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emech
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 Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 3:41 pm Post subject: G, PG ratings dumped? |
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According to this IGN article http://au.games.ign.com/articles/119/1197449p1.html the current classification proposal includes making only MA15+ and 18+ classification compulsary, with others being voluntaery in-line with an industry code of practice, in order to address the practicallity of multi-source game deliery (inlcuding web and app).
Personally if it means that games are more likely to make it here as they have one less bit of redtape/cost to deal with I'm for it.
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Benza
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| Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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honestly something like this needs to be done (although ideally it wouldn't have any mandatory rating) since our current rating system is an archaic joke that is simply unfit to handle the current trends in content development.
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OropherX
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| Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:09 pm Post subject: |
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more clean game case covers ftw
err on a serious note it's a good point though, if we know which games are for adults why would we also need to know which are for kids, since they are the remainders.
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Pagan's Mind
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| Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:23 pm Post subject: |
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As long as every other media follows the same line then I think it's a good idea. I don't think games should be rated any differently to movies. But I wonder, how is the OFLC going to know if a game doesn't meet classification standards if they don't review media supposedly below MA15+, wouldn't we see some slipping through the cracks? It could cause problems.
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Benza
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| Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Pagan's Mind wrote: | | As long as every other media follows the same line then I think it's a good idea. I don't think games should be rated any differently to movies. But I wonder, how is the OFLC going to know if a game doesn't meet classification standards if they don't review media supposedly below MA15+, wouldn't we see some slipping through the cracks? It could cause problems. |
I'm guessing it would work on a voluntary basis, with the fines being levied against companies that try and slip shit pass it discouriging people from doing it.
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GooberMan
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| Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:42 pm Post subject: |
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| OropherX wrote: | | if we know which games are for adults why would we also need to know which are for kids, since they are the remainders. |
Surely gamers of all people would understand that the line isn't black and white like that.
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timmay33
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| Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:48 pm Post subject: |
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| OropherX wrote: | more clean game case covers ftw
err on a serious note it's a good point though, if we know which games are for adults why would we also need to know which are for kids, since they are the remainders. |
But the G and PG ratings still give you a guide as to the content and as such lets you know if its suitable for a 5-6 yr old or a 10yr old?
I dont think it should just be grouped as ok for everyone <15.
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emech
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| Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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| GooberMan wrote: | | OropherX wrote: | | if we know which games are for adults why would we also need to know which are for kids, since they are the remainders. |
Surely gamers of all people would understand that the line isn't black and white like that. |
Its not suggeting the lower ratings be dumped - just that they are industry applied rather then classification panel applied.... and I think Benza has the right idea about slips through being heavily fined.....
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Benza
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| Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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| timmay33 wrote: |
But the G and PG ratings still give you a guide as to the content and as such lets you know if its suitable for a 5-6 yr old or a 10yr old?
I dont think it should just be grouped as ok for everyone <15. |
It wouldn't work like that.
It is going more towards the same kind of system the Americans use. The industry would self police at lower ratings. In this kind of situation they really wouldn't want to try and bypass it because at the lower ratings they really gain nothing from sneaking an MA game into a PG rating aside from a shit storm.
From G to PG there isn't really a massive audience of kids that are allowed to buy G games but not PG that it would be worth sneaking a PG into a G rating.
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StorminNorman
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| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 10:04 am Post subject: |
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| timmay33 wrote: | | But the G and PG ratings still give you a guide as to the content and as such lets you know if its suitable for a 5-6 yr old or a 10yr old? |
There's no content descriptions with the G rating.
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Fly
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| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Benza wrote: |
It wouldn't work like that.
It is going more towards the same kind of system the Americans use. The industry would self police at lower ratings. In this kind of situation they really wouldn't want to try and bypass it because at the lower ratings they really gain nothing from sneaking an MA game into a PG rating aside from a **** storm.
From G to PG there isn't really a massive audience of kids that are allowed to buy G games but not PG that it would be worth sneaking a PG into a G rating. |
Self regulation runs into the same problems that exterior regulation runs into, that being a core value system. An expanded process or a clearly defined process of regulation allows the core values to be set appropriately or choose the highest common denominator so as to avoid the possible harm it might cause. Reduction of regulations simply removes one of the avenues to apply these values to and promotes that your decision is simply under more scrutiny as it is applied under a finer microscope.
The seeming problem with this proposed scheme appears to be the direction that gaming companies are going, that being towards tracking movement, of the pointer device (wiimote) or of the self (cameras), expansion of the direction ends up with actions games requiring a sword / dagger peripheral (similar to a light gun in concept) and the user acting our the motion of stabbing or otherwise decapitating something, without a specialised scheme it is only the game itself which gets classified as opposed to the devices used to play said game, so would fall outside the scope and into other departments. However the game would be the focus to then promote the actions undertaken, and gone are the days where down + forward + X performs a hadoken. Granted this is either a ways away or a pipe dream of integration with infrastructure, but it should be a consideration in the "what if?" scenario.
The reduction at the lower end though, is rather pleasing, as it should allow for more time to spent in making the right decisions for the titles which really matter as opposed to whether there is stylised violence leading to blood or fluffy balls of light.
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OropherX
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| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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sorry I sometimes forget that children 5-6 play games I understand the importance of those ratings tot he fathers of this forum >_>
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Benza
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| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | and gone are the days where down + forward + X performs a hadoken |
As someone who is itching to get home and fire up his new arcade stick and some Street Fighter... yeah those days are long from gone.
I think your concern with the actions taking place in a motion game are a little unfounded, as those actions without context really mean nothing. The context (In this case the game that you're playing) is still being rated.
In the case of say a decapitation, the game would be rated based on the action you're performing in game (So a decapitation would get you a high rating) rather then the motion taken to perform it. But the motion your performing would only really require a rating if you're performing it in the context of the game.
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Gizmocreative
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| Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 3:19 pm Post subject: |
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im still a fan of the g, pg, m etc rating system, because usually under them they have a list of reasons why it is rated that way. so as a father to be, i'd like to know that a pg movie is pg because it has supernatural theme as opposed to mild course language.
when they are around the 15 year old mark, i'd like to get movies to watch with the kids that contains mild animated violence instead of sex scenes.
i dont understand why there is a need to remove something that works resonably well. sure, times and standards change for some people, but other people still try to keep the standards of when jane austen was still alive, which is still ok by me.
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Benza
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| Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 3:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Gizmocreative wrote: |
i dont understand why there is a need to remove something that works resonably well. sure, times and standards change for some people, but other people still try to keep the standards of when jane austen was still alive, which is still ok by me. |
because it doesn't work. It's got nothing to do with changing standards and everything to do with how we consume media.
We're approaching more user created content and having it all needing to be rated by a government agency is just completly unfeasable. We are allready missing out on things like the indie game channel on x-box because these are games that are earning the people that make them basically nothing and they can't afford to spend 2 grand just to get it rated. The same holds true for mobile phone games. A mobile phone game being sold at 2 bucks a pop by a small company simply can not afford to go through the rating process.
And nor can the rating process as it currently stands have enough man hours to rate the amount of content being produced.
I mean having the government rating everything that got released in the super nintendo days worked fine because they're doing what, a couple of hundred games a year being put out through major publishers. Now days we're looking at thousands being put out by tiny indie developers that are self publishing.
For an example, the government was looking at applying ratings to the kind of games you can buy on the apple app store. Apple said they would basically have to close the app store in Australia.
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Esposch
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| Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Gizmocreative wrote: | im still a fan of the g, pg, m etc rating system, because usually under them they have a list of reasons why it is rated that way. so as a father to be, i'd like to know that a pg movie is pg because it has supernatural theme as opposed to mild course language.
when they are around the 15 year old mark, i'd like to get movies to watch with the kids that contains mild animated violence instead of sex scenes.
i dont understand why there is a need to remove something that works resonably well. sure, times and standards change for some people, but other people still try to keep the standards of when jane austen was still alive, which is still ok by me. |
Who said that they're going anywhere? It just won't be mandatory to have games rated now.
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Island_Wolf
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| Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 8:36 pm Post subject: |
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Effort in rating can be cut dramatically by inheriting ratings from UK or America (or nations of culture that is close to the mainstream Australian culture) and only evaluate those that are in the upper-end of the rating, those that would fall under MA15+/R18+/X18+
I'm with Gizmo in that I still want to keep the G/PG/M etc as it will help me make a more informed decision in the future when I do become a parent.
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Fly
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| Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Benza wrote: |
I think your concern with the actions taking place in a motion game are a little unfounded, as those actions without context really mean nothing. The context (In this case the game that you're playing) is still being rated. |
My concern lies not with the companies that would be involved in the initial product, but with those seeking to gain a profit off of their work, ie the third party accessory dealers. You can have a title that is considered borderline by all, tame in comparison to others of its ilk and yet in the peripheral market it can suitably dwarf them in what is available to then play the game. Self regulation won't pick this up, government regulation wont pick this up, the consumer watchdogs and customs generally will.
Yes the actions alone require the context to be considered an "issue", but if one such title falls below the "adult" ratings that context is applied by humanoid things reacting to your actions in a manner that can be sufficiently linked to real actions. We're not talking the majority of decent individuals here, because we are rarely the problem to begin with, we're talking the minority that will see this, the minority that still won't care and the minority that will then turn around and blame the tools when they find out that something with a point, plastic or otherwise can still do damage.
I mean, there's Links Crossbow Training, now if there were multiple sensors and say an Archery training sim, would you expect that if a 14yr old then proceeded to go out get a bow and then stupidly start shooting up random animals or otherwise become one of the unfortunate individuals to try it in their yard and seriously maim someone that questions wouldn't be asked about that bow peripheral and sensor tracking system that came with that game console?
For me the games themselves are harmless as I can reason and tell fantasy from reality, the problem for me is that the peripherals and where they are seemingly going with them is entirely worsening the product. Look at the original Light Guns and compare them to todays models with the decals and effort that goes into some of them and sure the Wii models are plain white and otherwise obvious, but some are glorifying a damned gun and shoving it into kids hands and everyone is instead focused on Morphine being renamed drug X because it sends a bad message about drugs.
That's my concern.
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