Hi all,

Here is a draft letter that I will be sending to Captain Douchebag. Feel free to comment/add to it.

And yes, I'm aware that this letter probably won't achieve anything, so I ask the mod team that any posts reminding me of this be deleted immediately in order to keep this thread on track.

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To The Honourable Michael Atkinson MP,

I am writing to assert the clear need for an R18+ classification in Australia. The catalyst for my writing this letter is the recent banning of Left 4 Dead 2 by the OLFC, on the grounds of its violent nature.

I have read your response issued on the 30th of June 2008 to an undisclosed recipient (titled R18+ Classification for Electronic Games). You make an argument that R18+ video games should be banned on the basis that if they are brought in to the household, minors will get their hands on them. By this logic, should we also ban alcohol? Forcing adults to forego the enjoyment of some of Australia's finest wines (from your own good State!), should be done on the basis that if brought into the home children will consume said wine? In an age where video games are now packaged in DVD cases, is it not just as easy for a child to gain access to an R18+ feature film? Should we therefore revoke the R18+ classification for movies? These are the implications of your stance that parents cannot be trusted to enforce legislated restriction rules.

The National Classification Code sets out clear guidelines for the censorship of content within Australia. Upon reading these guidelines, it is clear that a balancing act emerges between the need to protect minors on the one hand, and allowing freedom of speech and an adult's access to content on the other. It seems that you are erring on the side of the protection of minors, as any good father would. However, given my aforementioned comments, it seems that assumptions upon which you base your position are flawed. Is it really up to the State to enforce good parenting? Who can really define what good parenting is, given that minors, as unique human beings, cannot possibly have the same personality or maturity based solely on age? Surely it is the parent, not the State, who knows what is best for his or her own child, as its own individual?

I see a recurring theme within Government policy of late, whereby the citizen is not seen to have the capacity to protect oneself from questionable and/or (potentially) harmful content, and it is therefore the responsibility of the State to protect its citizens on their behalf. Whilst not knowing your stance on mandatory Internet censorship, surely it is the parent's responsibility to police their children's internet usage (either directly or indirectly through an opt-in service such as the Federal Government's NetAlert)? On this point, modern operating systems (Windows Vista and the soon-to-be-released Windows 7), as well as consoles, have the functionality to restrict what games can be played by individual user accounts based on (amongst other things) age ratings. It is the Governments role to inform parents of the steps they can take to enforce what they want their children to have access to their absence, not to blanket-ban the content itself.

I implore you to re-consider your stance an R18+ rating for games in Australia. The adoption of this rating will bring us in-line with the rest of the civilised world. Or are we venturing down the Orwellian path of the State knowing best? It seems to me that the lack of an R18+ rating is another incarnation of the desire of the State to ostensibly protect (in reality, to censor) its citizenry.

Sincerely,
Chop Gun's Real Name

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EDIT: The response to which I refer in the letter:


Edited 10 times, last edited 18/9/09 - 1:56pm.

Good read Chop. Its good to see people actually trying to do something about it. As seen above, Atkinson does reply to emails, but I feel yours may be a bit to intellectual for him to comprehend. Here's hoping you get a response.

PS, apparently Chop Guns real name is Sam Kekovich

>I feel yours may be a bit to intellectual for him to comprehend

yeah +1

also,

Freedom is the right to control your own thoughts and course of action, apparently the government has decided that we are too ******ed to make our own minds up, and has subsequently decided to do our thinking for us... The fact that the government want to ban games that should fall under an R18+ classification is straight up bullshit. There is no real justification for this, as there is no HARD evidence that vidya gaymez produce increases in anti-social behaviors.


>edit

I just re-read Mr Atkinson's letter . He has a bit to say about the level of violence in our society, from memory living in the West of Sydney for a while, I noticed that the majority of violence has next to nothing to do with violence portrayed in any media. Apart from binge drinking assholes beating up people around them when drunk; generally the violence stemmed from drugs and gangs. Both of which were derived from sub par living conditions, and with the drugs; the addictive nature of those with shitty lives (the escapist mindset, the need to feel good via drugs, and then the eventual slip, that you need the drugs to feel normal, among other side effects this can lead to behavioral problems such as rage or chronic mood swings). Then once addicted the people feel compelled to rob others due to having spent their entire dole payment in the first 30 mins of receiving it. As for the distribution side of things, the groups that are involved stand to gain more money if their rivals are out of the picture, again more violence that has nothing to do with any form of media. As for gangs, I noticed that a lot of the groups in the west will huddle together in at least groups of three (generally more than ten), this gives them the ability to out number any one (up to about 5 or 6) person(s). Their socio-ecconomic status is low, I'm talking so low that they need to bash the **** out of anyone to actually feel important or useful. Like the bully that gets beat up by his dad , the typical gang member has very little self-esteem and finds solace in distributing violence to those they deem worthy. All of this violence has nothing to do with video games. As for violence out side of this demographic, I will put this bluntly: ever since man figured that he could stand to gain from another man's demise, he has been violent. Once again, nothing to do with any form of media. If anything since the world has gained global media the world has seen less casualties of war (in one sitting of course ).

Edited once, 18/9/09 - 1:59pm.

Reads well to me Chop...
I'm sure i don't need to ask, but keep us posted...
If i find time later, I may even send him one...
After all, the more people who do, the better it may turn out for us...

Added this to the second-to-last paragraph (updated OP in bold with changes).

On this point, modern operating systems (Windows Vista and the soon-to-be-released Windows 7), as well as consoles, have the functionality to restrict what games can be played by individual user accounts based on (amongst other things) age ratings. It is the Governments role to inform parents of steps they can take to enforce what they want their children to have access to in their absence, not to blanket-ban the content itself.

Edited twice, last edited 18/9/09 - 1:54pm.

Great letter.
We should get everyone to send him the same letter but with different name. It will haunt him.
Also it will be funny. Not to forget fellas that hopefully we can get it off steam.

I think you REALLY need to include the fact that there is absolutely no conclusive evidence that video games have an adverse affect on people. The fact that it's the people and their status, not the games they play, that lead to violence and school shootings.

It's all well and good saying that games are just as likely as booze and movies to get consumed by children, but the interactivity of games is a MAJOR part of the argument. Some really believe that a kid watching a violent game will turn them all into killers.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure cramming games rated as adult overseas into an MA15+ rating is a great idea.

The main point I think you should add is in regards to how a lot of titles are being shoehorned in as Ma15+ because an R18+ classification isn't available, which in turn ALLOWS for minors to access games which they otherwise would not if an R18+ was available.
Its policy backfiring at its finest, theres quite a few articles from a number of Australian figures who have written upon the subject that you can cite, as I am too lazy to do so that would be your work if you wish to do it.


Also highlight the lack of empirical evidence causally linking video games to violence amongst an adult population.

Edited once, 18/9/09 - 2:11pm.

Could you find me a study that supports this? I can't go making scientific assertions without a study supporting what I'm saying.

If you read Atkinson's response, he attempts (somewhat effectively) to nullify this argument.

He hasn't though. THere are dozens of examples of games which are R18+ overseas being given an MA15+ rating here.

GTAIV PC being the perfect example.
its the uncut version of GTA and it was released as MA15+ here as there was no alternative.

Its happened countless times with no edits being made to games. His argument is fundamentally wrong and there is quite a few articles supporting this out on the ol' wide world web.

Edited once, 18/9/09 - 2:18pm.

Also, he is a freedom hating arsehole and he sickens me to my core.
The fact that someone wishes to infringe upon my liberties and freedom of choice this severely is an absolute joke.
He is the perfect example of the wrong sort of twisted rube who struggles to even understand what freedom and liberty are about, a horrible swine who will sooner take away all choice for people in the name of protectionism then address real issues.
The Australian government needs to stick to providing what it has too instead of babying its population in the name of moral hygiene.

Just another law that is out of date in this country. Needs to be changed but unless it's an election issue GL in getting it changed

Not quite true, if you read this article:
http://games.on.net/article/4545/Grand_Theft_Auto_IV_for_PC_-_Uncut_version_heading_Down_Under

Which basically states that the unedited version for consoles was never submitted to the OFLC, and that no edited version for the PC was ever submitted the OFLC. It seems that the sexual content is still within the realms of an MA15+ rating according to the Classifications Board.

I also sent him an email, but it was more from the E-Sports side and how a simple thing like this kills the already shit community. Ill post it up when I get home.

^^ Win

Maybe we should just find his house and like....put a brick in front of his car tyres, temporarily slowing him down. He will never see it coming. That or even push his car seat forward/backwards, it will agitate him slightly, giving us the win.