Clueless Aussies on R Ratings, Game Violence, Fallout 3, Rape in Games

[Freakin' Duck]

GamePolitics.com: Clueless Aussie Politicians on R Ratings, Game Violence, Fallout 3, Rape in Games

 

Oh, no. Another group of idiot politicians who don't play games, trying to cram their politics into the game industry, which they know nothing about. We've all seen this before, a lot. So, here's some more. There's a video. Great.

Edited July 27, 2008 by Freakin' Duck

[+remowilliams]

That reminds me, I've got to order Fallout 3.

[the maddestman]

Yup, our Aussie politicians are idiots, but aren't most, if not all, politicians king size geese? Still it's stuipid that we don't have a suitable ratings system for games, and there's no good reason why we don't either.

[Freakin' Duck]

GamePolitics.com: Audience Member Who Made Aussie Pols Look Silly Over Fallout 3 is Website Editor

 

 

As you can see, what happened was far from a serious discussion on the merits of an R Rating for video games and government censorship. Instead, at large, the panelists were led into a discussion of violent video games and, due to archaic views of the average gamer, the discussion primarily devolved into the same "protect the children" commentary the public has heard for years.

 

Fortunately, what occurred on the show only served to highlight the exact issue at hand... Due to the format of the show it was nigh on impossible for me to refute even the more ludicrous and fantastic claims (Avatar: the rape game by Barnaby Joyce was particularly hard to keep quiet about) meaning the show simply continued to propagate the same antiquated idea already present in the general media about video games.

[Freakin' Duck]

Yup, our Aussie politicians are idiots, but aren't most, if not all, politicians king size geese?

 

You are correct, sir! There's a constant stream of shameless guessworking (geeseworking?), concerning video games, on the part of politicians worldwide, and it's disgusting.

 

Sadly, this technique had spread to political pundits, equally disgusting, long ago. Take the Mass Effect controversy for example: Fox News reported a sex game intended for kids, which got their tongues wagging, and stupidity ensued in a roundtable discussion. You may remember the report, if you don't, here it is, albeit contained in a rant video, which is actually somewhat funny.

 

Part One

 

Part Two

[Freakin' Duck]

A white knight has appeared in the ranks of politicians!

 

GamePolitics.com: Australian Politician Courts the Gamer Vote

 

Censorship is odious because it removes community choice. Censorship says that the thought is the action; that the common person can't distinguish between depiction and actuality... Censorship says, "Let me decide who talks."

 

And games are talking. They're talking very loudly, to a great many people, in strong and clear voices. They're speaking in places that have never read a newspaper and in houses which have never listened to politicians. It's okay to be worried by what games are saying. It's okay to disagree. But it's not okay to stifle those voices. It's not okay to kill the game.