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Legal Trouble For MMOs In Australia
Zonk tips a story at Massively that has uncovered a potential legal controversy in Australia where some MMOs are concerned. Under Australian law, all games require a formal rating to be sold. Due to an oversight, many MMOs do not carry such a rating, yet they have been sold since release without anyone realizing the problem. "According to the Act, selling a single copy of an unclassified game attracts a penalty of AU$27,220.80 or two years. Selling unclassified games in commercial quantities (50 or more) can have a much steeper schedule of penalties, and additional penalties apply to advertising unclassified material, or simply omitting the correct ratings labels on the merchandise. ... publishers and distributors at some point misunderstood their obligations with respect to MMOG classifications in Australia, and operated under the belief that no such rating was required here." Reader Clomer points out that this has been brought to the attention of the Australian media, so hopefully the issue will be resolved soon.
Adults should be free to buy whatever the hell games they want. Requiring a rating on games, movies, music, etc, is just censorship by another name.
How we know is more important than what we know.
As long as there are politicians in need of a platform to rant on in order to get elected, nonsense like this will happen.
Since the overwhelming majority of people neither play, or possibly even understand, computer games, its a soft touch for some 'fear inducement' followed by 'and I can save the children from it'.
Thus far it hasn't stopped the games industry raking in billions over the years, nor will it in the future.
A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
I was led to believe that the Aussies were criminal types that we kicked out and the first American Colonists were people who were too uptight even for us English types.
So why then do we have the Aussies being uptight about foolish things and the Americans being pretty chilled out about most things?
My belief in stereotypes has been shattered!
Uh, perhaps you can help me? I'm looking for a love-potion aerosol, that I can spray on a certain Penthouse Pet, to obta
AU$27,220.80 or two years? I for one vote for doing things like in the old days: Just send all the convicts to Australia...
Since Australians verge into two categories, the normal Australians with sense (a rarity) and the racist blundering idiots, I simply couldn't care.
Lock them out and watch them cry when they can't get anything a normal western county has. It's not economically worth it to be there.
I don't get how this happens.
Most MMO publishers (at least the ones who sell games on store shelves) also publish other games. If they know their other games need a rating, how did they not do this for MMO's?
Game retailers in AUS know to only stock rated games. How did they not know MMO's needed to be rated?
The ratings board knows to rates games. Did they just not notice a large group of games?
TFA is somewhat silent on this, other than "it happened." Baffling.
The white racists who vote democrat are simply more circumspect about their racism. Instead of burning crosses, they've spent the last 40 years getting most blacks to believe that they could not EVER succeed without the government slamming the door open for them, not to mention undermining the black family at every step of the way through welfare policies that have made the presence of fathers economically unnecessary.
I'd also like to point out that David Duke was a Democrat until 1988 and Robert Byrd, the most senior Democrat in Congress, was a grand-something-or-other in the KKK. You don't get to where Byrd was in the KKK if there is even a hint that you're sitting the fence on what you think black people are. Yet, somehow, even though he has used a certain n word "by accident" on national television, he is simply regarded by most Democrats in power as "senior constitutional scholar."
publishers and distributors at some point misunderstood their obligations ... or did their lawyers simply say "hey I think we can get away with this, some others already in this arena are doing it!" I find it hard to believe a whole squadron of expensive suits "overlooked" this.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Does giving a freeware or opensource game fall under that law?
Start selling games as academic, sociological research tools. I don't think you need a rating on those.
Does the law cover rented or leased games? You don't actually "buy" a MMO, you pay a monthly fee to play.
How will people know about it if it can't be released?
The Internet, unless Australia goes Chinese on us.
If it's really minor it'd be trivial to fix. Seems to me like there's deliberate intent to keep that bug (or is it a feature) in place. That would indeed be censorship.
Even if it's not deliberate, it is censorship. Not "censorship by another name", but actual bona fide 100% pure unmitigated unadulterated pasteurized homogenized censorship.
The GP (drsmithy) is absolutely correct that a ratings system is not itself an instance of censorship. But once you stand up and say "all games whose content is in (nonempty) category X are illegal to sell" then you've instituted censorship. That might not be a bad thing (depending on what category X is) but it should be as clear as vodka that the act of banning is censorship but the ratings system is not.
Is there even a rating system available when someone sells a game via the iTunes Store? Are all iPhone/iPod touch game developpers world-wide targeted for lawsuits from the Australian government?!
I think that Australia should just fine each involved company to the max. They shouldn't give any of them a "free pass." As long as they make the entire industry that tired to dance around the law by ignoring it the same or similar punishment, then it'd be mostly favor.
If the Australian government wants to make video games unprofitable for them, then more power to them. The effect could be an entire industry boycotting a country though. Or worse, use Australia as the "bad guys" in the next series of games instead of Nazis, USSR, evil Arabians, or space aliens.
We've got silly, but effective lobbies here in the US. I can't really complain about the ones that they are stuck with. If they, upset the Australian citizens enough, the Australian Citizens will make new lobbies to get easier or broader ratings.
Heck, I'm constantly stunned when I watch G & PG stuff now. It seems like stuff that's getting G would have gotten a PG, and the PG stuff would have been PG-13 back when I was a kid. PG-13 seems close to what the NC-17 used to be. NC-17 used to be the anime rating. Now they show that on cartoon network.
It's not that I care for me when I watch a stupid Disney G movie. I just liked knowing that standard was fairly kid safe. Heck, it seems like I can't even trust Veggie Tales to be kid safe. Well, atleast I can let them play my old school games. Nope, there's Smash TV and Metal Slug in there! O.k. we are sticking with FF. Nope, there is some language in there. O.k. less than 5 words through 5 series, but still.
Blizzard didn't put any Oceanic servers actually in the region! That's why all of the lag!
So, question. They say that Australian stores will not be able to stock said games...but can the public still purchase them online?
Highest incidence of alcohol related brain shrinkage in the world.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
... the MMO's penalize YOU!
I don't understand why Australia hates the internet so much.
To Australia:
Stop hating internet and stop sticking your heads inside wild animals mouths. Remember chicks dig internet and solid craniums.
I am the lawn!
Yes, it's not like 97% of American teens play computer games or over 50% of American adults
I'm all for the argument being pro gamers, but your talking about Fox News here...
How does this law effect independent game developers?
Australia has been selling unclassified MMO's for years. No one cared... until now.
The article by Massively has just painted a big bulls eye around these MMO's. By generating the controversy, it has caused the problem
The organisation which classifies games for sale in australia does not have a rating system for games without a single player component. Basically they dont believe Multi Player only games require a rating.
This is compounded by the fact that the game sales law which require all games to have a rating are very old (1980's) and are very vague.
so in order to resolve the problem... MMO's not only have to be rated, but the laws need to be changed so that they can actually be classified as a game under law (from my understanding aus law only recognises games with a single player component as "games")
You are obviously not very familiar with the Australian Media.
"This game is ILLEGAL in Australia. Is YOUR child playing it? Details at 6"
"Police aware of rampant smuggling operation, do nothing"
"Software smugglers face decades in prison if caught"
"Prime Minister announces new anti-terrorism/unclassified games task force"
This is outrageous.
People should have the right to play whatever game they want.
The whole 'if we don't define it it is illegal' is the same as like, I've got categories of books, and if I don't define it, its illegal. Its a book. It is expression. No, this isn't the US. But, Australia is supposedly a 'free' country.
Rating systems are dangerous. We end up with things like pointed out above, boobs illegal, flamethrowers aren't? Why? Because somebody with "moral standards" stood up to "protect."
Rating is basically just a glorified morality judgment. It isn't about development level, its not about what children can understand or not, or the effects of specific introductions of concepts or play types on the brain. Its simply about what "Mr. God-wants-the-children-pure" thinks should be whatever rating.
So you claim to live in the land of convicts in other posts, then you post that stupid bullshit. If the ratings weren't there to restrict games, then why do they on your bullshit Island?
Classification does not equate to censorship per se. Classification of games is required to SELL PRODUCTS IN AUSTRALIA, so this only applies to boxed objects or MMO's run from Australia.
If you downloaded the client from the offshore game website and signed up online with the offshore organisation; no harm, no foul. There may be some fuzziness with steam and other digital storefronts that may have a presence in Australia and technically SELL in Australia, but if I buy a boxed game overseas that is not classified here, I can still bring it in, provided it doesnt contravene OTHER laws; just cant sell it second hand.
Storm in a teacup; seriously who buys boxed MMOs anyway?? Normally they are so out of date they have to re-download the entire game as an update anyway... easier just to grab it online and sign up too...
Game time cards; that could be an interesting legal arguement, but probably a hiding to nowhere since the arent covered by the act.
In summary, little or nothing to see here; move along.
err!
jak.
You can buy all those games you mentioned in stores in Australia. If you read the website, they include items that were resubmitted to the rating board (some with changes, some without).