Games, Sex, Politics, Drugs, Censorship and Rock and Roll

Learn everything about Australia's flawed game classification system before it's discussed by the Government

Editor's note: This feature was originally published over three years ago in issue 48 of Atomic. Since implementing an R18+ rating for games in on the agenda for the upcoming Attorneys-General meeting next month, we have published it online in its entirety. Please bear in mind that the information is accurate as of 2005.

We’ll never know if cavemen worried about exposing their children to violent cave paintings. But it’s safe to say that concerns about the effects of violence in the media have been with us for far longer than July of this year when Britain’s tabloid press mistakenly linked Rockstar’s Manhunt computer game to the murder of 14 year old Stefan Parkeerah.

In fact the incriminating copy of Manhunt which had been seized on by the tabloids belonged to the victim; it was Parkeerah, not his murderer, who was a Manhunt player.

The investigating police were quick to debunk the copycat murder theory, saying there was no evidence to link the game to the slaying.

But the ‘Murder by Playstation’ headlines had already fanned an international controversy that led to Australian authorities banning the game in October.

The media and gamer attention garnered when Manhunt was taken off the market (after being on sale to anyone over the age of 14 for nearly a year without controversy) was compounded by the banning of the latest Leisure Suit Larry game barely a week later.

The bans highlighted an anomaly in our classification system - with a maximum available rating of MA15+, any game which the OFLC rules inappropriate for children under 15 is refused classification, making it illegal to sell,exhibit or rent in Australia.

Games developers, publishers and players are now calling for reform of the child-oriented ratings system. They are concerned that without an R18+ category, our system has no mechanism to accommodate the increasing number of adult-themed games that are hitting the market.

The OFLC
The community desire to protect children from seeing material considered suitable only for adults is enshrined in our rating system for movies, which has two adult-only classifications - R and X. But no such adult rating for games exists in Australia - and we’re the only western country in which this is the case.

As a government review agency, the Office of Film and Literature Classifications’s job is to rate film, games and some publications according to legal guidelines set by the government. These rules can be viewed on the OFLC website.

The code and guidelines are agreed by commonwealth, state and territory Censorship Ministers (who is usually the Attorney General). The OFLC must refuse classification to any game that doesn’t fit in the available ratings - which currently only go up to MA15+. Titles that are rated RC (refused classification) are illegal to sell, exhibit or hire in Australia.

I object!
There is one avenue of appeal against an OFLC rating - the Classifications Review Board. It was this board that overturned Manhunt’s original MA15+ rating, refusing it classification and effectively banning it.

The Classifications Review Board can re-rate games at any time if requested by the Attorney General (who can also act on behalf of the relevant state or territory minister). But other interested parties, such as games publishers or community groups, can also request a review - but only within 30 days of the OFLC’s original rating decision.

Games publishers also have the option of editing a game and resubmitting it to the OFLC for a new rating. This was how Grand Theft Auto 3 (originally refused classification) was eventually released in an edited version.

But OFLC director Des Clark highlights the complexity of the classification guidelines when he says that simply editing out a few scenes may not get a game a new rating: ‘The problem is we deal with context and impact, so [you might edit out some material] but the overall impact may mean it doesn’t get a different rating.’

Indeed, sometimes game publishers decide against editing their games to try to get them through the classification system. Vivendi Universal Games ANZ Marketing Director Colin Brown says Vivendi has no plans to edit and resubmit Leisure Suit Larry: MCL because the sheer amount of editing that would be required would have compromised the game play experience.

‘Sexual themes are woven into the very fabric of what the Leisure Suit Larry brand is about,’ he says. ‘VUG feels that, by removing a significant part of the sexual content, the game would be less fun to play.’