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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.""
Again, another government stepping in where parents and society in general should be the authority.
Isn't it ironic though that the point of the game is to fight government corruption and promote freedom of expression.
Australia doesn't like graffiti much ... a while back they started putting spray cans behind locked doors in hardware stores and art supply shops to stop them being stolen - because of course the only tool you can use to graffiti with is a spray can. Might even be an ID age check when you buy them. Not being a graffiti artist myself I don't know the full details.
An Australian MMORPG under development - http://restlessworld.hidden-waters.com
I think we have long gone past the point were censorship of this nature will have any effect. What with bittorrent and other P2P networks, people will still be able to obtain copies. And by making such a big deal of it, all the authorities have done is made it into the latest 'must have' computer game.
And I would love to read their position paper (which will apparently get relaeased) soon that explains the majority and minority positions. I cannot understand how they feel that they should ban this game and yet allow violent movies to not be banned.
...that they were concerned the game would promote THE OTHER aspect of the gameplay?
Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
So Spraying a tag on a wall is worse than the old knee-to-the-solar-plexus move? Chigago-Curb-Job? Columbian Necktie?
That makes me very sad. We teach our kids that violence is cool, acceptable, exciting, fun.
Then we complain about all the violence in the streets.
If you want to ban a game, please ban it for excessive violence, not for some paint sprayed on walls.
The Bigger The Headache The Bigger the Pill
No you don't, at least not in Sydney. Anyway I don't see how something like this *really* actually fuels graffiti. I'm one of those people who thinks that GTA doesn't fuel people going around shooting everybody, and like the designer said, it's not that hard to draw on a wall, and if a kid wants to do it he doesn't need a game to show him how.
Quoth the Simpsons:
Meyers: I did a little research and I discovered a startling thing...
There was violence in the past, long before cartoons were invented.
Kent: I see. Fascinating.
Meyers: Yeah, and know something, Kent? The Crusades, for instance.
Tremendous violence, many people killed, the darned thing went
on for thirty years.
Kent: And this was before cartoons were invented?
Meyers: That's right, Kent.
It used to be music that everyone said was a bad influence, now it is Video games.
I love the following Frank Zappa quotation.
"There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do
something we'd all love one another."
-- Frank Zappa
Not exactly the same, but close enough if we replace love songs with first person shooters and....
Nevermind
Was Jet Set Radio banned in Australia?
What they have basically done, then, is turned this game into an instant automatic hit. Everybody in Australia will want a copy of this game now, because it's illegal. And they will get copies of it. Either paid-up ones, sent in an innocuous music CD box by friends or relatives abroad; or, much more likely, pirated copies. {Does anybody actually pay for games? I suppose there must be one or two.} Everybody outside Australia will want a copy because it's been banned in Australia.
All things considered, this is a fantastic marketing stunt.
My proposed solution, by the way, is to ban all sales of video games to {but not possession by} minors. That way, parents and guardians get to decide what is and isn't appropriate.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
So it's ok to "promote" shooting people, running people down and using / abusing prostitutes (GTA and plenty of others)but it's not ok to "promote" tagging a wall.
GTA was banned in Australia too
Hmmmm we have a very weird society.
I'm not sure whether you're talking about the USA or Australia - you seem a little confused. (but yes, they're both quite weird)
My pics.
In Japan, no game really gets publically banned for being violent or degrading (other than the pubes-mosiac thing), but then there is little violence in society and next to no graffiti. There is no fear of violence ever influencing anybody.
The logic goes that maybe if there was less graffiti and less violence in Australia, then we could have violent games and nobody would care about any influence.
Seems to me that the outside world influences video games more than the other way around.
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
Actually, being Melbourne (aus) resident, I must admit I actually *like* the graffiti in a lot of places (but not the taggers... definitely not the taggers). Especially the more colourful, stylistic stuff livening up the bland concrete walls next to train lines... it adds colour and humanity to otherwise drab, dreary surrounds, and mostly doesn't cause any harm to anyone. And besides, even at it worst, is it really any worse than the current plague of malformed concrete lumps... sorry, I meant to say modern architectural masterpieces (yes federation square, that means you)... currently blighting the landscape hereabouts?
"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."
Gee, for a minute I thought they had concerns the game would promite violence, but *pfew*, violence is still normal, and accepted.
Never underestimate the relief of true separation of Religion and State.
Games are known for allowing people to act out things they could never do in real life -- jumping cars, playing world-class sports, killing monsters and bad guys, but not graffiti! Hell no! Simulating doing graffiti is not allowed!
Too bad you guys don't have a Supreme Court that recognizes unlimited freedom of speech, including expression in game design (or mere game playing, in this case.)
And Moderators, I home you enjoy living somewhere where you're permitted by the government to mod me flamebait.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.