Well this seems strange. police officers of New South whales are asking people to report any retailers that are selling unclassified MMO's. Retailers caught doing such an act get a hefty fine $1000-$10,000. Looks like you need to go the black gaming market to get your unclassified MMO's.

Video game publishers and retailers are risking hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines by illegally selling online role playing games such as World of Warcraft without age classifications.

The games industry believes there is a legal loophole exempting online games that don't have a single player component from classification requirements but this view is contradicted by the federal and state attorneys-general.

World of Warcraft, with more than 11.5 million subscribers, is the most popular of the online-only games - known in gamer parlance as massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) - but there are scores of other examples including Age of Conan, Warhammer Online and Pirates of the Burning Sea.

All are sold as boxed sets in retail stores across the country without classification by the Classification Board or the appropriate labelling, for instance M or MA15+.

A spokesman for NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said the NSW Classification Enforcement Act prohibited publishers and retailers from selling unclassified computer games.

"The NSW legislation covers computer games bought online as well as those bought in stores, and treats single, multi-player and online games the same way," he said.

The spokesman added that enforcement of the act was the responsibility of police but penalties for breaking these laws ranged from $1100 to $11,000 for individuals and/or 12 months' imprisonment. For corporations the fines were approximately double.

"If there is any suggestion that any business is trading illegally, police need to know, and it should be reported," he said.

Linkin Park Fan via smh.com.au »