Publisers get banned too
Blade: How do you feel old man?
Whistler: Like Hammered shit.
Anyone who knows me well knows that I tend to think in terms of movies. For every situation there seems to be a scene in a movie somewhere that fits this situation – that seems to personify the event if you will (or even if you won’t). In this particular case, these days it seems that game publishers get hit with the ban hammer as well as players. The main difference here is that publishers are getting banned from places with names like China, Australia and Germany.
The latest title to be banned by the Australian Classification board is Alien Vs. Predator. This time it is the United Kingdom developer Rebellion that responded. CEO Jason Kingsley made this comment:
“We will not be releasing a sanitized or cut down version for territories where adults are not considered by their governments to be able to make their own entertainment choices.” – Jason Kingsley, CEO Rebellion (entire article available here)
Ron Curry, the CEO of Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA – an Australian and New Zeland videogame industry group) is not taking things so lightly (if indeed you can consider Mr. Kingsley’s comment “light”). What follows is an excerpt from a lengthy, and well researched, response to a form letter from South Australia’s Attorney-General Michael Atkinson’s form letter on the R18+ classification for computer and video games:
Attorney-General Michael Atikinson: “… Indeed, with all the effort and money that goes into game development, coupled with the effects and graphics now available, there is no need to introduce these extreme elements. I am baffled and worried about why proponents of R.18+ games are putting up their hands and saying ‘Give us more cruel sex and extreme violence!’”
IGEA CEO Ron Curry: “I’m not really clear who (apart from Atkinson’s own personal preference) has claimed that games are more interesting to an adult simply because they contain extreme violence, explicit sexual material or highly offensive language. More so, who is calling for more cruel sex? This assertion is patronising in the extreme, deciding what is good for all adults and is dripping with moral panic.”
You can read Mr. Curry’s well thought out and highly research response here. (we have a mountain of respect for anyone who can plough through federal regulations)
Now at this point, dear readers, some of you may ask yourselves (those who are not from Australia and we know ALOT of gamers who are) how does this inolve me? I live in the United state, why should it bother me if some Brazilian Senator Valdir Raup authors a bill to make it illegal to it illegal to “make, import or distribute offensive videogames”? (read the article here) What should I care, you may ask yourselves, if 16 of Germany’s Interior Ministers asked their government to ban the production and distribution of violent video games? (read the article here)
Most people have heard about disbarred attorney Jack Thompson and his crusade to ban videogames that he deems are offensive. And more, if not all, of our readers may have heard of the attempt by “governator” Arnold Schwartzenagger (currently the governor of California for all you over seas readers) attempt to ban games that he feels are offensive – an attempt that was brought to a halt on appeal (article here). We here at No Prisoners No Mercy will bet you “dollars to donuts” (or so the assertion by our grandmothers used to go) that the attempt by petty beaureacrats and like minded disbarred attorneys is far from over, at least in the U.S.
Even if you don’t agree with us, these days, even the biggest game publishers of them all, the famed Activision/Blizzard 800 pound gorilla, has been brought to it’s knees by China’s video game industry regulator the General Administration of Press and Publication. (GAPP – article here). In a battle that is far from over, GAPP turned the 800 pound gorilla into a 400 gorilla when it banned foreign investment in online games.
So in the end, it seems that even game publishers and developers are getting hit with the ban hammer these days.
See you online,
The No Prisoners, No Mercy team
In addition, there’s the theory of the lowest common denominator. If censorship laws are in effect in sufficiently large markets, then it makes sense for investors to demand that game companies only make games that are acceptable everywhere instead of incurring extra costs from having to modify the game for each market area.
A very good observation, and one that seems to be increasingly commonplace. Even World of Warcraft has games that (beyond language constraints) are made for foreign markets – case in point, undead show no bones (I want that version of the game). Fallout 3, when encounting the Australian market was simply modified for every market by Bethesda.
And as always, thank you for your well thought observations.
Julie