So Australia finally got an R18+ rating for video games, meaning that the adult gamers here could play games that had previously been refused classifications, and games that previously would have snuck in as MA15+ would now be classified correctly.
Unfortunately, things are still not quite right here, and recent discovery of some JRPGs that got R18+ ratings for no good reason sparked me writing a rant about it.
If you're interested, feel free to check it out here (Warning, does contain some profanity):
The Grassy Gnoll - The Good, the Bad and the G$~$$*n Moronic
Was the issue of not having this R18+ rating that certain games weren't generally available, or being watered down to get the lower MA15+ standard?
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This is why I think all rating systems should be destroyed.
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No, rating systems should be a service to the players, not a sledgehammer against the producers of games. As in, this game has a plot and gameplay that a three-year old can actually handle well. If the game also contains sex and violence, let that be a separate marking (yes/no).
Was the issue of not having this R18+ rating that certain games weren't generally available, or being watered down to get the lower MA15+ standard?
Not generally available, as I understand it. They had to be specifically imported from another country.
Was the issue of not having this R18+ rating that certain games weren't generally available, or being watered down to get the lower MA15+ standard?Not generally available, as I understand it. They had to be specifically imported from another country.
It was a combination of both actually, with an additional aspect of games that really shouldn't have made it through as MA15+ getting snuck through, with no real consistency as to when it would happen.
For example:
Fallout 3. This one's a case of where changing it for our market changed it for everyone. Originally the drugs in it used real world names (I believe MedX was Morphine, and so on), and if I recall correctly, early on there was a video of the player injecting one of the drugs. Immediate refused classification due to showing taking drugs as an action with a positive effect. Once that was removed, the game got through with an MA15+ rating, despite the fact that other markets, including New Zealand (who have a fairly similar rating system to us, though with more levels of age restriction in place), had been rating it as 18+, not due to the drug references, but because when you shoot people in VATS mode and get a crit head shot, their heads are liable to explode and you see brains, eyeballs and viscera flying everywhere in slow motion.
Alien vs Predator. As I said in the blog, the last game in this series was refused classification here, and the developer and publisher were told they could tone it down and rewrite it. Sega basically said "Bugger that for a game of soldiers", and made a statement that boiled down to "We're resubmitting this game again, as is, and refuse to make any bloody changes to it. Let it through or we're taking our ball and going home." The classification board caved, and the game got through with all scenes intact, including the fairly horrifying Predator trophy kills. Again, other regions still rated it 18+ (we know this because the disc had ratings for all regions printed on it)
Syndicate. The reboot, not the original, we had those here. Hell, one of those games was made here, and a bunch of the guys who worked on it are making a spiritual successor now, called Satellite Reign... not really relevant though. The reboot took the series from an isometric viewed squad based tactical game to a slick FPS with some innovated cyberpunk influences. Basically I think they were running off the fact that Deus Ex: Human Revolution had done so well, and thought the time was ripe for this game. Unlike DE:HR though, this game wasn't going to give a stealth option. The agents in it were designed to be cybernetically enhanced killing machines with the ability to hack other people's cyberware brain implants. The objections came from a couple of things, but mostly that you could a) tear the chips out of certain people's heads to assimilate and improve your own capabilities (generally done as part of the story, you weren't just tearing our random people's chips), and b) some of your hacking abilities allowed you to force the enemies to suicide via grenade, or get them to shoot their allies, at which point they'd come to their senses, realise what they'd done, and shoot themselves. Gore factor I'd say it was no worse than Alien vs Predator, and probably actually tamer for the most part. Got refused classification. Meanwhile New Zealand got it through with an 18 again.
The other thing is that yes, you could import these games... at the risk of having Customs open the package and finding out what you'd imported. Never happened to me, but if it had, the possibilites ranged from having it taken away from me and a sternly worded letter being sent, OR getting a fine of up to ten times the recommended retail price of the game (for those of you who don't know, we get shafted on prices for games here, RRP is generally $100 to $109 for a console game). The thing is that content that has been refused classification here is actually completely illegal to own.
Overall getting the R18+ rating is, as I said, a huge victory. I believe we need a rating system, it's designed to help people decide what they want to watch, and that's a good thing, but there's two issues. We need to educate parents more on what the ratings mean for video games (the number of times I've seen parents just buy GTA games for kids who tell them it's fine... People, for the love of god, do NOT trust the opinion of a child who just wants you to buy the game, they'll tell you what they think you want to hear), and more importantly, we need to get a Classification Board who actually apply the ratings in a consistent and logical manner. Sadly I think that last one is going to be a struggle.
Whew. Sorry for the wall of text, it's a topic that I obviously take a keen interest in.
Any rating system is only as good as the dudes enforcing it.
Im sorry, tinker. It can be damn frustrating. I do know that SOME ps3 games in the jrpg/jsrpg spectrum are scaled down and edited versions of more adult computer games, not sure where the atlier series falls there. I do have at least one acquaintance who was unable to play disgaea due to religious principle and his mom got a lynch mob together demanding the game not be sold to children when she discovered the religious aspects of the game- but that was many years ago now...
Im sorry, tinker. It can be damn frustrating. I do know that SOME ps3 games in the jrpg/jsrpg spectrum are scaled down and edited versions of more adult computer games, not sure where the atlier series falls there. I do have at least one acquaintance who was unable to play disgaea due to religious principle and his mom got a lynch mob together demanding the game not be sold to children when she discovered the religious aspects of the game- but that was many years ago now...
Yeah, that was actually my first thought when I saw it. Thought that maybe the original versions had been really adult and the remake kept that. Looked into it a bit, entire series is really just a bunch of cutesy alchemy based JRPGs for kids. Nah, this is just a straight up case of the classification board having a spontaneous mass logic breakdown. Possibly someone cast Mind Fog on them.
Disgaea's a weird one for me. I feel like it's a game I should enjoy, but I just can't get into it. Might be due to my frustration with the PS3 games where I'd put the disc in on day of release and get hit with gigabytes worth of updates. Kind of soured me on it before I even started. So I didn't really get far enough into it to get a feel for the religious aspects of it, I was always under the impression that it was just a game with generic devils and demons, not any real connection to real world religion.
Im sorry, tinker. It can be damn frustrating. I do know that SOME ps3 games in the jrpg/jsrpg spectrum are scaled down and edited versions of more adult computer games, not sure where the atlier series falls there. I do have at least one acquaintance who was unable to play disgaea due to religious principle and his mom got a lynch mob together demanding the game not be sold to children when she discovered the religious aspects of the game- but that was many years ago now...Yeah, that was actually my first thought when I saw it. Thought that maybe the original versions had been really adult and the remake kept that. Looked into it a bit, entire series is really just a bunch of cutesy alchemy based JRPGs for kids. Nah, this is just a straight up case of the classification board having a spontaneous mass logic breakdown. Possibly someone cast Mind Fog on them.
Disgaea's a weird one for me. I feel like it's a game I should enjoy, but I just can't get into it. Might be due to my frustration with the PS3 games where I'd put the disc in on day of release and get hit with gigabytes worth of updates. Kind of soured me on it before I even started. So I didn't really get far enough into it to get a feel for the religious aspects of it, I was always under the impression that it was just a game with generic devils and demons, not any real connection to real world religion.
The entire game puts demons in the right.
Huh, fair enough. I think I started with 3 or 4, whichever was out on ps3 first, then tried the sequel. Didn't get far with either.