New website: R18+ for Games

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) has a new website: R18+ for Games. This is part of EFA's new campaign to support the introduction of a new classification for video and computer games in Australia. Movies can be classified R. They can contain R-rated content and still be sold, borrowed and watched legally. So why not games?

From the website:

Australia is the only Western country without an R rating for computer and video games. If a game is deemed unsuitable for MA15+ by the Office of Film and Literature Classification, it is refused classification and cannot be sold. Titles including 50 Cent, Bulletproof, Postal 2, Leisure Suit Larry, NARC, Singles, Blitz: The League, and Manhunt have all been refused classification in recent years. In 2008 alone, four game titles have been banned: Silent Hill, Fallout 3, Dark Sector and Shellshock 2.

According to recent surveys, the average age of gamers in Australia is around 30 years old.

An R18+ classification would require the unanimous support of all Attorneys-General, and in the past moves to change the current classification have been blocked on the vote of a single state Attorney-General.

EFA is now sponsoring a campaign to have the R18+ classification for games introduced in Australia.

If you support this cause, I encourage you to visit the site. EFA is asking supporters to write to their state Attorney-General and request an R18+ classification for games. Every letter helps!


I should also note that EFA has been a prominent voice against the government's current "clean feed" proposal. Yesterday, EFA Chair, Dale Clapperton, appeared on Channel 7's Morning Show to discuss the issue. You can read more and view the Morning Show clip on Dale's blog.


[Disclosure: My partner is on the EFA board]