Undead Labs has announced, via its Facebook page, that it has now resubmitted State of Decay to the Australian Classification Board.
State of Decay had previously been refused classification for its explicit drug use, but according to Undead Labs the team has made a few adjustments to the game for Australian audiences.
“Stimulants out!”Supplements” in,” read the statment. “Who could possibly not like vitamins? They’re good for you. Anyway, we’re feeling pretty optimistic about our chances.”
It’s probably worth noting that Fallout 3 suffered similar issues at the hands of the Classification Board, but managed to get the game classified after changing the names of some of its ‘supplements’ in the game. Hopefully that sets some sort of precedent for State of Decay, but in the world of classification there really is no such thing as precedent.
Hopefully this is enough to get the game through.
Thanks Damian!
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50 responses to “State Of Decay Has Been Resubmitted To The Classification Board”
If Pokemon can use Calcium, Protein and Carbos to boost their stats, then so can zombie slaying survivalist dudes… right?
The Classification Board’s approach to drug use in games is completely arbitrary and I’ll be quite happy the day someone comes to their senses and changes it.
I think the fact that they can basically say “stimulants out, supplements in” and get it approved (assuming it is approved) is the best evidence we have of a systemic issue in relation to the classification of drug references/usage in video games.
It’s the Sherry Bobbins approach.
I approve of what you did there
Ice as a performance enhancer isn’t ‘arbitrary’. In fact it’s pretty black and white, if you actually look at the rules.
If all you need to do to get it past the classification board is change the name from Ice to Vitamins or Elixir, then it is arbitrary.
Or you could look at science.
One time when I was young and stupid and working 72hr weeks (because they actually let me and I loved overtime money), I was having a serious problem with maintaining energy. I went in to a pharmacist and asked them if they had anything that could keep me awake and alert at work, and they gave me a pack of no-doz.
Reading the label, I was incredibly annoyed to discover that no-doz was just caffeine, when I was already on a steady stream of coffee, coke, and energy drinks every half hour. I complained to the pharmacist, “You’re kidding me right? With all the things we’ve been able to achieve with the miracle of modern pharmacology, you’re telling me with haven’t come up with something that increases alertness and energy more effectively than caffeine?”
The pharmacist laughed bitterly and sighed, “No, we definitely have come up with something like that. It’s called speed.” (I took an entire pack of no-doz in desperation later, and it didn’t make me any less tired or give me any energy, but it sure as hell kept me alert because I had the shakes so bad I felt if I didn’t rigidly and consciously control my breathing and heart rate, I would die. Like I said… young and stupid.)
People freaking out about the few individuals who would kill themselves or turn to crime through irresponsible usage (despite the fucking hypocritical attitude towards the far more lethal and socially-expensive drugs that are in cigarettes and alcohol) is what leads to idiot knee-jerk reactions like this banning of a completely plausible (even likely and useful) solution to some of the problems facing survivors in a FICTIONAL zombie apocalypse.
…Or like taking away pseudoephedrine from our medications, leaving us only able to use a fucking placebo.
God, I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks phenylephrine is bullshit. Every time a chemist tells me it works the same as pseudo, I roll my eyes and go somewhere else. I might as well snort a line of crushed panadol.
Go to a naturopa…..
Bahahahahahaha I fucking kid. I KID. seriously. May as well piss your money into the wind before you see one of them…
The last time I tried to buy proper sudafed or similar, and was offered the ‘PE’ version they’re allowed to stock, I fixed them with a stare of disapproval and asked, “Do you sell sugar pills as well? Which one is cheaper?” The chemist looked very sheepish, which I later felt guilty about (hey, they don’t make the rules).
You can buy these things online, apparently, but they require a prescription, which… y’know. Screw paying the gap to go to my GP for that. I’m wondering if maybe it’s worth booking a bulk-billing appointment at some point JUST to get a prescription for in future when I actually need it.
All because someone might rob a pharmacy and steal chemicals which can be used to make drugs. Cheese’n’Rice…
Caffeine pills? Didn’t you learn anything from that one episode of Saved by the Bell?
Saved by the… good grief. I may have blocked that out. Along with most of the late 80s and early 90s.
I agree, except those are supplements. State of Decay currently has a lot of meds named after existing prescription, over the counter and illegal drugs, as well as funny or relevant descriptions on their use.
Personally I don’t see the problem, but at the same time I can also see why someone would decide to deny classification.
I do also wonder if it isn’t directed so much at 18+ players, but the many children who’s parents have no idea what they play and allow them to buy the game without checking it’s rating.
On the other side, I do think they are protecting people from stuff they can find in plenty of films, TV or on the net already.
We are to blame slightly too, we pushed for an R18+ rating and got it, but many of us did not bother to read up on the classification and it’s range and use
The whole point of an adult rating is to advise parents to do precisely the opposite of that. The black label is supposed to inspire the same restraint as when one purchases a bottle of alcohol, or dare-I-say-it a feature film under the same rating, for a minor. Not to mention stores are supposed to conduct ID checks on likely customers when selling adults-only goods.
As far as I’m concerned, the game can be packed with all of the drug references and violence that it wants, but so long as it doesn’t contain anything blatently illegal (child pornography), and we have an ‘adult’ rating for it, then refusal of classification shouldn’t be an issue in the slightest, because it’s a game made for adults and we have an adult rating. The ceiling really doesn’t go any higher.
The problem is that we don’t have an adult rating. We have a reskinned MA15 rating, and a classification board that presumes to do our parenting for us instead of being the advisor that they are supposed to be. Sure, some parents completely ignore the rating, but in that case they only have themselves to blame if their child is exposed to material they’re not quite ready for yet. It’s stupid that we’re still completely banning games from entering the country because the classification board wants to make sure that everything under the “adult” rating is suitable for children in some respect.
Unrelated to this story but I never realised the name of the studio was Undead Labs.
With a name like “Undead Labs”, you’re kinda doomed to be making zombie games for eternity, aren’t you? Well, I suppose Vampire or Mummy games are an option…
Why? Naughty Dog don’t only make puppy training simulators.
Sif Crash Bandicoot isn’t a puppy training simulator…
It isn’t? No wonder my dog is so screwed up.
And so very very dizzy.
Favorite comment on the internet all day. 😀
NetherRealm studios made Injustice. No dramas there.
They added Scorpion as DLC though 🙂
That’s true
Pfft Roger Ramjet taught me that taking performance enhancing drugs to violently solve your problems was the way to achieve greatness, and THAT wasn’t banned!
Don’t forget Captain America
Oh man what I would give for a Roger Ramjet video game!
That is hilarious. And sad. “Stimulants” being changed to “supplements” – thank goodness somebody is protecting the
children… um… adults?How did you strike that word out? Teach me wise puck! Teach me!
“strike” and then “/strike” at the end, but instead of quotes, you use pointy brackets like this < and >
Ah, so just basic html. What other html does it accept?
EDIT: Guess just strike works. Neato.
Well apart from bolding with b, and italicising with i and even underlining with u, but those are all buttons.
And there’s a way to do a spoiler, but I can’t figure it out. EDIT: And I’m an idiot, and it’s a toggle too, “s” obviouslyI can’t help but wonder about the younger generation in Aus. Medicine BAD. Oh.. you have a disease or virus?! Never mind the doctor. Woolworths has the cure for what ails ya 😐
I know that if I break my leg, I’m going to ask that they give me Med X.
I’m pretty sure it would be much more beneficial for you to eat 47 apples and drink from a toilet.
Might as well be the case right now. Last time I had some lacerations which required stitches I got a student doctor (with a pretty smoking hot supervisor overseeing) who stabbed me a dozen times with the needle trying to get the local in to a point where it would actually take effect. Supervisor doc had to take over, and even she had trouble. They stabbed me so many times I wondered what the point was, when they could’ve just been doing the stitches.
More amusing: the stuff wore off within minutes, while the student doc was fumbling around losing his initial needle (dropped it on the bloody floor) and having to get a new, sterile one, and a fresh connection to the sutures.
Through slightly gritted teeth I asked, “How long is that anesthetic supposed to last?” and the two doctors glanced at each other, then their watches, then back to each other, then gave me uncomfortable looks.
“Would, uh… would you like some more?”
Not real happy with the thought of getting perforated another dozen times in a vain attempt to re-medicate I asked how many stitches were left to go. Since it was only another dozen to go, I told them give me a sec to grab a few sticks of gum to chew on, and it’d be helpful if the supervisor could undo her top button. (Which she did. And yes: it did make for a great distraction from the pain.)
Couldn’t really complain, though… the guy in the bed next to me had half his fingers hanging off by a thread from an industrial accident. Makes a few cuts seem like sissy business.
I enjoyed this story.
Given that the whole ‘supplements’ industry is widely unregulated this should pass with flying colours!
Peptides FTW?
Yet they allow all these BS supplements that are nothing but snake skin oil on our supermarket shelves? Sense this system does not make.
Just think of it as a “stupidity tax” and you might not feel so much rage 🙂
I read your last sentence in the voice of Yoda.
Does anyone have an idea on the turn around for them to relook at the changes?
Considering the last review (following the submission of extra material) was about three weeks, and it took them about three weeks to ask for more material following the original submission, I’m guessing it’ll be around two to three weeks.
No wuckers, Mark.
I’m glad these guys didn’t have a conniption fit and pull a L4D. They seem to be very “in-touch” with their community.
Despite the odd bugs, the trial was quite fun, and will be picking this up when it lands here. I could have bought the US edition, but that would have meant buying as many points as I’d kept on my AU account – and this did not excite me.
Fucking puritanical, holier-than-thou, narcissistic, arrogant review board, deciding they have the right to impose their beliefs on us… I wouldn’t spit on them if they were on fire.
I’d look for an adequate source of water or something non-flammable which could smother the flames while advising them to stop, drop, and roll, and calling for an ambulance.
…I’m not a monster.
But what would you give them for the pain, stimulants or supplements?
Whoa there, the review board is just enforcing classification legislation. It’s past governments that designed what they can and can’t allow into Australia.
But spitting on something if it was on fire remains a very bad idea…
Ohyes. Completely ineffective, not to mention potentially dangerous. Which is why I wouldn’t do it.
Just beat this game and the only “stimulants” I found were “energy drinks” and one bottle of “trucker pills”. They did nothing but keep my character’s stamina up for another 30 minutes or so.
Most of the healing items are real world painkillers, so that might still cause issues with our pathetic classification board.
At least they aren’t releasing a “low violence” version.
\o/
Yay! Believable alternatives! Well, vitamins are about as likely to actually heal a serious flesh wound as morphine is.
This shouldn’t have been banned in the first place. Classification shouldn’t allow games to banned entirely, they should be classified so we can decide for ourselves.
While I think Australian Classification needs a kick in the butt (I mean still telling Adults they aren’t ready for adult things…still…fuck off) the devs have a HUGE responsibility to actually meet ESTABLISHED FUCKING RULES. We can get on our high horses all we want, doesn’t change the fact that not abiding by a clearly defined list of restrictions is on Undead Labs.
How is it Undead Labs supposed to know that Australia and only Australia would refuse classification?
The game was approved almost everywhere but here. And when you have titles like Saint’s Row (booze and weed use.. APPROVED), Max Payne (use of painkillers in 2001… APPROVED) and Fallout 3 (Morphine that had to be renamed but it was still friggin’ Morphine…eventually APPROVED)… Undead Labs, in my opinion, did nothing wrong.
It’s this utterly pathetic nanny state and the apparently new-but-no-different R18+ rating that has MANY questions to answer. They never will though so my only hope is the game is approve and I don’t have to make a US account.
I’m gonna bang some Ice and play the crap out of this game!
Well obviously if you have multiple lacerations and a suspected broken ankle after a narrow escape from a hoard of zombies a couple of vitamin B tablets and a little echinacea will see you right.
Ignoring that every 2nd person you found in Metal Gear Solid 4 was injecting themselves with a stimulant. Whole game was about addicts starting a war to get their fix.
Here’s hoping the 2nd time is a success. It’s ridiculous that Max Payne, a 2001 title long before an R18+ rating was even a hope, the player used ‘painkillers’ has health.. even if they were renamed ‘payne killers’ (not sure but someone said this). It’s 2013!!! This title is proof that the R18+ rating hasn’t changed a damn thing. UGH!! This nanny state.