The Classification Board has stated that “drug use related to incentives or rewards” is the reason why gangster-themed MMO Crimecraft has been refused classification in Australia.
According to the Board’s report obtained by Kotaku this afternoon, Crimecraft “contains the option to manufacture, trade and self-administer legal “medicines” and illegal “boosts”… Boosts are sometimes referred to as “drugs” both in the game and in the Applicant’s submissions to the Board.”
One type of boost is called Anabolics, which the Board notes “is named after a class of proscribed drugs and that the Applicant describes boosts as “like real-life steroids”. In addition, the names of boosts mimic the chemical and colloquial names of proscribed drugs.”
The Board’s report mentions a character class called a Bio-Forger, who crafts customisable illegal boosts from “real-world items such as base chemicals, nucleotides, hormones and enzymes as well as tools and objects associated with the production or use of drugs including syringes, disposable rubber tubes and silkscreen filters.”
Interestingly, the report notes that drug use has both positive and negative effects for the player’s character, but determines that “Boosts are intended to be used to gain short-term rewards or benefits in various scenarios within the game where the negative effects are mitigated by the positive effects.”
The Board concludes that Crimecraft warrants an RC rating in accordance with item 1a) of the National Classification code, which states that games that “depict, express or otherwise deal with… drug misuse or addiction… in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults… will be Refused Classification.”
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