From:josh Prestom [Personal details omitted]
Sent:Tuesday, 15 December 2009 9:56 am
To:Classification Review
Subject:R18+ Rating Discussion Paper Response
Attachments:R18+_Discussion_Paper_Response.doc
To the Attorney-General’s Department,
Below is my Response to the discussion paper, a copy is also attached to this email as a word document.
thank you for theopportunityto voice my opinions, Iappreciateit.
Should the Australian National Classification Scheme include an R18+ classification category for computer games?
To the Attorney-General’s Department,
I am sure that many of my comments have been made in many other responses to this discussion paper, however I also wish for my voice to be herd, and appreciate the opportunity to do so.
Video games are a relatively young medium. Unlike films or music, they have not been around for a hundred years or more, however they have been here for my entire lifetime, and as such, I see them as a pastime; an important and consistent part of my life that helped my bond with my brothers, my classmates, and anyone else who shared my interests.
I am incredibly lucky, when I was a child video games where designated as a kind of toy for kids, however as that generation of kids grew up, so did their expectation for their favourite medium. I say I am lucky because the video games industry relished the opportunity to expand with these growing expectations for more mature content in video games, some of which have been very insightful, artistic, and influential on my life.
One such game series has been Metal Gear Solid. I realise that Violence in games is a controversial issue at the moment; however the creator of the MGS series has an insightful argument that, I think, proves the artistic merits of the medium:
“If you don't see the pain, you can't understand what you've done, and you'll pass through battles without taking responsibility for your actions. I don't want to ignore that. I want players to think, even if it's just a little,about whatviolence and war are." –Hideo Kojima
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I believe that people as honest and open minded as this should be allowed to make any game they wish, and that adults are entitled to a greater appreciation of real world issues that may have a very real bearing on their lives.
As to the issues raised in the discussion paper, my views are simply that the government should be wiling to embrace video games, weather you view them as good or not, they are here to stay, and facing up to that will allow you to better inform and educate people, especially parents, about the facts of video games. I also believe that in terms of policing the laws concerning R18+ rated content, video games are the safest medium out there simply because every major console this generation has parental lock features. So long as parents remain informed and take the right measures, there is no reason why inappropriate content should be played by minors within a household, weather a they managed to get there hands on it illegally or not.
This is munch more that can be said for movies, music, and even things that minors do that have been scientifically proven to be harmful to their health like smoking and heavy drinking.
Thank you for your time and I hope the remainder of the discussion goes well.