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Australian network filtering promises to reach out to block games, online games and more
Australian Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, has promised to extend Australia's proposed network-level content filtering regime to block games, online games, downloadable games, and websites that sell or allow download of games that are deemed not to be suitable for a 15-year-old audience. This, despite research by the IEAA (the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia) that the average age of Australian Gamers is 30. Even though Australian Federal and State laws say otherwise, some MMO titles exceeding that classification are already sold on Australian store shelves, by simply bypassing compulsory classification. Australian Federal and State authorities refuse to respond to any enquiries about the topic. The matter becomes even more confusing and complex, however, as it introduces a new, defacto classifications body to the mix.
Aus government confused on MMOG ratings requirements
After issuing some apparently definitive statements about the requirement for MMOGs to be classified for sale in Australia, the department responsible seems to have thrown up its collective hands in confusion and is apparently unable to determine whether MMOGs should or should not be classified. While the government held firm for a while that MMOGs were no different to other games for the purposes of the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act of 1995, and that the position upheld by the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) was incorrect, that message changed earlier this week, when the message wavered and the department then suggested that publishers and retailers (and us) should seek advice elsewhere.
Australian AG: MMOs like WoW must be classified
The good folks over at the OC (don't call it that) Register's Blizzard blog have gotten some more information about that recent flap with many MMOs being unrated and thus legally unable to be sold there. They talked to Daniel Gleeson of the Australian Attorney General's department, and he said that yes, the MMO games like World of Warcraft will have to be rated to be sold in the country. But he also reiterated what we'd heard a little while after Massively posted their story: that games were still being sold on store shelves, regardless of the actual legal tangles.The Blizzard Blog also spoke with the IEAA, the classification board down there for games, and they were told the same thing that Massively was: while the board thought that MMOs did not require a rating, it has since become clear that they do. The difference, says the AG guy, is that the IEAA believed that "games" like WoW were actually services, not games, and thus didn't fall into the classification system.But now it's clear to everyone that they do, so we'll expect to see the IEAA pass out a rating for World of Warcraft and the other MMOs on sale down there, and then this will all be over. It's interesting to note that ratings may be a very cultural thing -- here in America, ratings are pretty strictly issued by the ESRB, partially because the videogame industry is worried about governement intervention in the system (if the industry can't police themselves, angry parents may ask the government to step in). But in Australia, the government obviously seems largely unconcerned about the ratings. Then again, Aussies aren't completely laid back about everything having to do with MMOs.
Australia takes no action on unrated computer games
Since we broke the story on the unlawful sales of unrated MMOGs in Australia last week, there has been a fair bit of coverage, from Australian newspapers to assorted gaming blogs. Much of what you've probably read since the original story covered here and later in the Sydney Morning Herald haven't really had much in the way of new information, and like a game of Telephone, the tale has grown somewhat in the telling. So, here we're going to set it out for you, so you can get the information straight. Firstly, Australia has not suddenly banned MMOGs, nor has any law related to their classification or sale been abruptly changed. The regulations have been in place since at least 1995, and there's nothing new in that regard.
