AfterDawn: Tech news

Petition for '18' game rating in Australia gets 16,055 signatures

Written by James Delahunty @ 23 Feb 2010 2:34 User comments (10)

Petition for '18' game rating in Australia gets 16,055 signatures Grow Up Australia is a campaign group in support of an '18' rating for video games in the country, which is the only developer first-world country to not have such a rating. The group's campaign has gathered 16,055 signatures which will be delivered to the Attorney General's Department.
EB Games strongly supports the campaign, and displayed posters in all of its 250+ Australian stores encouraging supporters to sign the online petition.

The Attorney General's Department had asked for public opinions, for or against the issue, back in December 2009, and until February 28, members of the public have their chance to give an opinion on it.

"Support for the introduction of the R18+ rating has been overwhelming with ninety-nine percent of the submissions made through the website in favour of the change," said Aaron John Percival, one of the founders of Grow up Australia.

Previous Next  

10 user comments

123.2.2010 15:39

The 2009 population of Australia per wikipedia is 21,828,704 if I'm reading right.
Sadly 16k is a tiny drop in the pond in comparison. :/

223.2.2010 17:54

Quote:
which is the only developer first-world country to not have such a rating.
I'm kinda confused is this a equivalent of a "A" or "M" rating.

323.2.2010 18:21

Quote:
Quote:
which is the only developer first-world country to not have such a rating.
I'm kinda confused is this a equivalent of a "A" or "M" rating.
Technically, it is the equivalent to AO, because they're both 18+ but if this rating is accepted, it will be on the same games that currently have the M rating (17+).

423.2.2010 22:01

Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
which is the only developer first-world country to not have such a rating.
I'm kinda confused is this a equivalent of a "A" or "M" rating.
Technically, it is the equivalent to AO, because they're both 18+ but if this rating is accepted, it will be on the same games that currently have the M rating (17+).

Well, thanks for clearing that up.

523.2.2010 23:14

Nothing fun about being a gamer in Australia...

625.2.2010 07:01

With the focus on "violence in schools and children in general" at the moment, an R-rating for games seems very unlikely.

And 16,055 signatures is not a lot.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 25 Feb 2010 @ 7:04

725.2.2010 08:26

I really don't see this as a big problem, i import all my pc and ps3 games from the uk. I get them about 15$ cheaper from the uk,

825.2.2010 14:26

So after this passes (and I say 'after' in an optimistic thought), will Australia stop banning so many games? I mean, if they regulate such '18' titles the way we do in America, the restrictions on these banned games should be lifted..

925.2.2010 22:26

We in a australia get ripped off when buying PS3 games, get them from the uk or asia. I love playing my Banned R rated games in australia.

Here are 2 really good places to buy your ps3 games from.
DVD.co.uk
http://www.dvd.co.uk/
HMV.com
http://hmv.com/hmvweb/home.do

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 25 Feb 2010 @ 10:30

1026.2.2010 04:41

The problem we have here in Australia is this, our government have become obsessive with political correctness to the point that minorities have a bigger push than majorities.

Going on previous happenings it should be successful except the minorities (family groups etc) have the ear of our PM and they will block it easily.

As for Australia being pretty damn close to being the only country in the developed world not to have this rating shows that our pollies are completely out of touch. Now add idiot Conroy and his web filtering and what do you have.... thats right a military state or a communisic state if you wish.

I have been saying this for sometime now and that is Australians need to fight back, storm parliment house and kick em out.

Comments have been disabled for this article.

Latest news

VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads (16 Mar 2024 4:31)
VLC Media Player, the versatile video-software powerhouse, has achieved a remarkable feat: it has been downloaded over 5 billion times.
2 user comments
Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit (19 Dec 2023 11:09)
Google settled its lawsuit in September 2023, and one of the settlement terms was that the way applications are installed on Android from outside the Google Play Store must become simpler. In the future, installing APK files will be easier.
8 user comments
Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets (06 Jun 2023 9:19)
Roomba Combo j7+ is the very first Roomba model to combine robot vacuum with mopping features. And Roomba Combo j7+ does all that with a very clever trick, which tackles the problem with mopping and carpets. But is it any good? We found out.
Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations (02 May 2023 3:38)
Neato Robotics has ceased its operations. American robot vacuum pioneer founded in 2005 has finally called it quits and company will cease its operations and sales. Only a skeleton crew will remain who will keep the servers running until 2028.
5 user comments
How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp (20 Mar 2023 1:25)
The world's most popular messaging platform, Meta-owned WhatsApp has enabled sending messages to yourself. While at first, this might seem like an odd feature, it can be very useful in a lot of situations. ....
18 user comments

News archive