esociety essay, proposing an R18+ rating for videogames in Australia (2007)

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1 esociety essay, proposing an R18+ rating for videogames in Australia (2007) Ben Moore Videogames are big business, so big in fact that Phil Burnham; from the market research group GfK, has said that the local industry is now worth $850 million and $32 billion globally (O'Brien 2005, p1). ESA (Electronic Software Association) has stated that in 2006, videogame software sales in the U.S alone reached $7.4 billion dollars, triple the amount 10 years ago (ESA, 2007, p1) and while it is still not currently bigger than the Hollywood film industry, it is clearly a major competitor and catching up fast. Unfortunately, unlike the movie industry there is currently no R18+ rating for videogames in Australia. Because Australia s policy prevents games being released above an MA15+ rating, if a game is deemed to feature content such as extreme violence or of a sexually explicit nature then the game is unable to be sold in this country. As a consequence game developers have to either edit out the offending sections of their games for local release, or accept the ban and lose any potential sales, Australia wide. The fact that there is still no R18+ rating for videogames in Australia is ridiculous. Videogames aren t just for kids anymore; the average gamer in Australia is now 28 years old and rising (as of January 2007) (IEAA, 2007) and even older in America where the average gamer is 33 years old (ESA, 2007, p1). Women and older audiences are two of the fastest growing videogame demographics and if the current trend continues, by 2014 the average age of Australian gamers will be 42 years old, the same age as non players and will be made up of equal proportions of male and female players (IEAA, 2007). These statistics make it obvious that any stigma attached to games being only for young boys are completely outdated. In the past, the lack of an R18+ rating in Australia wasn t really a problem; the amount of banned games was minimal and those that were banned from sale usually weren t very good anyway. Now the videogame industry has come into its own and as the people who play games have grown up, so have those creating them. This means that now more than ever there is a desire for more adult content in the medium and therefore more content that could be potentially banned from our shores. Currently in Australia, the OFLC (Office of Film and Literature Classification) classifies every videogame before it s released here and there have been several appeals to the OFLC to add an R rating into the system. After all, we have an R rating for movies, music and books, so why not games? They claim that the reason there is no R18+ rating system here is because videogames provide a more immersive experience and therefore players are less likely to realise the distinction between the game and the real world (OFLC, 2007). I believe that since the average

2 age of gamers in Australia is 28, then the more mature content that the R18 rating would allow is clearly something that the average gamer can decide for themselves if they want to play or not, not the government. Their other argument is that despite any warning labels on the box, children would still get their hands on these games if they were allowed on store shelves. This is also largely unfounded as ESA studies have also shown that 86% of game players under the age of 18 get their parents permission when renting or buying games and 91% say their parents are present when they buy games (ESA, 2007, p1). In fact there is also very little evidence to prove that videogames effect people more than other forms of media. Even though there are some rare cases where people have been killed or injured because they have been imitating a violent videogame, this usually says more about the person than the game, because there is very little evidence to prove that this would not have happened anyway, had the person in question been watching violent movies or had access to any other similar material. One of the most controversial examples is definitely the Grand Theft Auto series. The series has been around for almost a decade now but never gained mainstream popularity till 2001 when GTAIII was released. Even though the majority of the content was quite similar to its predecessors, its realistic visuals (for the time) made it more immersive than ever before and because the game revolved around working for the mafia, it featured some rather questionable material such as the ability to hijack a vehicle and use it to run people down, drug use and plenty of adult orientated humour. Most controversial of all, was that you had the ability to pick up a prostitute, have your way with her, then kill her and regain your money, which the OFLC claimed to be sexualised violence (OFLC, 2001, p3). This wasn t deemed as a particularly big issue overseas as the game was subsequently given an R18+ rating in many countries but Australia s policy prevents games being released above an MA15+ rating. This resulted in the game being internally reviewed by the games developers Take Two, instead of officially by the OFLC and squeezed into the MA15+ category and subsequently banned from sale in Australia soon after (Finn 2005, p36 citing Ellingford). It was then later re released with this feature removed. This could ve all been avoided had the appropriate rating system been put in place. There are also a couple of other issues that arise when considering the Internet. It is now easier than ever, for consumers to do their shopping online if they can t find what they want locally, so importing from overseas is now commonplace. Because other countries such as the U.S, U.K or New Zealand don t have as strict laws on videogame censorship as we do here, it is often just a matter of looking online to obtain a copy of the banned or censored game (frequently at a cheaper price than if it were purchased locally as well). This means that Australian dollars are

3 going elsewhere which in the long term can potentially harm our economy but there is also a greater side effect to do with the Internet that the lack of an R rating has created. Alternatively users can download the offending games, more often than not illegally. With the introduction of high speed broadband, illegally downloading a game is relatively easy for those who know where to look (GoPostal, ). Developers lose millions every year to piracy and by banning these controversial games; the government is effectively forcing many people to resort to piracy, instead of purchasing the game in store. It is for these reasons that I propose that the government implement an R18+ rating for the videogame industry. If they are worried about children purchasing content that isn t suitable for them, make it illegal to sell content to anyone without proper identification that they are over the age of 18. The loophole that allows game developers (such as Take Two) to internally review their products with a trained in house OFLC member (Finn 2005, p36) should be abolished and because of the sheer amount of content that the OFLC would have to rate, a new separate ratings body should be established specifically for videogames in Australia. This could be partially government funded and the rest funded by fees paid by game companies to have their software rated. Hopefully this should also help deter the illegal download of these particular games as well and most importantly it will give consumers the greater selection of entertainment that they deserve.

4 Bibliography Burnham, Phil 2006, GfK Australia Finn, Mark Dr, 2005 Political interface: the banning of GTA3 in Australia, Melbourne: Swinburne University of Technology GoPostal Website , Official website with legal download for the banned game Hill, Jason 2006, Screen Play: Reservoir Dogs game banned, Melbourne: The Age Hill, Jason 2007, Screen Play: The state of play in Australia, Melbourne: The Age Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia, 2007, Australia Newman, James 2004, Social Gaming and the Culture of Videogames, in Videogames, Routledge, London O Brien, Jennifer 2005, The games we play, ARNnet Office of Film and Literature Classification 2001, 40th Meeting, 11 December 2001, The Banning of Grand Theft Auto III, New South Wales, Australia The Classification Board of Australia (Office of Film and Literature Classification), 2007, Australia The Electronic Software Association, Facts and Research, 2007, United States The Entertainment Software Rating Board, 2007, United States

5 Youth Facts 1999, Australian Broadcasting Authority, Head banging or Dancing? Youth and music in Australia, Monograph No. 8, Pt 2, Australia