Australian gamers, left 4 kids.
There is a soft breeze in the air, the sky is the kind of azure a poet would dream of writing about and the sun is unusually clement for this time of year. It’s a beautiful Autumn Saturday afternoon in Sydney and over 500 zombies are going to make the most of it.
Wait, what?
Zombies?
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Australian video gamers are taking the battles from their computer screens and bringing them into the street. There is an uprising against the current classification guide enforced by the Australian Government because it does not include an R18+ rating. Under this system, numerous video games are modified to meet the lower, MA15+ rating in order to be sold on the store shelves while other games are banned altogether. There is no other vineyard in the world like Australia, where people labour to get an opportunity to shoot a few more zombies.
According to a study by Bond University in Queensland of over 4,800 people, the average age of the Australian gamer is 30 years old. Anthony Relf of The Gamesmen in Wollongong agrees, saying that their biggest market is adults and that this surprises people. The classification laws were initially designed to prevent minors from buying games, but according to Mr Relf, “kids don’t have the money, their parents do.”
Mr Relf is one of the many Australian gamers pushing for an R18+ classification. According to the Bond University study, he is not alone. 91% of respondents - gamers or not – feel there should be an R18+ classification, even if it is in order to achieve a level of consistency across the board.
When Australia’s video game classification guide was drawn up in 1995, video game images were still at a primitive pixelated plateau. The Office of Film and Literature Classification Review Board acted upon the medium’s rising popularity, and appropriated the same classification criterion for film and television. However, there was one major difference; any game considered higher than an MA15+ rating could not be sold in Australia.
While this may have been an appropriate decision to make at the time, the vast improvements in technology have allowed video game developers to expand their art into a realm of visual realism. As the medium continues to unfold, it is becoming apparent to developers and gamers alike that the system needs to evolve with it.
University of Wollongong digital communications lecturer Dr Chris Moore feels Australia’s video game classification should incorporate an R18+ rating and be separate from film. According to Dr Moore, the review boards assume games have a bigger impact on the viewer because of their interactivity, “when video games are classified the review board is only shown a game, rather than playing it.”Dr Moore also states that “I don’t think you can regulate a film without watching it. You can’t read a script of a film and regulate it effectively.”
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The 500 zombies that staggered, lurched and swayed through Sydney on March 27 had foregone their usual diet of brains and human carcasses, and instead were ravenous for an adults-only rating classification. The theme of the demonstration was adapted from the video game ‘Left 4 Dead 2’, where the title’s graphic theme of slaughtering zombies earned it a Refused Classification rating.
The game was quickly modified for the sales floor of Australia’s retail stores. Gone were the elements of gore and with them went the game’s marketability. According to Mr Relf the game sold poorly as no one over the age of 18 wanted to play it; “it didn’t affect the kids at all.”
A small-scale Zombie outbreak in Australia’s largest city is only a minor part of what is being done to emancipate gamers. Ironically, support for the cause has spread as fast as a zombie virus. When the retailer ‘Game’ launched a petition to allow for an R18+ classification in February 2010, they received over 89,000 signatures before submitting it to the Government. This response is greater than what the Government received in opposition to its Workplace Relations Reform.
Under current Australian law, unanimous support by all state and territory attorney-generals is required to amend the classification system. Former South Australia Attorney General Michael Atkinson harboured no secrets in his opposition to introducing an R18+ classification, painting himself as a giant target for the gaming community. In the recent South Australian election, a video game developer established the Gamers 4 Croydon party, and ran in the election in a bid to unseat Mr Atkinson. Although they received only 3.7% of the vote in the Croydon area, the party firmly established how important video game playing and freedom of speech is to the Australian national identity.
Twenty one-year-old student and gamer Nathan Harrison believes these laws do not reflect well upon Australia. “It’s annoying when certain games won’t get released, especially Fallout with the morphine,” Harrison says. “If I was in a nuclear post apocalyptic landscape I would use morphine. I don’t think that’s irresponsible.” Mr Harrison added that “there is enough of a delineation between reality and the game that it shouldn’t affect people”.
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With Michael Atkinson leaving his post as South Australian Attorney-General, a new level of classification appears closer to Australian gamers. His replacement, John Rau, has revealed he does not share his predecessor’s opinion on the same issue. Dr Moore feels an appropriate solution to the problem is a twostep process. He feels initially an R18+ classification needs to be introduced, and then Australia can look to the self regulation systems successfully deployed in the United Kingdom and United States of America. “These systems aren’t perfect, but I think an industry regulation is a better approach. Not a government appointed board, but an industry checking up on each other making sure that they’re all making the games that everyone wants to play.”
The battle to disencumber gamers from a rating system they feel neglects adults more than minors could be the hardest game they will ever play. Victory is not assured, but the unification of Australians fighting for freedom of speech shows how important it is to the public. For now the Government will have to deal with gamers taking them on, when both parties would much rather they divert their attention to zombies.
