If you’re a gamer, you might want to get angry now: maybe put on some old-school Rage Against The Machine, crank the volume up, find a stress ball and pummel it mercilessly. Because according to Jason Hill over at Screenplay, SA Attorney General Michael Atkinson has withdrawn his support for a discussion paper and public consultation on the issue of an R18+ rating for games.
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if not the introduction of the R18+ rating itself, how can we truly call ourselves a democracy when one narrow-minded, outdated man can ignore the facts and enforce his personal opinions on a nation?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]