venice. You know what I'm talking about.
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