Graffiti Game Banned in Australia

afaik_ianal writes "The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that 'Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure' has been banned in Australia. The game involves battling the authorities to overthrow corrupt officials using only street fighting skills and graffiti. From the article, "The decision was endorsed last night by the Federal Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, who had asked the board to review of the game's MA15+ classification after local councils and state governments voiced concerns that the game would promote graffiti.""

Comments

GREAT!

[Anonymous Coward]

"Multimillionaire US fashion designer Marc Ecko has slammed the Federal Government's decision to ban his new video game."

Good - there's too much of a graffiti problem already in Australia - no sense selling it to teens.

Re:Riiight .....

[Shag]

Everybody outside Australia will want a copy because it's been banned in Australia.

"Oooh! Look at me! I'm doing something that would be illegal in Australia!"

Um... no. It doesn't quite work that way. Apologies to any Aussies, but aside from having cute koalas, funny bouncy kangaroos, Crocodile Dundee, and Nemo, and a whole lot of things that sort of emulate UK things (what with the whole Commonwealth thing, and the UK actually being a powerful nation and all that, and thus worth emulating if you're into that sort of thing) which in turn sort of emulate American things (reiterate powerful-nation bit), Australia just doesn't figure into the cultural zeitgeist of the northern hemisphere that strongly. And it rather specifically doesn't figure into that zeitgeist within the US, where people may remember Men At Work and Midnight Oil, but are less likely than their European counterparts to remain unconfused at the mention of either Minogue sister or Yahoo Serious. ;)

Also, we've got plenty of laws of our own to violate. I should've honeymooned in South Carolina, where antimiscegenation laws were still on the books for 2 years after my wedding. :)

A cure for grafitti

[DrXym]

Any tagger who is caught should have all of their property defaced with gloss paint - their shoes, clothes, music, everything. Just empty a tin of the stuff all over their property and see how they like it.

Australia, the new China?

[Winterblink]

Feel free to express yourself, as long as you don't challenge the authorities or what the government tells you is appropriate! I mean come on.