[PIGMI] [chris at mccormick.cx: Introduction of an R18+ video games classification]

[Kat Black]

Here's what I sent:

To: Honourable Minister for Corrective Services, Christian Porter

Dear Sir,

I live in Perth and have been involved in the local digital content
development community for many years. In 2007, I ran the Byte Me!
Festival which showcased some of the talent in this state - animators,
visual FX artists and games developers included. See
http://ByteMeFest.com

My motivation for running that Festival was to showcase the budding
Digital Industry in this state.

Games Development is a rapidly growing Industry. Worldwide, revenue
from Games sales has recently overtaken that of the Film industry.
Australia is a strong player in this field, in particular when it
comes to downloadable and mobile games - despite very little
government funding. The economic return and the potential for
independent business development is enormous.

One thing that has been missing though is access to a level playing
field. By not having a classification system equivalent to that of our
main target markets, developers are more limited in the audience they
can develop for.

Only a small handful of games have been refused classification in
Australia - which means that many games that are rated for over-18's
in other countries have been released here with NO enforceable age
restriction. Some of these have had minor modifications, but some have
been released in the same format that would be restricted to
adults-only in other countries. That just doesn't make sense - how is
a parent to know if a game is appropriate or not?

The Games Industry is not trying to sell inappropriate games to
younger gamers - the average age of gamers in Australia is 30 and
steadily increasing. This is an audience that the local Industry wants
the right to develop for. Games conceptualised from start to finish
with the adult gamer in mind. The film industry has that right, and so
should the games industry.

Considerable evidence has suggested that the average Australian
overwhelmingly supports the R18+ classification for games. I'm sure
you know the statistics. It just makes sense, and Australians are
generally a very pragmatic people.

I would like to add my voice to the many others you no doubt have in
your Inbox, asking that you support this change.

Thanks very much for your time spent on this important issue.

best,

kat black =^..^=

http://VJzoo.com
~ quite nice visuals ~

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PO Box 3414, Broadway LPO, Crawley 6009, Western AUSTRALIA

Mobile: +61 403 767 005 (after midday please)  |  Skype: katblack66

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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
meow & ciao,

kat black =^..^=

http://VJzoo.com
~ quite nice visuals ~

http://TouchstoneTarot.com
http://GoldenTarot.com
http://78friends.com
http://LittleWhiteBook.net for iPhone
http://illumiQ.com for iPhone
http://BallofQ.com for iPhone
~ tell me true ~

PO Box 3414, Broadway LPO, Crawley 6009, Western AUSTRALIA

Mobile: +++++++++ (after midday please)  |  Skype: ++++++++++++

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/katblack
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/VJzoo
Twitter: http://twitter.com/VJzoo
MySpace: http://myspace.com/vjzoo



On 8 December 2010 11:59, Chris McCormick <chris at mccormick.cx> wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 08, 2010 at 11:34:49AM +0800, Nick Lowe wrote:
>> Hmmm, this reads as much more compelling and informative than my email.
>
> That's hilarious I was thinking the opposite, that yours was more compelling
> and informative.
>
>> Maybe mine was too combative...
>
> I think it was fine and made the point. The important thing is not our
> individual emails, but the number of people who write, anyway.
>
> So get writing people! Or copy-pasting anyway. :)
>
>> That said. It's infuriating to consider that one could even contemplate
>> using their appointed position to block such legislation given clear
>> public (and now government) support.
>>
>> It should not be up to us to convince such people of the merits of the
>> argument; that should be completely irrelevant given the overwhelming
>> volume of evidence and surveyed public support.
>
> I agree that it's extremely infuriating. I think we have to accept that people
> will be wrong sometimes, and often very very wrong. We know from the real world
> that mass-wrongness and ignorance is actually quite a common thing.
> Unfortunately ignorance is not always the fault of the individual, but rather
> just the context of their existence. Whether we like it or not I think we have
> to accept that the people we vote in will be ignorant and that we have to
> convince them on things we care about. Actually I would far rather have an
> engaged/enraged citizenry than one where everything just works and they get too
> lazy to notice.
>
> Of course, there is being wrong and there is being a cynical politician. I
> don't for a second believe e.g. that Tony Abott has not seen the statistics on
> refugees arriving by boat, and nobody in their right mind who looks at the
> numbers could possibly think there is any kind of issue with Australia taking
> refugees. That is purely a political stunt to appeal to a certain demographic
> by saying "stop the boats", and a deeply, deeply cynical one at that. Luckily
> it did not work.
>
> The great thing about this R18+ issue though is that it has public support, so
> there is no cynical popular opinion type move to be made here. I suspect the
> ministers in question are actually going from some type of "gut feeling" based
> on their ignorance about video games. Luckily, ignorance is easy to combat with
> evidence, which is why at the end of the day this will hopefully pass
> unhindered.
>
> I guess my view is pragmatic:
>
>  * People will be wrong.
>  * Changing their minds is more likely to work if I am very friendly and informative.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Chris.
>
> -------------------
> http://mccormick.cx
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