This morning, Shay was on Sunrise debating the merits of an R18+ games rating for video games with Damien Tudehope from the Australian Family Association. You have to love it when the opposition to the adult games classification both admits that an R18+ rating would be better than an MA15+ and admits he had no idea what types of games his own kids were playing.
If you want more info on the R18+ debate as the issue, you should check out Kotaku’s READY series of posts – it’s a thorough and intelligent look at the issue and the perfect armour for any argument with anyone silly enough to disagree with common sense.
[Kotaku]
Art Nau
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 12:20 PMok lets face it 15+ already have se>< (there are numbers on the net to support it)
and you wasting all the time in a world on game classifications :) lol
if u really want it you will get it even if you under 15…
keep up with new age and work on different approaches to protect kids from violence
Jason
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 4:01 PMWhat? 15+ have done it?? I’m almost 30 and never have. Any 15+s out there?
Dan
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 12:33 PMI liked the part where the AFA guy still misses the point, although he did agree in the end.
Owen
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 12:46 PMGood stuff Shay, way to keep your cool! :)
I’m not sure how Damien thought that making stuff G, PG and then 18+ works, but at least he was open to the idea of classification that puts games that SHOULD be 18+ as 18+, while things that might be MA but not R, should stay MA.
Here’s hoping!
Rob
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 12:48 PMHe was shocked that his kid was playing COD Black Ops. His “kid” is 24 years old!
matt
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 1:08 PMgreat work Seamus, and to the sunrise team.
even the ‘think of the children!’ guy was ok, (after he basically admitted to never monitoring what his kids were doing) and they are both right! introducing an R 18 rating does not necessarily mean relaxing restrictions on what gets banned, it is just as much about (if not more) tightening restrictions on what gets in MA15+, and I believe this is absolutely the argument that needs to be taken to the people.
now obviously, I think we should be able to get the uncensored games that the US gets, but he is entitled to his opinion too.
the important thing is to fix the blatant misconceptions and unfairness in the games ratings: specifically, admitting that games are just like any other media (that has R ratings) and NOT just for kids!
and banning anything that is deemed not suitable for 15 year olds is CLEARLY saying that games are only for kids.
honestly, why does it take this country so long to adapt to anything.
MrJezza
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 1:09 PMDear Mr Tudehope,
Banning the 8th game in a long series of action based games will not make up for the other 7 you missed your son playing. Don’t transfer that guilt to the Australian gaming public.
Yours faithfully,
26-years-old-and-free-to-choose.
Paul
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 1:11 PM“Sorry but this video is no longer available.”
Seamus Byrne
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 1:30 PMit seems to happen now and then, but try again and it should work just fine.
Damo
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 1:11 PMOne says ‘we want an R rating’ the other says ‘you really want it banned’. I mean WHAT?
Mike
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 1:17 PMIt’s good to see things are tending towards the R18 rating now instead of just outright banning. Good stuff
Nicholas
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 1:24 PMGood job Shay, yay for publicity! Hopefully the issue won’t be brushed aside again in December if more people actually want to see something happen.
Shocked.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 2:08 PMI’m shocked and amazed that they had a logical argument on both sides on Sunrise!
Finally all parties are seeing similar view points and hopefully this translates to reality where we *need* this type of rating system.
Luke
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 2:11 PMwhy are all the ” family First” guys idiots?
his son is 24? wtf so what he can’t play this game?
Biderjum
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 2:32 PMIt appeared to me as though Tudehope had done very little research into the topic(other than talking to his son about one particular game) and his comments didn’t seem to be related to what Byrne was saying. I wanted to bust out over the top of him several times to correct him, kudos to Byrne for keeping quiet.
The sooner the classification system gets sorted the better!
I mean “How hard is it?”
Steph
Wednesday, November 17, 2010 at 11:53 AMI felt like telling him off, too.
Seamus: “We need to introduce an R18+ rating for games.”
Tudehope: “So what you’re really saying is that we should ban video games.”
Me: (at the television) “That’s not what he’s saying!”