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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 guess kids will have to stick to the real thing.
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
I'm in a bind about this. What most people don't know is that Australia lacks an Adults only game rating, so any game unsuitable for people between 16 and 17 must be banned, as 15+ is the hardest rating. This was the reason for the banning of games such as GTA3 (before changes) and BMX XXX. I'm torn on this issue, because I don't believe these games are suitable for kids under 18, and so by Aussie law, they're banned. Sure, it's up to the parents, but a game can't be rated 18+, so any 16yo would be able to get his hands on any game without parental consent. In summary, the ban is correct under Australian law (we should by no means lower the rating of titles to get them oin shelves), but the OFLC needs an 18+ rating, pronto.
There are 10 kinds of people in this world: those who understand binary, and nine other kinds of people.
I've got an idea for a character in the next version of the game.
But seriously, most of the games out there promote violence, road rage, all kinds of stuff, and they can still be sold. What makes graffiti so important?
http://michaelsmith.id.au
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
The real issue, once again, is that Australia don't have the equivalent of the UK's "18" or US "M" for games, so the highest possible rating is the aforementioned MA15+. So games like the GTA series are already banned there.
Since the game involves just as much violence against policemen as GTA does, and the only non-violent aspect to the game is the vandalism, my only surprise is that they considered it possible for an MA15+ in the first place.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Was Jet Set Radio banned in Australia?
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. Hmmmm we have a very weird society.
I used to have a better sig but it broke.
Sorry, the form heading said "Reply to: Philip Ruddock" and I got carried away by the moment....
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
"The game [that] involves battling the authorities to overthrow corrupt officials..." "...has been banned by authorities"
Rich
Yup, you can be carded (16+) before you can buy spray paint. I've been refused in the past when Dad sent me to buy black spraypaint for a building job.
The indiscriminate use of vulgar language is the linguistic crutch of the inarticulate motherfucker
The lack of an 18 rating was tangential to the issue at hand. (And GTA is not banned here, we have a modified version, though I got mine from New Zealand :)
This game was not banned because it featured graffiti in a fashion similar to how GTA features violence. It was because it (apparantly) contains material that is instructional rather than a shallow representation like the violence in GTA (or graffiti in Jet Set Radio Future). It wasn't considered to "promote" illegal behaviour simply because it represented that behaviour, but because it gave realistic instruction. The issue of promoting illegal behaviour is independant of the age rating so to suggest the game wouldn't be banned if there were an 18 rating is not really true.
All that according to the woman who cast the deciding vote who was on Hack today.
Which isn't to say I agree with the decision. I think it stinks!
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
Jet Set Radio Future.
And it was done better than this dreck will be.
Read Errant Story.
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!
Wasn't that to stop "chroming"? Kids getting high on the fumes? I seem to recall Extra did a nice big story on it, and then a short while later they put the restrictions in place.
5 61498638.htmls 1504831.htm
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/23/1034
http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/qld/content/2005/
I've never understood the whole idea behind banning video games and trying to blame them for various social problems. That's giving games much more influential power than they, or any form of media, ever has had. Really, if someone decides to spray paint just because they've been playing this game, they have other problems unrelated to video games. Parents should be regulating the games that come into their home, because they are the only ones who know if THEIR child is mature enough to understand them. It's not up to the government... And plus, the people in power today see video games as "new" and "confusing." Maybe when people raised on Atari, Nintendo, etc gain political power, we won't see such a witch-hunt on games.
I lived in Melbourne for nearly five years, and I used to really enjoy looking at the graffiti whilst on boring train journeys. I'd MUCH rather look at the graffiti - some of which is absolutely amazing - than a plain, blank grey wall for an hour, but that's just me I suppose.
It would be a much better use of time if they could stop the trains on the Frankston line smelling like stale piss.
"Proudly Posting Without Reading The Article"
From someone who lives here, here's the deal with what gets banned (as in games), and the GTA oddities: GTA 3 was released here, uncut. Then they found out about the prostitutes, and revoked classification- forcing a recall
After this, the game was edited to remove the prostitute functionality and re-released, conforming to Aus standards. The reason the prostitutes were removed was NOT because of the sexual content, rather, it was because of the very strict rules we have here about sex and violence. It was the fact you could kill hookers after sex that had the game censored.
Vice city was pre-edited by the developers and had NO sex (the Candy Suxx FMV's were fucked up) Pardon the pun.
GTA:SA came out WITH hookers, unedited. I have no idea how/why this happened.
Generally games are censored here when sex and violence is mixed, IN ANY WAY. Duke Nukem 3D was censored because you could shoot the strippers.
I dont understand the logic of this banning though
R & X cannot be used to classify games - MA is the maximum. From your link (emphasis mine): "Films and computer games are now classified G, PG, M or MA 15+. Films can also be classified R 18+ or X 18+. R 18+ and X 18+ are not classifications for computer games."
No, we don't.
From the FIRST PARAGRAPH of the link you so helpfully supplied:
"R 18+ and X 18+ are not classifications for computer games."
Forget RTFA -- this is more RYOFL.
...It looks like the only way to beat these corrupt officials is with street fighting skills and graffiti! Everybody was kung foo fighting WHAH! HOO HAH!
(I don't know any lyrics for spray painting).
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
Spray paint is 18+, some stores had other codes voluntairly before that however. Knives and knife blades are only 16+ however.
The only differences this decision will have on the game in Australia are:
1. Increased popularity of the game
2. Lower profits to the manufacturer
3. Larger US/AU bandwidth usage for a few weeks.
That's about it really.
EMail: 0110001101100010010000000110001101110010 0110000101111010011011100110000101110010 0010111001100011011011110110
Really? Where? I was at Home Depot yesterday and walked down an entire aisle of spray paint and didn't see a lock anywhere in sight. The locks were 3 aisles over next to the doors.
I'm on the Hurstbridge line and we get some great graffiti too (our trains also smell like piss). it's always such a shame when someone puts a giant tag over a nice piece of artwork. I see signs everywhere saying "Tagging is illegal" but I don't see anywhere "Graffiti is illegal". Interesting.
I actually like the fact that they spend time cleaning the walls that are covered in graffiti. I take the train every day and it gives me some fresh graffiti to look at. And clears of the ugly black tags.
Although Connex could certainly do with spending their money elsewhere.
being vague is almost as cool as doing that other thing...
And its predecessor Jet Set Radio on the Dreamcast. Damn. That was a good game, with maybe the greatest soundtrack ever in a video game.
Lets say they should also forbid all the games where private or public property is damaged in any way. In addition to every game where lifelike things are damaged in any way. phew. Breakout... Are these public walls you are destroying brick for brick?
"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.
And from that day forward no graffiti was ever sprayed on the walls of Australia again. The clean grey concrete canyons were the envy of the rest of the world where no other nation had the foresight to ban this evil computer game.
Don't put off until tomorrow what you can leave until the day after.
You dont need a license to carry a gun in public, you only need alicense for certain kinds of guns.
People, this is VERY country and state specific.
For example, in my state of ND, the ultra-short list:
1. Open carry of unloaded firearms is legal, except for prohibited areas. No permit needed. Once you're out of the city/large town or on a firing range it can be loaded.
2. Possession of firearms: The only firearms that you need a 'license' for is fully automatic ones. They must be federally legal, which means you pay a $200 tax, submit a huge load of paperwork and wait months. Oh, and the machinegun has to have been in the registry system before 1986, which is when they closed the registry to new personal entries.
3. Concealed Carry of firearms: Permit needed. If you can buy a gun and pass a fairly easy written & shooting test you got it. This allows you to carry a loaded firearm however you like. Still can't carry in prohibited areas.
4. Prohibited areas: Government buildings, schools, school events, concerts, sporting events, political events.
To make a point, open carry is illegal in Texas, California has banned a number of firearms, in New Jersey possession of Hollow Point bullets are illegal for non-cops.
I don't read AC A human right
So, I guess it was banned by those corrupt officials, eh?
The difference is that most kids know that killing is wrong, and won't kill someone because of that (as opposed to not killing someone solely because they might get caught). But a lot of kids put graffiti in the same category as underage smoking/drinking, smoking marijuana, shoplifting, and other nonviolent offenses. Nobody gets injured by graffiti and vandalism, so it seems more like a victimless crime, and so a kid's sense of morality is more likely to be swayed by peer pressure and media influence.
I'm not saying the game should be banned. Freedom of speech and all that. But I am saying that games like Getting Up and Tony Hawk's Underground 2 should be rated closer to the adult end of the scale by the ESRB and that retailers should take this rating into account when selling games directly to minors. I'm also saying that developers should think about the impact that their work has on society and make an informed decision about whether they're handling things responsibly, rather than just thinking, "Man, this is sweet!" and charging forward.
Many outside of Australian would know of a major political issue surrounding an abortion drug. Our health minister overided our medication authority to ban the drug and a conscious vote (non party binding) was held over a minister's ability to override certain decisions. And now (although on an issue of lesser scale) another minister is overriding the decision of an authority, our ratings board. It seems utterly stupid that a single man or women's opinion can affect an entire nation's ability to choose. Games that involve murder have drug themes and other anti-social behaviour is allowed, yet a game involves an art, no matter how controversial, is disallowed. The very reason we live in a democracy is so we can choose, and a single person's opinion/belief/religion isn't forced onto us. By minister having the power to override authority's decisions, we lose our choice.
The fresh piss has been on back-order for ages.
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.
Try the original on the dreamcast... Maybe you should point out it was the first cell shading game and had one of the best sound tracks of any game ever made.
To graffiti you had to do simple chains on the joystick and to finish a level you'd have to graffiti over another gangs or all the propaganda by the cops/secret organisations etc. It was fun and didn't encourage me to go spray paint walls, just gave me a lot of cool songs to hum to myself and a newart style to play with.
It's a game that hasn't aged a day since it came out.. yet you credit the sequal on the Xbox because..?
I like muppets.
City officials attempt to shut down game that trains people how to overthrow Corrupt City officials.
God spoke to me.
So computer game names are voted on sort of like UN resolutions? Most country votes wins? The US version is Jet Grind Radio. You corrected me like a smartass because you didn't know. Get over it. I hope the time you spent looking up each terriories variation for your response was educational. You made the fact that you did pretty obvious by splitting up PAL and 'Aussie'. I patiently await your thirty-second Google researched response on how I'm now incorrect about the passing of UN Resolutions.