Yup, perpetuating the idea that Doom = violent video games
What do I know about Australia? Not much—I know Jim Jeffries is from there. In recent years, Australia to me has always been associated with weird censorship and video games being banned left and right. Those days may soon be behind us, as Australia seems to be inching closer toward an R18+ rating for video games. That would mean that, instead of outright banning violent games, they could only be sold to adults. Pretty shocking that it has taken until 2010 for that to be the case, but what are you gonna do?
So the deal is that, thanks to the resignation of a well-known stick-in-the-mud attorney general down there, Australia could be on its way to finally introducing the much-needed R18+ video game rating. It’d be analogous to the ESRB’s M rating in that games carrying said rating can only be sold to people 17 and older. (Kids younger than 17 know to get their older brother, or the friend’s older brother, or their parents for that matter to buy said games for them.)
Society has deemed that you need to be 17 years old to play Grand Theft Auto and God of War just like you have to be 18 to buy cigarettes and 21 to buy alcohol. Granted, at 18 you can sign up for the military, but you’re not allowed to walk into a 7 Eleven and buy a can of beer. But that’s a hack argument for some local talk radio show.
Anyhow, in Australia the age is 18. Well, would be 18, provided all the Ts are crossed and Is are dotted.
Someday soon our Australian brothers will be able to walk into Big Store and walk out with an uncensored copy of Left 4 Dead II. That’s the dream, at least.