On December 15, 2009, the Attorney General’s office release their long delayed public consultation paper on introducing an R18+ rating for video games in Australia. Later that same day, Stephen Conroy finally released his office’s report on mandatory ISP level filtering. In combination, the flow-on effects from both of these policy developments has the potential for broad and unforeseen consequences on the future of our local game development community.

For those not in the know, according to a 2008 ABS report Australia is home to around 1400 individual game developers spread across 45 companies, some large, some small, which generate a total income of $136.9million. We also have an embryonic, but innovative, independent games sector, with recent successes at the Tokyo Game Show and Game Developers Conference in China.

And we are also the only western country without an R18+ rating for games, and the only western country proposing such a wide-ranging and mandatory Internet censorship policy.

Video games, like every new medium or genre, have come under laser-focused scrutiny for every possible transgression and danger they might present.

History is littered with people outraged at novels, film, and comics, but society has survived unscathed, and each new medium has matured and eventually spawned works of art. The lack of an R18+ rating – and the proposed Internet filter as well – sends the message that creative experimentation by adults in this new form is not something worth supporting.

The difficulty we face is that we’re still a young medium, and some of our creative exploration works and some doesn’t; and when it doesn’t, controversy tends to erupt.

A perfect example is the media reaction to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s ‘No Russian’ level, in which you infiltrate a terrorist cell and are forced to take part in an attack on an airport. The unique nature of games puts the choice of how to proceed in the hands of the player – something no other medium can do - and whether you agree with it or not, it’s a valuable experiment, pushing at the edges of what we can do with games. 

Incidentally, Modern Warfare sold more than 4.7 million copies in 24 hours, totalling $310 million and is R18+ rated overseas, but rated MA15+ here. With numbers like that, it seems inevitable that eventually, someone, somewhere in Australia will attempt an R18+ rated game.

An example from closer to home is the independent games project, ‘Escape from Woomera’. Supported by the Australia Council, this game attempted to communicate the experience of being in immigration detention and did not go down well with the government of the day. Then Immigration Minister, Phillip Ruddock said:

"The decision reflects poorly upon the Australia Council and its judgement, that the organisation should lend its name to the promotion of unlawful behaviour."