Turns out the Tinfoil Hat Brigade were correct.  (Paraphrased for the lazy: Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is planning to include games refused classification in his national web filter Doomsday device, effectively blocking them from public consumption.)

The R18+ classification debate has raged on in the Australian games community for quite a while now, and to be honest, there are people out there with more knowledge and insight on this subject than I.  There’s not much I can say from an objective stand-point that hasn’t already been said, but considering what I have to say involves strippers and drugs, I know you’re going to hit that ‘Read More’ link regardless.

At Rockethands, I don’t think we have much to worry about when it comes to classification ratings; we want to make games everyone feels comfortable playing.  Sit on the couch with your friends, partners, children or grandparents and boot up a Rockethands adventure.  We really love that idea of just sitting on the couch with whomever else is in the house at the time and busting out some gaming funtimes.  (In fact, the only thing we may get in trouble for is just how luxurious McKenzie’s moustache really is.)

However, being into casual games, we also rely on digital distribution.  We like digital distribution, it’s a fantastic way to buy games.  But digital distribution is dependant on the principles of fair trade over the digital medium.  How are these principles upheld when a government body begins censoring products instead of classifying them?  To what extent can we expect objectivity of classifications for games solely traded over the internet when there’s no overtly objective system upheld to the rest of the industry?  What happens when a game provided by any of the serious distributors like Steam or Kongregate is reported and deemed “Refused Classification”?

I recently bought Godfather II for my 360.  With the EA logo sidled next to the M15+ classification, I figured I would be in for quite the polite little gangster jaunt – surely even a publishing giant like EA couldn’t sneak inappropriate content over our tightly-secured national borders!  Imagine my surprise when within the first hour I was already creating prolific drug rings and storming strip clubs complete with heavily thrusting pink pixels.

Godfather II explicitly promotes drug business, prostitution and nudity, and squishes it all into a M15+ rating.  Hey cool, alright!, I can handle that if that’s how you want to play.  It’s out there on store shelves where not-so-little Timmy can grab it and crack a few heads after his senior exams.  And it’s cool, because it says right on the box in the bottom left corner: if you’re under 15, go play Pokemon or something (that’s what the kids are playing these days, right?).

But to then say you’re going to outright block online games with potentially equal levels of adult content as the above (or less, if you’re trying to make Fallout 3) because it's been deemed inappropriate, and think that’s okay?

It’s really not.