Conroy backs R18+ games rating
- 03 February, 2011 16:18
- Comments 9
Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, strongly supports an R18+ rating for games in Australia. His stance is in line with his Government’s position.
In an in-depth interview with ARN, Conroy said he first made his position clear during a public meeting in Ballarat, Victoria, in 2010 after being asked about the issue by a young member of the audience.
“I’ve always supported the R-rating and did so long before the Government made its decision,” he said. “Just because it’s a video game doesn’t mean it should have a different classification system to movies and all other things.”
The Communications Minister said it was in line with his argument that the Internet should be censored because it was just another platform for media.
“I’ve always argued we should try and have across platforms one system, ie it should be platform neutral,” he said. “That’s why the argument around Internet filtering becomes particularly ferocious because I argue it’s just another platform, it’s not mystical.”
Conroy’s comments may come as a shock to supporters of an R18+ rating for games. Many of the groups that support the rating also argued against a mandatory Internet filter and labelled the Communications Minister an ultra conservative for his stance.
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Comments
Brad
Fear not, Conroy just forgot to take his soma. He'll be back to normal tomorrow.
Rich
It should be platform neutral - and the government shouldn't censor any of it. Give us advice and ratings as a guide, but let consumers make the choice. No more nanny state.
Tony
How can he be in favour of the R18+ rating, and also be in favour of the mandatory filter? Isn't that a contradiction?
casimir
There is no contradiction here. Conroy has said for ages that the filter should only apply to material that is RC -refused classification.
Vladimir
There is no surprise or contradiction. Labor's primary goal is merely to get a system in place that allows routine internet censorship to take place. Even if it only blocks 10 pages in its first few years. From there, when the time is right they can expand as they see fit, bit by bit - so while R18 games may not initially be in it, just like the old classification system expanded from a system to give advice to consumers to one which allowed the wholesale banning of material, so too will this.
It must be stopped before it begins.
PeterA
The Internet is not static. In the same way that you don't censor telephone conversations, you can't censor the Internet.
Compared to tv, books, comics, movies and single player games, yes the Internet IS mystical, it changes!
(As I understand it, multiplayer games are "unrated" not RC, but kind of outside the system... Because they depend on who you are playing with to a big extent as to their "classification")
Exactly the same as telephone conversations.
Matt
I wish I could thumbs up Rich's comment a million times.
Kevin
A dilemma. One of the many parent's jobs is to protect their children, especially those who are too young to understand action/consequences.
The other side is parents should also encourage their children to make the right decisions and correct their own bad choices.
Game vendors also have a responsibility and to date have shown little regard to anything but making money.
There is no reason why game vendors cannot release variations of a game with less violence while retaining all the skill elements. Most seem to use violence to cover up the lack of originality.
Eric P
>" There is no reason why game vendors cannot release variations of a game with less violence while retaining all the skill element."
Actually Kevin, this just highlights how poorly you understand the current situation, without an 18+ rating, games either get banned outright, or hastily modified in ways that make games that were never intended for children available to them, whilst making them less attractive to adults.
Think about it like this, Imagine a hard core porn film - now pixelate or blank out all the rude bits, is this film now suitable for children? Is it likely to satisfy adult viewers?
Having an 18 rating for games is a no brainier, and has nothing to do with the mandatory filter (don't get me started on that).
Trying to have a standard rating system that applies to all media types is counter intuitive, because the internet is such a different model.
Could we apply the restrictions we have for commercial radio to CB radio?
Could we have a list of words that can be used before a certain time of day? - Of course we could, but would it make any difference? What do you think?
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