That’s the view of Tom Crago, president of the Game Developers Association of Australia. Crago says it makes us the butt of a lot of jokes within the industry.
Speaking on radio station 3RRR (as reported by ITWire), Crago says that lack of an R18+ category in our classification system is the biggest problem.
“It’s ridiculous because it assumes that games are fundamentally different to film and outrageous in that it assumes that adults shouldn’t be allowed to access adult content in video games.
“And of course it is a fundamentally broken system in that games that should be classified R being shoehorned into the [MA 15+]classification, which means you get a 16 or 15 year old, who really shouldn’t be able to play a particular type of game actually able to play that game, under the age of 18.”
Crago says he believes the system will eventually change and he is counting the days until common sense prevails.
“We need some form of classification system don’t we? But it needs to be relevant; it needs to move with the times. It needs to recognise that people’s leisure habits change, and people that are accessing content evolve, and we are looking at a video game industry that is very different from what it was twenty years ago.”
Crago’s comment come in the same week we saw yet another game refused classification. Risen, a fantasy RPG from German developer Piranhan Bytes, was seen to include “sexual activity and drug use related to incentives or rewards.” Such content is beyond the guidelines of the MA15+ category, currently the highest rating allowed in Australia. However, Risen has been classified and will be widely available in all other major gaming markets throughout the world.
GDAA President, Australia’s game classification system is a joke [ITWire]
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