Australian Government moves to block banned game imports
The Australian Government has promised to use its new nation-wide internet censorship regime to block sites hosting and selling games unsuitable for 15-year-olds. Australia does not issue an 18-certificate for games, meaning that anything that can’t get a 15 rating is simply banned.
So far that law has only applied to physical retail copies of games but it’s now been confirmed that Australia’s internet filtering will be extended to downloadable games, web games and sites which sell physical copies of games that the government deems unfit for consumption.
The average age of an Australian gamer is 30 years old, but now even a mature adult will be unable to purchase games with more adult themes at all. In contrast, very few films and books with ‘over 18’ themes are banned or censored..
Colin Jacobs, spokesman for the online users’ lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia, said the Government has gone beyond its mandate to help parents deal with cyber-safety. “Far from being the ultimate weapon against child abuse, [the mandatory censorship scheme] will now will officially censor content deemed too controversial for a 15-year-old. In a free country like ours, do we really need the government to step in and save us from racy web games?”
Some games that have been banned or partially censored in Australia include Fallout 3, F.E.A.R. 2, Dark Sector, The Getaway, Postal 2, Manhunt 1 & 2, Silent Hill: Homecoming, The Punisher and every 3D Grand Theft Auto game.
Image courtesy of Larry West Productions
6 comments ↓
Grilled Seabass
June 26th, 2009
Government censorship of the internet in western countries is gathering pace..
Monocle Man
June 26th, 2009
I can’t help but think “What about porn?”, since you mention something about very few adult themed movies are forbidden.
How well is Australia prepared against rebellions?
Nogert
June 26th, 2009
Kind of sucks but makes sense at the same time, but personally I disagree as it’s unfair to the sane people.
Ian S.
June 27th, 2009
why do games get all the bad press, what about the line-up of extremely violent movies that can easily be accessed by said age group?
Seth
June 27th, 2009
The Australian Government hasnt been able to gain enough public support for its plans for mandatory total 18+ internet censorship, so currently they only intend to block child pornography sites, but many normal porn sites may be blocked inadvertantly.
In regards to video pornography, the sale of X18+ rated material is banned, but importing and owning this is perfectly legal. And in practice many sex shops in Australia carry this material regardless.
And of course there are almost no games that would come close to depicting the kind of graphic acts that you would see in porn or violent ‘torture porn’ films.
I think that widespread censorship of anything is, on the whole, a bad thing.
Larry West
September 27th, 2009
Hey, nice article!
Well, I saw you used my image. Mind giving me a credit, please?
http://www.larrywestproductions.com
Thanks!