http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/12/10/atkinson-violent-games-you-don%E2%80%99t-need-impale-people

An example of false claim is that he states that individuals who are interested in such explicit content are “…trying to impose their will on society. And I think harm society.”

The claim is false because the request to have the new rating does not REQUIRE those not interested in such material to play, observe, or even like such content. Therefore, “imposing their will” is a clearly FALSE claim. A claim he KNOWS is false, because it is, in fact, HE who imposes HIS will on society by depriving Freedom fo Speech Rights to those who do not agree with his interests. In addition, he has no actual FACTS to back up his claim that those who have an interest in such material are out to harm society.

Additionally, his claim “I accept that 98%, 99% of gamers will tell the difference between fantasy and reality, but the 1% to 2% could go on to be motivated by these games to commit horrible acts of violence.” negates all claims by others that exposures to other things, such as religion, can be harmful to others, including children. By HIS logic, because there is evidence that there are individuals who use religion to justify verbal, mental, physical, and/or sexual abuse of others, including children, and because some use religion to actively and directly teach others that bigotry, hate, and even violent acts are justifiable to commit, then he should “Protect the Children!” from religion in general. Based on HIS OWN claims, religion HAS been used in such a manner, he even has referred to such victims when justifying blocking Freedom of Speech in the case of video games. And since he has openly stated that even a few “bad” individuals out of a majority of “good” individuals are justification for blocking the Freedom of Speech Rights to ALL, then he should have the same attitude in the case of religion. Using “the majority are good people, only a few are bad” has already been invalidated by him by the previously mentioned quote from him.

Yet, where has his efforts been to block the WHOLE religious community in an effort to “Protect the Children!” from the few “bad” people? We already have a great deal of evidence of horrid acts committed in the name of religion. So where is he in “Protecting the Children!”?

He has been caught, once again, in another lie and deceit. This has nothing whatsoever to do with “Protect the Children!”. It has to do with HIS imposing HIS will, beliefs, and “morals” (which are questionable considering his “morals” include lying and deception) on others. And he uses those lies and deceit to gain and/or retain power for the purpose of depriving various segments of society of their Freedom of Speech Rights.

Although I am not confident that I would get a reply, I did put my best efforts into it.

Although I should have mentioned about Parental Controls to back up what there is for parents to use, but I decided not to get into anything too technical.

—

Dear Honorable Rob Hulls

I come to you via email to talk about the R18+ rating for Computer Games issue.
I know from recent issues that you have had a tough year, especially with the issues of the Jumps Racing that had gone on for all year.

You may also know well that within every debate, there are two sides of every story. There are extreme factors of each group who are trying to have a voice in this nation of Australia. And sometimes as much as some government people have tried to make decisions in the best interest of the people who represent them, there will always be those who will never be pleased no matter how much you try to please everyone with your best judgement.

What I come here with links to various websites is the plight that Australian Gamers who the majority of them are adults and are old enough to view/watch/play what ever they want when it comes to R18+ Movies and DVDs. But we are still treated like Children by just one man in South Australia.

I am sure you have run into that man in South Australia many times in the Meetings of Attorney Generals especially since last years plan to develop a public discussion paper on the R18+ rating for Computer Games issue.

So far, we are still waiting for the R18+ discussion paper and it is being held up by that one man, Michael Atkinson, all because the discussion paper did not include the things he wanted in there.

So it is either that he is still holding up the release of the public discussion paper, or maybe it is because his demands for changes are not relevant to the discussion paper at all.

It must be understood that when writing such a Discussion Paper, allot of thought must be put into it, it must contain all the facts without any miss-information or any form of evidence being misrepresented by scare tactics.

While we are waiting, us Australian Gamers have had to put up with the ranting of just one single person who does not agree with the majority of people who are affected by the current classification system that there is no R18+ rating for Australia.

Michael Atkinson, the Attorney General of South Australia, has even gone on into saying insulting things about gamers and videogames, quoting research from a person called Craig Anderson who’s research in Violence in Videogames and youth has been based on their opinion that Violent Videogames negatively Affect young people but in reality his research methods have been proven by the Psychologists of the United States as heavily flawed research driven by opinion and nothing on concrete facts.

(Link below is a letter that responds to Michael Atkinson’s opinions that also mentions that the research that Mr Atkinson quotes have been proven to have fundamental weaknesses.)

http://www.igea.net/2009/12/igea-ceo-responds-to-atkinsons-form-letter-on-r18/

But yet Michael Atkinson, still holds the research from Craig Anderson as his point of not allowing an R18+ rating for videogames and even worse in Mr Atkinson’s point of view he wants to also ban the MA15+ rating for Videogames and not only that, but if Mr Atkinson had his way he would also want to go after R18+ and MA15+ movies because of his belief that the Classification Board needs to be changed by people of his choosing.

To be honest, from the way I see it, the Classification Board is allot like an Umpire in a Football match.

We have the Gamers, the Game Industry, the people who want an R18+ rating for videogames that can be best described as “Team Freedom of Speech for Videogames”

And then we have Mr Atkinson, and parental groups and other people who can be best described as “Team Protect the Chrildren”

The Classification Board is the Umpire of this football game, and what ever their decision is, it is made from their best judgement from the abilities that they have to grant every Videogame a classification between G to MA 15+.

Mr Atkinson has gone on to say that he does not trust the Classification Board to do their job, because the Classification Board has let in Videogames and Computer Games within the MA15+ bracket when they were released as M17+ or 18 rating in North America and across Europe.

At the same time, the Classification Board has banned games that were not suitable for MA15+ classification and instead developers and Publishers have had to waste allot of money re-developing the game with edits for just the Australian Market and even if those edits are minor, it has created a huge waste of money for many Videogame Developers and a loss in release time for many Publishers who are affected by the lack of an R18+ classification in Australia.

By the Classification Board’s standards, they are the ones who have the final say because they have viewed the game and they have given each game a rating within the best of their ability and in how they see each of the content of every Videogame.

When big releases, such as Fallout 3, Modern Warfare 2, Alien Vs Predator and every one of the Grand Theft Auto games have been affected by the lack of an R18+ classification for Computer Games and that has left the Classification Board in an unfortunate position to recommend certain edits to some games in order for them to fit within the Classification guidelines for an MA15+ rating when in reality all that wasted time and money could have been spared with a simple introduction of an R18+ rating.

And in the end, if that is meant to protect Children from (based on opinion) harmful content in Computer Games, then the ESRB in America and the PEGI in Europe do a far more better job when they classify these games as M17+ or 18+ in their respected countries.

The Classification Board has also been under fire by parents who have brought their kids MA15+ games with content that they believe that they would never allow their kids to see. And this confusion of the MA15+ rating of “Not suitable for person’s under 15. Person’s under 15 must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian while viewing”

In all reasons, the Classification board is being stretched into trying to do two things at once with very limited resources.
The Classification Board’s first rule is to allow Adults the right to view what ever they want, the second rule is that all children deserve to be protected from harmful content.

When there is a lack of an Adults Rating of an R18+ for Videogames, the two rules of allowing adults to view what ever they want and for children to be protected from things that are believed to be harmful for them are being stretched to the limit in various scenarios and the Classification Board are working really hard to please both sides and make decisions but they end up pleasing nobody.

Lets replace that rating with an R18+ rating for Computer Games, so this scenario can be altered so the Classification Board can do their job to the best of their ability.

But to do that, we need your help Rob Hulls. We also need the help of the ACT Attorney General and the Queensland Attorney General to have their say on this issue, not on the internet where you are preaching to the people who already know about this, but to the people of Australia in General and most importantly the people of South Australia who they have the final decision early next year in the South Australian State Election.

We have a group there in Croydon called Gamers4Croydon and to be honest they could use a little bit of a helping hand from the right people.

Here is their site and their policies.

http://www.gamers4croydon.org/policies

I am not asking for allot in return, all I ask of you as your role of Attorney General of Victoria as well as the Attorney Generals of ACT and Queensland is to make your political voice heard in South Australia on various news stations like State Line in SA and also on Australia’s A Current Affair.

You people have the ability to make your voices heard because you are politicians and us gamers have shouted all we can only without much success because nobody ever really helps us.

Us Australian Gamers have been treated like kids and all we ask for is to be treated like adults in return.

Every time Mr Atkinson opens his mouth, all we get is his opinions and no facts to back up his opinion.

We have got good resources and facts, the research we have gathered is that contry to popular belief, Videogames are no more harmful than movies or books or music.

Back when you were a child, Rock and Roll music was being blamed for allot of youth violence and other things that were in reality completely false information driven by opinions of people who never understood music.

The same thing has been happening to Videogames since when Videogames were blamed for the Columbine High School Massacre of 1999 but with all the opinions and news reports, there has been no scientific proof that Videogames were the cause of it and most of the accurate research has said the complete opposite that videogames whether they were violent or not have got no negative affects on children and adults who play videogames.

If any, Videogames have been, like the movies, the books and rock music before them were nothing more than easy scapegoats by people who use scare tactics for their own personal agendas against products that they don’t really understand all because those things were not around when they were kids.

For more information about the research, please read the Byron Review that was made in the UK early last year. This was written by a person who was on even ground on the issue of videogames and violence and from her short basic points she has highlighted that we need to move from the topic of how one medium could cause harm to children into what this new medium is about and looking at the adults who embrace this medium as first hand examples that violent videogames will never turn anyone into a murderer or criminal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_Review

If you have time over Christmas, please read the full PDF files from this link about more information about the Byron Review.

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/byronreview/

Most importantly, use this information to counter Mr Atkinson’s views and beliefs and also break though his own research from Craig Anderson to highlight the faults in his research that is more likely to be driven by personal opinion and not on scientific facts.

But you have the power to make your voice heard Rob Hulls as well as the other Attorney Generals of ACT and Queensland.

You only just need to make your voices heard in South Australia in the seat of Croydon as well as all over South Australia.

Please don’t chuck this email away, instead use the links I have provided by back up the information that you can use to talk about the R18+ classification rating for Computer Games, but not only that, encourage members of the Classification Board to stand up for their rights and not be dictated by the opinions of Michael Atkinson.

As I have researched, the OFLC used to classify Videogames and Movies, but the OFLC people lost their jobs all because of Michael Atkinson wanting to change the board and still the same problems are continuing. These people from the OFLC did not have to lose their jobs and become unemployed all because of what one person’s opinions. Instead use all of your views together and try to reach a balanced solution.

My realistic suggestion is that the Attorney Generals who want an R18+ classification for Computer Games in Australia should be able to go though with it without relying on the opinions of one man, So in that way Victoria, ACT and Queensland will have an R18+ rating for Computer Games in their commercial shops while South Australia won’t because of Mr Atkinson’s views

All of the other states and territories can make up their own minds and therefore Computer Games that need an R18+ classification won’t have to be edited to be shoehorned into an MA15+ rating while the states around Australia who don’t want an R18+ rating for Computer Games will not have games like that on their commercial shelves and everyone will be far more better off with this balanced solution.

You can’t please both extreme sides of both parties but much like the Umpire of a Football Game, the Classification Board is only making decisions on their best judgement. So please consider this idea as the last resort if things don’t change in South Australia after the State Election.

Australia is a free country, but yet Adult Gamers are being treated like children all because of the opinions of one man. Please don’t let this go on any longer and enforce that what ever opinion is talked about is backed up by reliable information in the South Australian State Election.

from Tony

—

PS, you can edit this any way you can to make it shorter, but in my view, we need other attorney generals to speak out about the R18+ rating for Computer Games issue. And we need to do it when it matters the most at next years South Australian State Election.

Atkinson may still get his seat, but if his votes are swinging the other way on him that forces the South Australian Premier to move the position of Attorney General to someone else, or if the Liberals win power in South Australia, this is perhaps the most logical goal we can aim for.

There will be nothing I can do to accommodate to an adult audience if the rating is not there to see it.

so instead I will be forced to make games to be marketed in Australia that suit within the MA15+ rating and lower, or else I will be making an adult orientated game that will not be sold in Australia period.

Then I will have to encourage Australian Gamers who buy my games online just so they can play my adult theme games, and in the end while it might be easy to avoid the problem by just focusing on games aimed at kids, it is not if you intend to make a game for adults.

And in the end, I will have to make games for teenagers that include adult ‘tonge in cheek’ humor or references that are still possible for a MA15+ game.

So yeah, I am a long way from working in the industry, I still need to go to University and get trained first.

But if I do happen to make it into the Industry and this issue does not change, then at least I have to resort to backup plans, and try to land a job in Canada instead while I also start a career in Australia and move up in the job prospect ladder.

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Post edited by Moderator
Dean, I had to kill a few sentences from your post. I did this so I can spend less time defending libel claims and more time focussing on the R18 issue, but tried to make sure it didnt impact the essence and tone of your post. If you’re not cool with the couple of adjustments I made, please drop me a email and let me know. Cheers, Ron

I have noticed recently with this debate becoming more wide spread in the mainstream that parents are becoming more ratings consious. i still get a few complaints about some games though. games such as fallout that was edited to MA and parents coming in and saying that there 15 year old souldnt have been able to by this why wasnt it rated R18+ and so on, all i could tell them was that there is no R rating on games so 15 year old can buy what was intended as an adult game with no problems. Where as the 18+ would have made the parent think twice.
what im getting at is that no matter how much he’s against it in the end if its not there his “protecting” kids is putting adult intended games in the 15 year olds hands regardless of the editing to the MA15+ rating. the truth is that most ( no real facts here just observasions) people who would buy a 18+ game ether dont have kids or wouldnt buy it so there kids cant get to it. and that is there choise.

The real problem with games is that most non gamers see games for kids or just dont care what its rated and that is the real REAL reason we need the R18+. they are the ones who go out and buy a game for there kids or grandkids because they asked for it without looking to see what it was rated cause if it was there im sure they would stop and think “hey i guess this isnt for my 7 to 15 year old” yes i have seen it grandparent coming in and buying gta4 for there grandkid whos 12 even after i have pointed it out only to say “its just a game”.

I have been an advocate for the R18+ for this reason since i started selling games back in 2001. the fact that we have been fighting the same guy for all this time means that we will continue till he retires( most likely)

on a side note i think that if you do go to the press be sure to add Segas comments on there recently RC’ed alien vs Predator game and there refusal to “dumb down” there game directed for an adult audiance as the franchises always has. no im not just bitter about the game being banned i like that sega took this stance. its about time someone did. but the AVP franchise being so popular and the marketing already anoucing the game only to be RC should get even the casual games ears to prick, even the non gamers too. if they can put predator on tv with all its killing even the trophy collecting scenes ( which is one of the reasons the game was RC’ed) why cant they have it in a game based on the same movie?

thanks.

Hopefully one day Australia will catch up to the rest of the western world.

I believe that you will be able to defeat him in an election if your message out there. Like Tony said, do some PA events like ACA or Today Tonight.
Good Luck.

It is quite clear from Mr Atkinson’s letters that all of his arguments are aimed at garnering the support of individuals, who this issue does not really effect, through fear.

And the whole “interactive violence leads to aggression and crime” argument is pretty thin. Violence and crime have been around since cokcy was an egg, long before interactive games, and the vast majority of people who play games don’t actually want to assault other people or run around comitting other crimes. The majority of people that do this are “criminals” (for lack of a better lable) anyway with games having no influence over their behaviour anyway.

Its just a shame that in a democratic society the restricted and narrow minded views of people of influence can have such a negative influence. Bring on a resoned and logical public discussion.