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Austalian politicians appear clueless about video games (neoseeker.com)

Aren't we Australians lucky to have politicians like these?

Silver Mirror | July 26, 2008 | Video | Misc

Despite the title this article is related to videogames. If you live in Australia (or heard about us bitching) you'd know that there is no R rating for videogames and this has recently caused Fallout 3 to be refused classification effectively banning it. This video here is just a demonstration of some of the ignorance and stupidity in the Australian government. Most of the panel have no problem censoring games just to keep their children safe, in fact most don't even know their is any rating system for games at all, and one even goes as far as connecting rape to videogames.

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Comments

4 thumbs!
Gothic Girl | July 27, 2008

Ugh, I'm hating the smug look on that bastard's face the whole way through that video. >_>

It's sad that every single person in this panel knows absolutely nothing about video games. You'd think they would do a bit of research beforehand, but nooo. They just spout out bullshit, alot of which is false (Australia DOES have a rating system for games, morons).
Ugh, and these are the people leading our country >_>
- 2 thumbs!
  Donnelly | July 27, 2008
  
  You say they should do a little bit of research? How exactly are they meant to do that? They don't know whats going to be asked and it's not as if they can research everything.
  - 3 thumbs!
    Gothic Girl | July 27, 2008
    
    I'm pretty sure the show is pre-planned. Most ABC shows are.
    
    But even if it isn't, it's pretty sad that they wouldn't know anything about the R18+ issue. It has been a hot-topic in parliament all throughout this year, so they should know something about it.
7 thumbs!
Gamesta100 | July 27, 2008

Why the hell would us Aussie gamers want an R rating if there weren't any ratings to begin with? I swear a 10 year old has more brains than these morons.
3 thumbs!
Insanity Prevails | July 27, 2008

Kinda glad I don't live in Australia.

This whole arguement that video games affect behaviour is ridiculously old now. No, the average person is not going to go on a killing spree because they played a video game. Let people make their own choices.
0 thumbs!
Final Blade | July 27, 2008

_{I feel bad for Australians. I mean having to deal with idiots like them, and the whole game rating issues for so long, along with getting games later, its just not right.}
- 2 thumbs!
  Shadow net583x s | July 28, 2008
  
  I could only get through 2 minutes of that video without stopping it in disgust.
  
  I feel bad for the Australians too. I haven't seen such a mockery to the justice system since Jack Thomspson and his "crusades"
  - 2 thumbs!
    Gamesta100 | July 28, 2008
    
    That's why I didn't watch it.The info in this article was enough to make me not want to watch it.I mean come on, games have had ratings since freaking MK.How the hell, in so many damn years can they not even just happen to see a game and a rating, or even just happen to hear about games having ratings?
2 thumbs!
blazeboy11 | July 28, 2008

Damn those people are annoying. They sound so *bleep*ing pleased with themselves...
1 thumbs!
HisServant77 | July 28, 2008

I think I must've misunderstood everything in the video. I didn't really catch that they were saying ignorant things. They didn't seem to say anything off, except when that one guy told everyone there were no ratings. At first I think the others knew they were talking only about adding an R rating, then when the one guy who seemed to be "in charge" or whatever said that thing, they believed him.

But unless I again missed everything, it sounded like most were for having an R rating?

Have to remember that if you're not a gamer yourself, the gaming industry can be quite alien and easily misunderstood, so it's understandable they don't know much about the games and such.
3 thumbs!
player300o | July 28, 2008

First of all, Australia does have a video game rating system. It follow the movie rating system, with E, G, PG, M, and then M 15+.

Second, I like the bald guy who said that "R rating over the age of 18 is fine" and actually admitted to not playing the game.

Third, we need more people who have played video games defending the players. I know that Australia has this problem apparently, and so does America, but there seems to be no people who have any political power to allow video games to be what they are. I know there just recently was a law made in someplace like NYC that required all video games to go through another rating system that was mandatory compared to the current, optional, but widely done rating.

We just need these people who want to censor everything to step the hell back so that we are able to make choices for ourselves.