The Devil’s Tools

Censorship is an ever-present hot-button topic, and in the past 12 months the debate has become increasingly visible - from the situation around Bill Henson’s work to Labour’s proposed Internet filter, a huge amount of media space has been devoted to the issues around censorship, classification, and what constitutes inappropriate material.

And video games, despite their lack of mainstream media attention, have not escaped unscathed.

Video games are subject to the same classification process as films. In order to be distributed in Australia, they must be submitted to the Office of Film and Literature where they’re assigned a classification ranging from E – suitable for everyone - through PG – parental guidance – to MA15+. Unlike films, that’s where games stop. Any game that contains content beyond that, including high impact violence or sexual content that would be lead to an R18+ in a film is refused classification and cannot legally be sold in Australia. (As an aside, Australia is the only western country without an 18+ classification for video games.)

Arguments for and against this situation exist, and are argued across the Internet, but the system can only be changed by agreement by all state Attorney Generals, and last year, a draft paper was tabled which should have led to public consultation and hopefully to the introduction of an R18+ rating for games, bringing them in line with films.

However, the SA Attorney General, Michael Atkinson, has consistently blocked introduction of any changes to the rating system, citing concerns around violent games and their impact on children, saying “the repeated act of killing a computer-generated person or creature desensitises children to violence. It makes violence part of their everyday lives and what is especially concerning is that it is their re-creation. A child being able to watch sex and violence in a movie is damaging to the child, but the child participating in sex and violence in a computer game is worse.”

This has led, which shouldn’t be unexpected given the vocal nature of the games playing community, to a vociferous outpouring of anger against Mr Atkinson, both online and in letters and emails sent to his office.

The issue of censorship and classification is a difficult one, and studies into the real world effects of video games have largely been contradictory or inconclusive, but what does all of this mean for the people actually making the games and living inside the creative and commercial realities of the system?

The short answer is not much really.

Market-wise, Australia is a fraction the size of those in US, Europe, or Japan. Developers creating games here are, through the sheer force of numbers, focused on those areas and there is little to no incentive, other than cultural connection, in creating a game solely for the Australian market. The vast majority of the over 2000 developers in Australia are working on work-for-hire projects, creating games based on existing properties, owned by overseas companies, as tie-ins for movies or comics, and not creating original works. The risks involved in creating an R18+ rated game, and the ensuing reduction in market size, simply isn’t worth betting the farm on, and this is a fact borne out historically. If you look at the range of titles released by Australian developers, out of around 50 games developed here over the years, only one or two even come close to containing content that would nudge the R18+ rating.

So, you might say, what about independent titles - those games that are more about creatively pushing the boundaries of the medium, produced by an individual or a small team with a clearly defined aesthetic perspective? Well, it’s even less relevant for them because they’ll just avoid the OFLC all together and distribute their games on the Internet, perhaps for free, and likely finding an audience much larger than just Australia.

The reality of all of this is that censorship and classification is an inevitable part of the development of every art form. That’s not to condone it – I absolutely believe that adults should be able to create and play the games that they want – but every new medium, from novels to rock music to films to comics, is blamed for the downfall of society and is subject to some level of scrutiny and censorship, either by the industry producing it or by the government. Eventually though, people who grew up with these mediums find their way into positions of power, realise that the world didn’t fall completely apart, and turn the prongs of their pitchforks and the light of their torches onto something new. This has all happened before, and will happen again, with history showing that the only way to win is to keep creating work and cultivating patience.

And if, by chance, that doesn’t work, then there’s always an audience waiting on the other side of the world.