<html><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div>Interesting discussion about this on Triple J's 'Hack' last night.</div><div><br></div><div>If I remember correctly, only two states Attorney's Generals have voted on this yet, and WA's wasn't one. So there's still time to push on this.</div><div><br></div><div>It did sound like WA was leaning toward R18+ at the moment.</div><div><br></div><div>In summary, some (non exhaustive!) arguments presented for R18+:</div><div><br></div><div>- Currently games rated 18+ in other countries being argued down to MA here to get through classification, potentially when they shouldn't be available to that audience.</div><div>- We are the only country without a 'mature' classification system</div><div>- Film allows R18+ (and if R18+ not implemented for games, it should be removed from film as well)</div><div><br></div><div>Arguments against:</div><div><br></div><div>- R18+ means those games will be available in Australia and kids could get their hands on them</div><div>- Difficulty enforcing classifications with p2p making everything available to all ages anyway.</div><div>- The issue with Video game violence being worse than film</div><div>violence being two key issues: interactivity and repetitiveness.</div><div><br></div><div>I suggest anyone who feels strongly about this topic should get letter writing today, or miss the boat.</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div>Avril.</div><div>--<div><a href="http://Reveri.es">Reveri.es</a> Virtual World</div><div><a href="http://www.reveri.es">www.reveri.es</a></div></div><div><br>On 01/12/2010, at 10:30 AM, Cameron Royal <<a href="mailto:cameron@sandboxsoftware.net">cameron@sandboxsoftware.net</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>Was just forwarded this press release from a friend of mine - the introduction of an R18 classification will be discussed next week at an attorney general meeting.<div><br></div><div>The survey figures are pretty interesting:</div>
<div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/rwpattach.nsf/VAP/(3A6790B96C927794AF1031D9395C5C20)~R+18plus+status+report.pdf/$file/R+18plus+status+report.pdf"><a href="http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/rwpattach.nsf/VAP/(3A6790B96C927794AF1031D9395C5C20)~R+18plus+status+report.pdf/$file/R+18plus+status+report.pdf">http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/rwpattach.nsf/VAP/(3A6790B96C927794AF1031D9395C5C20)~R+18plus+status+report.pdf/$file/R+18plus+status+report.pdf</a></a></div>
<div><br></div><div>-</div><div>Cam</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; "><b><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">Sent:</b> Wednesday, 1 December 2010 9:52 AM<br>
<b>Subject:</b> O'CONNOR: R18+ computer game classification review released [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]</span></p></div></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">
</p><p align="center" style="text-align: center; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><span style="color: black; ">UNCLASSIFIED</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 252pt; text-align: right; text-indent: 36pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">
<img width="106" height="78" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=7c29ad955d&view=att&th=12c9fae740f37216&attid=0.0.1&disp=emb&realattid=97f69acb929eea25_0.2&zw" align="left" hspace="12" alt="large crest"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; "></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: right; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; ">THE HON BRENDANCONNOR MP</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: right; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; ">MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS AND JUSTICE</span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 8pt; "> </span></p><div style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; padding-top: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 0cm; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">
<p align="center" style="text-align: center; "><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; ">MEDIA RELEASE</span></b></p></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">
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Wednesday, 1 December 2010</p><p style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "> </p><p align="center" style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">
<b><span style="font-size: 15pt; ">R18+ computer game classification review released</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">Minister for Home Affairs and Justice Brendan Connor today released a review of existing research into whether people who play violent computer games are at greater risk of being aggressive.</p>
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This analysis of the available literature shows that:</p><ul type="disc" style="margin-top: 0cm; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px; ">
there is no conclusive evidence that violent computer games have a greater impact on players than other violent media, such as movies or music videos</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px; ">
there is stronger evidence of short-term effects from violent computer games, than long-term effects</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px; ">some research finds that violent computer games are a small risk factor in aggressive behaviour over the short term, but these studies do not thoroughly explore other factors such as aggressive personality, family and peer influence and socio-economic status.</li>
</ul><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">The introduction of an R18+ classification for video games will be discussed at the Standing Committee of AttorneGeneral meeting in Canberra on Friday 10 December.</p>
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The literature review is available at <a href="http://www.ag.gov.au/gamesclassification" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(6, 88, 181); "><a href="http://www.ag.gov.au/gamesclassification">www.ag.gov.au/gamesclassification</a></a></p><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">
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