The former Premier of Queensland, Peter Beattie, has written an Opinion piece for the Australian lending support to the R18+ debate.  Peter has recognised the contribution that games make to the Australian economy and entertainment in general and suggests it’s time to make an R18+ rating a reality.  To read this piece, click here

Laura Parker at gamespot.com.au has written a fantastic story about the recently Government Report into R18+ public consultation.

Following the initial news that 98.2 percent of the 59,678 public submissions received by the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department were in favour of introducing R18+, GameSpot AU has combed the report’s contents to present a detailed summary of the key points.  See here

Based on the Minister’s media release, I thought we’d make an initial response and give some consideration to a more detailed reply later:

We are pleased that this issue was included on the agenda for today’s Standing Committee of Attorney’s General meeting. As evidenced in the Attorney General’s status report, there is overwhelming interest and support of the issue, with over 98 per cent of responses in favour of the R18+ classification.

The iGEA has been very supportive of the Government’s commitment to a thorough examination of all of the perspectives on the classification and, along with a wide range of individuals, industry bodies, academics and community groups, the iGEA made its submission as part of what appeared to be an exhaustive and detailed public consultation period. We are somewhat bemused therefore when the Minister stated that Censorship Ministers have “requested further analysis of community and expert views.”  

Further, we are concerned that it is noted in the Attorney General’s media release that  “Ministers today agreed that further work needs to be done before a decision can be made.” There is undeniably strong support for the introduction of an adult classification for video games across a wide section of the community. (In fact, the recent petition arranged by GAME illustrates that there is a high level of resonance and support on this issue, with more petitioners engaging in this issue than for the petition opposing WorkChoices.)  Our understanding that this was the very reason for the Discussion Paper launched in December, and call for the Attorney General’s Department to immediately commit to a reasonable and transparent timeline and process to resolve the issue.

 THE HON BRENDAN O’CONNOR MP

         MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS        

R 18+ CLASSIFICATION FOR COMPUTER GAMES

CONSULTATION REPORT RELEASED

The Standing Committee of Attorneys General today agreed to release a status report following public consultation about whether Australia’s Classification Scheme should include an R 18+ classification category for computer games.

Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O’Connor said: “The report released today shows the initial outcomes of the public consultation process which received approximately 60,000 submissions – an overwhelming level of response.”

Preliminary analysis indicates: 

• approximately 98 per cent of submissions support an R18+ classification for computer games

• submissions were received individually by email (12 per cent), fax and post (2 per cent), as well as being delivered by retailer EB Games (59 per cent)  and ‘Grow Up Australia’ (27 per cent), and

• a sample of approximately 24,000 submissions shows that while submissions were received in all age and both gender categories, the overwhelming majority were from males aged 18 to 34.

The status report also contains samples of frequent ‘free text’ comments and a summary of arguments raised by 34 community, church and industry groups who lodged submissions.

“It is not just the weight of numbers that need to be considered. It is also the strength of the arguments on each side. That is why Ministers today agreed that further work needs to be done before a decision can be made.”

“This issue is of considerable interest to Australians so the Government is releasing a status report on the consultation to ensure the community is kept well informed of its progress.” 

“Censorship Ministers have not yet made a decision on whether or not an R 18+ classification for computer games should be introduced and have requested further analysis of community and expert views.”

“The Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department continues to process and analyse submissions from the public consultation, so figures are preliminary and may change as the processing and analysis of submissions continues,” Mr O’Connor said.

“Thank you to the thousands of people who made a submission,” Mr O’Connor said.  

“This feedback will play an important role in assisting Ministers to make a decision on this important public issue.”

 The status report is available at www.ag.gov.au/gamesclassification.

 Stakeholder submissions and samples of submissions received from individuals will also be made available on this website. 

As reported on news.com.au, a petition to introduce an R18+ rating for video games has set a new record for the being the largest  ever in Australian history.  The previous record was set by a petition against Workchoices in 2005 which attracted 85,000 signatures.

Retailer GAME has lead the campaign along with gaming website PALGN to create an R18+ rating for interactive gaming titles in Australia.  In 8 weeks, more than 89,000 people had signed the petition.  To read more click here.

The following letter appeared in Issue #4 of Game Informer in 2010 who have kindly allowed us to reproduce the article.

The letter was from Dr Scott Beattie, a Senior Lecturer at the Victoria Law School  who is an expert in classification and censorship of new media.  Dr Beattie believes there is a need for an R18+ Classification category and once we have that, we also need to take a look at the classifcation guidelines as well to ensure there is a set of consistent and credible classifications across all media.

To read the story click  here – Page 1

                                                             Page 2

To subscrbe to the magazine, please go to www.gameinformer.com.au

As reported at Screenplay, the absence of an R18+ video game classification has lead many Australians to believe our  our country has an overly conservative or paranoid attitude to video games.

This isn ot the view shared by Jens Schroder, a visiting German sociologist who has completed a comphrensive study examining society’s perceptions of video games.

To read more clicke here

As reported at gamespot.com.au, the Australian retailer, GAME, is going to present the petitions to the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General on May 7, although they are still unclear if R18+ is on the agenda.

To read the story, click here

As reported at adelaidenow.com.au, Michael Atkinson has stepped aside in the Labour Ministry in order to make way for other “talented” backbenchers.

Our thoughts:

Michael Atkinson has been a very vocal opponent of an R18+ classification for video games and whilst his views represent a percentage of the community, we don’t believe, and research supports this, that his views reflect the majority of Australians – both gamers and non gamers.

Mr. Atkinson said in his statement to the media yesterday that he “believes there should be renewal” in the front bench and he is giving an opportunity to those in the talented ranks of the Labor party to step up.  Naturally, we are hopeful that the next South Australian Attorney General has an interest in understanding the complex issue of classification and the need to create an adult category that will better protect people and enable adults to access content that is developed for them.  We look forward to working with the new South Australian  Attorney General.

In this opinion piece for The Punch, I give my thoughts on R18+ being an issue about adults, respond to some of the ACL and YMA comments and welcome Prof Anderson’s support of an R18+ classification.