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mikezilla2
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 Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 10:14 am Post subject: Australia's R18+ rating two years away ! |
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wtf is that even credible ? 
David Emery, manager of applications at the Australian Classification Branch, has warned of a two year delay before the country finally sees the much needed R18+ rating.
"There is legislation that's been put to Parliament about the changes," said David Emery in a Politics of Play debate.
"What happens next is a long process again. It's probably going to take another couple of years before you're actually going to get an R18 that you can apply for, like a conventional classification that you have today."
It was July when the Australian federal government voted to introduce the rating, and federal minister for home affairs Brendan O'Connor stated it "would only take a couple of months."
Emery disagrees, pointing out the obstacles to a a quick introduction.
"It's got to go to Parliament, then there's changes that have to be made subsequent to that - to the Classification Act - to allow for people who have had a game that has gone to the classification board and been refused classification to then be resubmitted in some form," he explained.
"There also needs to changes made to each state and territories classification act, that needs to go through the exact same process that I've just described, except on a state level. All of those things take ages, there are lots of delays."
"The answer is that it'll probably be another couple of years before we'll be able to accept an application for an R18 game."
Australia's strict rating laws, which only allows games to be classified to a MA15+ rating, and anything about that to be refused classification, have seen a number of games heavily censored or denied shelf space at all. Left 4 Dead 2 was heavily edited while Mortal Kombat was banned for its gory action.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-10-28-australias-r18-two-years-away
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Benza
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| Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 10:44 am Post subject: |
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sounds about right. Changing laws isn't a quick thing.
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GearsOfPaul
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| Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 11:43 am Post subject: |
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I guess I'm going to have to import those few games I heard would eventually be released here...
2 years, that is really, really, really annoying. Think of how many Australians will actually turn 18 by then.
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IISpacebreakII
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| Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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Well at least it will be in effect before next generation. I think 2 years was maybe a bad-case scenario, it could be 1 year even.
Or it could balloon out into 5 years lol
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sobriquet835
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| Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:31 pm Post subject: |
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It's good that this is happening, full stop. If we have to be a bit patient for sanity to finally prevail, then we should be patient.
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mikezilla2
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| Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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the problem i see is that i and many others were led to believe that it would be a matter of something like 6 months this year based on the comments of a polly( never trust em) and PALgn my first reaction months ago was that this would take months and months to be approved wili other things have been approved much sooner no harm done tho . just hope no stones come lose
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IISpacebreakII
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| Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:52 pm Post subject: |
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| mikezilla2 wrote: | | the problem i see is that i and many others were led to believe that it would be a matter of something like 6 months this year based on the comments of a polly( never trust em) and PALgn my first reaction months ago was that this would take months and months to be approved wili other things have been approved much sooner no harm done tho . just hope no stones come lose |
I kind of got that vibe too mikezy, that maybe somehow this cruel world would have prevented the R18 rating just when we thought we had it. But I'm sure it's okay, it's just a shame this couldn't have been done sooner. Several high-class games got censored or edited or just out-right banned. GTA IV would of been nice if it was more bloody 
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Fly
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| Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 12:41 pm Post subject: |
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| mikezilla2 wrote: | | the problem i see is that i and many others were led to believe that it would be a matter of something like 6 months this year based on the comments of a polly( never trust em) and PALgn my first reaction months ago was that this would take months and months to be approved wili other things have been approved much sooner no harm done tho . just hope no stones come lose |
Where's the difference in opinion?
| Quote: | | "What happens next is a long process again. It's probably going to take another couple of years before you're actually going to get an R18 that you can apply for, like a conventional classification that you have today." |
| Quote: | | "would only take a couple of months." |
Disregard the writer for the moment and deal only with the supposed quotations from the individuals involved, you have nothing but open ended language, there are no ironclad facts on the time limit for the alteration & application. "A couple" doesn't emphatically mean 2 and only 2.
Now you take the writer.
| Quote: | | David Emery, manager of applications at the Australian Classification Branch, has warned of a two year delay before the country finally sees the much needed R18+ rating. |
Factual language based on the assumption that a couple equates to 2, you then have something like;
| Quote: | Emery disagrees, pointing out the obstacles to a a quick introduction.
"The answer is that it'll probably be another couple of years before we'll be able to accept an application for an R18 game." |
This inherently shows the tone of the article, both use open ended language (a couple) they disagree on the length of time (ie a couple years is more than 1 and less than 5 (half a decade) and a couple months is less than 2 (16 months is still a couple months since the alternative is "year and a bit" and still open ended in inference.) but instead the reader is trained to dismiss the couple months statement because it's been more than 2 and believe Emery because his timeline is future proofed.
Chances are that if this stretches out, you'll have the same writer taking excerpts from this and quoting someone else who disagrees that it'll take a couple years and "realistically, due to the sheer weight of the bureaucracies and inability for the states to agree on anything without wasting several years, the fact that the documents were misplaced by civil servants and that we're around an election means that the R18+ rating is likely to be introduced in 2020."
There'll be no reference that the writer was "wrong" or "assumptive" (tell me young lady, where did I mention the number 2?) and such is printed media and the industry at present that it won't matter in the least because people only read headlines and have the mentality to watch ACA and go "OMG, emotive music makes that man evil!".
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ZNMS
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| Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 8:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Benza wrote: | | Sounds about right. Changing laws isn't a quick thing. |
What about the carbon tax? That's got through the lower house real quick.
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Benza
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| Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:21 pm Post subject: |
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| ZNMS wrote: | | Benza wrote: | | Sounds about right. Changing laws isn't a quick thing. |
What about the carbon tax? That's got through the lower house real quick. |
And you're surprised that a tax to earn the government more money gets passed quicker then a complete restructuring of an entrenched 30 yearold rating system that will cost a fortune?
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StorminNorman
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| Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 8:16 am Post subject: |
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| Fly wrote: | | Factual language based on the assumption that a couple equates to 2 |
Uh...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couple
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Benza
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| Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:26 am Post subject: |
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This might come as a shocking revelation, but people don't always use words to mean there exact dictionary definition.
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grim-one
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| Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 10:21 am Post subject: |
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| Benza wrote: | | This might come as a shocking revelation, but people don't always use words to mean there exact dictionary definition. |
Shocking! Today tonight and ACA should do an exposé! 
I can imagine you guys being really peeved if the next change of government does something to screw this R18+ over.
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Fly
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| Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 1:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Idiom
14.
a couple of, more than two, but not many, of; a small number of; a few: It will take a couple of days for the package to get there. Also, a couple. |
Mind you I'm not saying she's "wrong", I'm more saying that the media tend to use such language to tow a narrative and their specific line, you see it primarily with someone like Bolt (who's like a punch in the face with such things) where he will openly use "open" language that can be inferred multiple ways by the readers to outright slander based on his disposition or narrative. You then see when he found himself foul of the law he immediately went on the front foot with "freedom of speech" and inferred that everyone just misinterpreted his intent and he's the victim.
It's largely why I dislike the language as a whole, I can walk outside and through an unfortunate situation be sideswiped by a car, I'll cuss because in shock you don't really think about keeping up appearances or being polite and the intent will be to say "holy goddamn I could have died" but since there is a childcare centre across the road there will be individuals giving dirty glares or otherwise devaluing me because of my chosen language, they will infer a different motive, one of anger towards the driver perhaps.
When really we should be worrying less about what was said and more about how it was said, so I'm merely pointing out that the writer in this instance is towing a narrative and effectively comprehending a different intent than Emery seemingly indicates through the quotes.
You'll be hard pressed to find anyone in his position giving emphatic timelines for policy.
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somedude34
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 1:17 am Post subject: |
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I did a search to see what the latest discussion was on the R18+ rating and got here, so I hope this post is appropriate, but I was just installing the newly free to play MMO APB reloaded when I noticed its rating.
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Nietzsche
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 8:46 am Post subject: |
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Does anyone else get a bad feeling that these ratings won't change anything?
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Fetidchimp
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 8:54 am Post subject: |
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I don't think it will, the same things will still get banned as i imagine the guidelines will be much the same....and that is where it falls down for mine, not the lack of an R rating.
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Benza
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 9:07 am Post subject: |
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aren't the guidelines the same as for R18 movies?
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Fetidchimp
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 9:14 am Post subject: |
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They still have the stigma of being interactive entertainment as far as i can tell.
I would say that blitz 2 would still have been banned yet if it was a film, i doubt it
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Benza
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 9:34 am Post subject: |
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Blitz 2 was the one banned for drugs yeah?
actually wait, just looked up a more recent guideline and I see your point... That's kinda fucked.
Although it also has this wich is just confusing
| Quote: | Sexual activity may be realistically simulated. The general rule is
“simulation, yes – the real thing, no”. |
the real thing? Huh? How?
source
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Fetidchimp
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 9:43 am Post subject: |
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the funny thing about blitz 2 was that it was steroids for your players (i might add i finished the game without doing even once)
yet i was playing duke nukem and he punches down steroids, this is the main thing that urks me....
Risen banned for smoking a weed that gives you back health
Saints row 2 completely ok even though you smoke a blunt in it and it gives you back health.
The problem here is that if they ever noticed this anomaly they would go the way of evil and ban saints row 2 rather than unbanning risen
(not that it would happen but yeah, they would err on the side of caution no doubt in future)
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Fly
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 12:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Benza wrote: | Although it also has this wich is just confusing
| Quote: | Sexual activity may be realistically simulated. The general rule is
“simulation, yes – the real thing, no”. |
the real thing? Huh? How?
source |
Simulation as in a "mirror" of where you see basically everything that points to what is happening yet you don't see the pivotal instances that make it so, which is generally why you won;t see genitalia in movies, because it bumps up the rating as that is then classed as "real" since you generally see penetration. With games that generally depict that kind of stuff, you generally have an attempt at genitalia in a similar fashion that drug use is often not simulated and "real" in "here's a drug, here's a syringe / compress / etc and here's a motion of applying it" as opposed to a menu shot, voice shot and "simulation" application, which gets worse in the eyes of people when you name them after real life drugs and draw in abuse instances.
They're not talking about getting 2 people into motion suits cutting out the crotch and going "here's a few hundred, make the love for the cameras!"
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Pagan's Mind
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| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 12:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Nietzsche wrote: | | Does anyone else get a bad feeling that these ratings won't change anything? |
I get that feeling too. They've still got strict guidelines on what is allowed under the R18+ rating and I believe we might still see games getting banned just as much as they do now. I still don't think games get treated the same as other mediums like music or movies but at least the R18+ is a step in the right direction.
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