From the petition:

TO: The Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House that the Classification of Computer Games and Images Act 1995 is currently out of step with the wishes of the electorate.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House that it be amended to permit computer games to receive the R18+ classification when they have been refused classification under the Commonwealth Act.

The petition, which is only available to Queenslanders, will probably amount to nothing, but even so, if you’re a maroon, you should definitely head here and put your signature onto it. After all, if you’ve got the government working on your side, you may as well take advantage of it…

[Queensland Parliament e-petition, via Atomic - Thanks Adam!]

What’s not surprising is that Motorola is dead last. Up until their Android Cliq they really didn’t have much going for them — and neither did Palm, until their Pre. So our guess is that these ratings will look a little different next year with Palm moving up a slot or two, and Motorola pulling out of the shame spot.

Motorola doesn’t do too bad on the dumbphone ratings, on the other hand.

Also, LG? [JD Power]

It all started back in January, when Mark and EFA spokesman Geordie Guy noticed that movies that had been rated MA15+ and R18+ were available to rent and own on both BigPond movies and iTunes without restriction – in other words, any six-year-old kid could buy and watch Pulp Fiction online. In order to point out the flaws of the system, they lodged a complaint about the availabilities to the ACMA through the same channels you’d complain about graphic porn on a kids website.

After more than six months, Mark got a response about the two films he had lodged a complaint about: V for Vendetta and American Gangster. In Mark’s own words on Whirlpool:

Seven months after lodging my complaint, after sourcing specialized legal advice on the applicability of the Restricted Access System Declaration 2007, ACMA responded to me a week ago to say that “V for Vendetta” and “American Gangster” are both prohibited content on the Internet in Australia.

That’s right. Movies rated MA15+ that you can pick up at your local video store or JB Hi-Fi are considered Prohibited Content on the internet by the ACMA.

That’s ridiculous, right? But wait. It gets better:

However: Their view is that it’s only prohibited if it’s given as a gift to a third party using the ITMS “Gift this Movie” menu item.

Sorry, ACMA, but what the f–k is that? How does that work? Aside from the fact that you can still use iTunes cards from overseas to use the “Gift this Movie” option from other iTunes Stores, why would the ability to buy an MA15+ film as a gift on iTunes make it illegal? Or why would it make it more illegal than just downloading the film yourself?

You seriously have to wonder why the ACMA seems to be run by baboons with a grudge against the internet. It’s like they enjoy making Australia look like a backwater country to the rest of the developed world.

[Whirlpool – Thanks Matt!]
Ed’s note – Mark’s Whirlpool post points towards a Stilgherrian penned post on Crikey breaking this story. But because of Crikey’s paywall and my inability to access it, my post is based solely on Mark’s Whirlpool post. If you have a Crikey account, you should probably check out their coverage of the situation as well.

South Australian Attourney General Michael Atkinson has publicly stated to David over at Kotaku that one of the biggest reasons he’s against an R18+ rating is because he doesn’t feel that the OFLC is capable of appropriately managing explicit adult content in the gaming medium. It’s an argument he reiterated to Gamespot AU: “I am critical of the OFLC [the Classification Board of Australia]. I believe it bends over backwards for the industry rather than the public interest.”

Therefore, it’s not unrealistic to assume that for an adult rating for gamers to be introduced, there would need to be some changes to the OFLC in order to get Atkinson’s tick of approval, which will be needed for the ratings system to be changed. And that is probably something you’ll want to consider when you’re commenting publicly on the discussion paper when it’s released.

There’s a lot of passion in this debate – particularly on the side of the gamers – but it’s important to remember that passion won’t get you very far in politics. You need to be intelligent and logical… In other words, don’t bother commenting on the paper if you’re just going to go on a rant about shooting hookers in virtual life compared to not shooting them in your real life. It won’t help the cause, and considering the freedoms that are at stake hear for both the people who create the games and the adults who wish to play them, staying focused on the cause is paramount.

Head on over to Gamespot to read their coverage of the announcement – it offers a lot of good insight into the current situation.

[Gamespot AU]

Atkinson also revealed to Kotaku the reasons why the proposed discussion paper on the issue has been delayed for the past year. Kotaku had heard previously that it was Atkinson himself who had failed to deliver his feedback on the draft paper set for public consultation. But the minister now accuses his fellow Attorneys-General of stalling over proposed changes to the paper.

One thing you can’t accuse the minister of is failing to engage the issue, as he also took time to respond to a host of Kotaku reader comments. While some may accuse him of “trolling”, it’s refreshing to see a state politician willing to dive into the debate.

I would welcome a challenge in Croydon at the next general election (due in March 2010) about my record on censorship. Any reader who would like to challenge me should write to me c/- 488 Port Road, Welland 5007 and I will send him or her a nomination form to stand for Parliament.
Alas, one cannot stand for Parliament anonymously, so any contenders will have to supply a real name and street address, not a pseudonym and an email address.

Mr Atkinson, while I’m sure plenty of people would love to see you voted out in order to bring sanity back to the argument of classification in this country, it’s never going to happen and you know it, at least not off the back of this issue. What we want is for you to address the issues that have been raised in the quest for an appropriate rating for adult material, rather than blindly hiding behind the catch-all phrase that you’re “protecting the children”.

Still, if anyone is game to take on the Attourney General, or wants to read his letter in full, head on over to Kotaku for more details.

[Kotaku AU]

In fact, he’s so stoic against the criticism he’s received, it’s like he’s not really a politician at all, but an unsung Australian superhero, using his disproportionate level of Government powers for the advancement of the society he’d like to live in. A world where every game is Wii Sports and nobody has to make decisions that influence the lives of adults or children but him alone. You almost have to admire him…

Oh, wait. No you don’t. Stop being a douche, Atkinson and give us an R18+ Rating. I’m sick of being treated like a child, while you claim a moral highground and inadvertently cause more harm than good.

[The Age via Kotaku]

Obviously, I don’t need to tell you guys why this will never happen, but I will anyway.For a start, who’s going to be doing the rating? Considering the billions of English-speaking websites online already how does he plan on reviewing and rating every website? Plus there’s the fact that websites are constantly changing, evolving beasts – what’s to stop a PG-rated site from becoming M rated after someone posts a story that isn’t quite suitable for kids? The only conceivable solution would be an automated software solution, which would almost fail and slow down the internet as well.

Then there’s the whole local angle – I mean, can we really expect to rate websites when we can’t even rate video games properly?

My guess is that this plan will be taken quietly out back and killed off…

[Reuters]

Back in March, he agreed in principle to the idea of a discussion paper and public consultation, which would provide a wide selection of research and opinions on the issue. While it wouldn’t actually mean the new rating would be introduced, it at least meant that the issue was on the table for discussion, and there was hope for adult gamers across the country. Now that hope has been dashed by Atkinson’s refusal to even support the research, meaning any official discussion has also been shelved.

Considering that all six of the other AGs support the discussion part, if not the introduction of the R18+ rating itself, how can we truly call ourselves a democracy when one narrow-minded, outdated man can ignore the facts and enforce his personal opinions on a nation? Especially when that opinion leaves us drowning in a tide of stupidity while the rest of the developed world looks down at us from the comfort of their deckchairs on the beach of common sense?

I don’t know enough about politics to understand what processes need to occur to bring it about, but the simple fact is that the system needs to change. No one man should have the power to hold the country to ransom.

[Screenplay via Kotaku]

The survey was conducted across 1600 households and involved more than 75 questions in a 20 minute survey. Among the other findings are that 66 per cent of adults aren’t aware that there isn’t an R18+ rating for video games, and 91 per cent of both gamers and non-gamers believe that the rating should be introduced.

It also found that gaming is a social, family pastime, with 70 per cent of parents in a gaming household playing games and 80 per cent of those playing with their kids.Some of the other key findings:
*The average adult gamer has been playing for 11 years.
*The average game play session is one hour.
*Older players mainly use PCs and play Board/Card, Puzzle and Strategy games.
*Younger gamers and young adults make up the bulk of handheld and console game device users and prefer Action, Racing, and Adventure games.
*The Australian computer games industry is growing at more than 15 per cent
per year and conducted sales of AUD1.3 billion in 2007 according to GfK point of sale data.
*17 per cent of adults in game households admit to having pirated games in their collections with nearly 10 per cent of all games in Australian homes being illegal copies.

The author of the report, Dr Jeffrey Brand from Bond University, perhaps summed up the R18+ shamozzle best when he said:

“78 per cent of parents stated that an adult is present when games are purchased and 92 per cent of parents are aware of what games are played in their house.

“The proposed R18+ classification for computer and video games will not result in the availability of games containing excessive violence or explicit sex. Material within the R18+ classification would be strictly in line with permissible content as set out in the classification guidelines.”

And that guy’s a doctor. What evidence do you base your opinions on, Mr Atkinson?

A full copy of the report is available from the IEAA website.
[IEAA]