Seven Years of Ignorance

Atomic hits 100 issues and highlights the lack of movement on an R18+ rating for games.

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By John Gillooly on 27 April, 2009

Nearly a decade ago, I had the opportunity to not only become a journalist, but to also take part in the launch of Atomic magazine. After 50 issues spent on the magazine, it is not without a sense of pride that this month the 100th issue of Atomic has hit news stands. It not only shows that a niche publication for PC geeks can exist, but can also survive in a marketplace where print is suffering badly.

It was surprising to see one of my old editorials get an outing in the 100th issue. But it was also slightly depressing to realise that it was written in early 2002. The subject in question was the lack of an R18+ rating in Australia, an issue that had properly flared in the wake of Grand Theft Auto III’s (GTA III) banning and subsequent de-hookered version being released here. Seven years later, nothing at all has changed, and that just ain’t right.

At that point in time, there was an expectation that the issue would take a little time to get any traction. The government completed the re-evaluation of the classification system mere weeks after the GTA III incident, and by the time people mobilised on the issue, it was too late. What we didn’t realise at the time was that the issue would be cock-blocked by the attorneys-general for the rest of the Howard government’s time in office.

At that point in time, the issue largely revolved around GTA III – games like Postal had been banned but there was a general level of acceptance that Running with Scissors’s psycho killer opus was a bit too extreme. GTA III, on the other hand, was one of the best received games of the era, and knowing that outdated attitudes messed with our access to the game awoke many to the issue at large. Little did we know that Rockstar was just starting its long association with the Refused Classification tag.

Since that time, all sorts of games have suffered from the MA15+ ceiling. Some, like Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, were understandable (I once had it explained to me that the game was ‘about getting girls drunk so you can sleep with them’ – it makes sense that it caused a problem). Others, like Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, were completely ridiculous (that game was banned due to concerns from the Gold Coast mayor that it taught kids how to graffiti).

And then we had Manhunt, perhaps the textbook example of a game made for an R18+ rating. After being released to everyone’s surprise with an MA15+ rating, the game was on shelves long enough for a PC version to come in the wake of the PlayStation 2 launch. In fact, it took a year and the notorious media sensationalism of a fallacious relationship between the game and a UK murder to send Manhunt back to the Classification Board (previously called the OFLC) and into the Refused Classification bin.

In that early editorial, there was an overwhelming sense of frustration at the perception that games were for kids. Since then, there has been a huge amount of evidence that games are just as popular with adults as they are with kids. This, more than anything, is the sense of my annoyance at the perpetuated status quo. Our system arbitrarily cuts the suitability of games off at the age of fifteen. The lack of an R18+ rating does a disservice to all those adults who indulge in video games as a pastime.

It is deeply ironic that we are no better off seven years later. Despite the overwhelming sense of relief that a change in federal government would at least put the issue back on the table, we have seen the same outdated attitudes emerge from the state attorneys-general. Although agreeing to put the issue to discussion last year, we still haven’t seen anything happen – besides Michael Atkinson and his ‘father knows best’ attitude to the situation.

Will 2009 be the year when it all changes? Hopefully. The federal government recently decided to release the discussion paper in the face of the state attorneys-general continuing to disagree on its contents. This will finally give a chance to officially contribute to the debate rather than shout from the sidelines.

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