Gaming Down Under: The Whole Rating Thing

[Grippage]

Michael Atkinson is, according to Wikipedia, the only person stopping a R18+ rating in Australia from coming true.

And he's resigning!

"Mr Atkinson's decision to leave the front bench means he will no longer be in a position to vote on changes to the country's classification system, including the introduction of an R18+ rating for games."

- News.com.au

Putting two and two together, doesn't this mean that the rating is guaranteed to be established?

Yeah it does!

So why does everyone keep saying it's "one step closer". I mean, sure! I guess it's one step closer,

and it's that last step you take before entering the finishing line

Can anyone enlighten me? Why is this not being celebrated, etc.?

[LOPcagney]

I wonder if games like L4D2 will be rereleased as they were originally intended...

[Grippage]

It definitely will. At the very least on Steam of course, but stores are probably happy to be able to sell the same game twice.

People will pay for blood. That much is certain.

[brkl]

Does the Aussie L4D2 have killer robots that spew green blood instead of zombies?

[thorn]

Can anyone enlighten me? Why is this not being celebrated, etc.?

It is being celebrated, amongst those who know he resigned. My friends and I all shared high-fives at the news.

People are saying it's just 'One step closer', because it still needs to be approved in a meeting of all the Attorneys General of all the states, which happens irregularly. Also, Atkinson claimed that he wasn't the only AG who was opposed to the R18+ rating, just that he was the only one prepared to admit it publically. What's more, the classification board is currently undertaking a review of gaming classifications and it's quite likely that the AGs won't make a decision until it reports.

So, my estimation is that it will happen, but not for a while yet.

[Grippage]

Yeah, I read about that review. Are you aussie?

[thorn]

Yes, I am.

And, frankly, the ban doesn't effect me all that much because I don't play violent games, on the whole. I just object to the concept of censorship, particularly when it's so inconsistently managed (compared to other media).

[Grippage]

Yeah, it only affects me because I play L4D2. And since I have the uncensored version I'm not sure what's gonna happen when I try to play it from Australia.

Where do you live bro?

[thorn]

In Melbourne.

So are you currently in Australia, or in Norway? I'm pretty sure the ratings only define where you can purchase games. If you took a full version of L4D2 here already on your computer, I doubt Steam would force you to change.

[Grippage]

I'm in Sydney, yeah. I guess the only way to find out is to boot up Steam.

Waiting for my iMac to be shipped from Japan