R18+ rating to be discussed today

Early this year public submissions were sought by the government on the topic of an introduction of an R18+ rating for video games, and the general public responded with some 55,000+ people submitting their thoughts and opinions on the issue.  Separate from this process, games retailers EB Games and GAME have collected over 90,000 signatures on a petition supporting the introduction of an R18+ rating as well, so the message should be pretty loud and clear.

Electronics Arts president Frank Gibeau has also weighed into the debate, having sent an open letter to the Australian Government supporting the introduction of an R18+ rating as well.  Below are some of the excerpts from his letter:

Government policies that don’t allow for the rating of mature content in video games effectively censor entertainment choices for adults. These policies show a poor understanding of today’s video gaming audience.  Existing legislation in Australia that limits age ratings of games to 16, demonstrates a distance between those policies and the reality of the video game industry and the people that play interactive games in Australia today.

…..

A change in the Australian age rating system is needed. We call on the Attorneys General in their next general session to vote unanimously in favor of the introduction of an 18+ rating for video games to allow adults to make their own choices about the entertainment they choose to enjoy. The implementation of a new 18+ age rating classification is the right step for consumers, and for the industry, in Australia.

I’m sure that I’m not alone in hoping that we get a positive outcome out of today’s meeting of the state Attorney Generals, and that it represents the significant public interest and opinion that has been raised by this issue coming to a head.

Via:  News.com.au

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Michael Atkinson defends lack of R18+ gaming classification

Kotaku have an article up with excerpts from a letter from South Australia’s Attorney-General Michael Atkinson.  The letter is in response to a gamer concerned with our lack of an R18+ classification for computer games and provides Atkinson’s view in quite a lot of detail.  The full letter (scanned PDF) is available here.  Watch out for Evony ads.

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