Graffiti Game Banned in Australia

afaik_ianal writes "The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that 'Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure' has been banned in Australia. The game involves battling the authorities to overthrow corrupt officials using only street fighting skills and graffiti. From the article, "The decision was endorsed last night by the Federal Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, who had asked the board to review of the game's MA15+ classification after local councils and state governments voiced concerns that the game would promote graffiti.""

More Stupid Censorship and Irony

Again, another government stepping in where parents and society in general should be the authority.

Isn't it ironic though that the point of the game is to fight government corruption and promote freedom of expression.

Re:More Stupid Censorship and Irony

Isn't it ironic though that the point of the game is to fight government corruption and promote freedom of expression.

No, it's standard practice in political censorship to attack some side issue and not the political message. For instance, Ulysses was written by an Irishman and criticised British rule over Ireland.

Ulysses was banned for obscenity rather than for it's political content even though the so called obscene content was tame even for the time in which it was written. The same case can be made for the film of A Clockwork Orange, which I believe is still banned in the UK.

Re:More Stupid Censorship and Irony

In the UK, A Clockwork Orange wasn't banned by any Government agency but by Kubrick himself, "on police advice after threats were made against Kubrick and his family" (link) [wikipedia.org]. It didn't get a video release until after Kubrick's death. But it was never "banned" in the traditional sense. The director refused to permit its release. Now it's been on TV & all sorts, and yes it's tame.

Re:More Stupid Censorship and Irony

Indeed. I wonder what are they going to do with AWB and 300 milion handed over to Saddam, with Howard's approval. Fucking hypocrites. Everywhere.

Re:More Stupid Censorship and Irony

America's such a good example.

Actually, America is a perfect example.

The more they regulate and litigate the worse things get here.

There is a correlation, wether the totalitarians want to admit it or not.

Politicians have absolutely NO RIGHT nor should they have the power to tell the population what is right or moral for what sould be completely obvious reasons to anyone smarter than the average barnyard monkey.

Re:More Stupid Censorship and Irony

[...] when we "try" to emulate the real world so that the breaking of the law is very close, as society, we need to step in a stop this. It sends the wrong message.

Mr. Thompson? Jack? Is that you?

You can have your cute games with their colored walls. I think what the "realistic" games do is allow an outlet for things that should not be let out in public. Like killing people, or walking around randomly pissing on folks. It's safer to do it in-game, and you also avoid running into petty quarrels with those law enforcement people.

I support the idea that the parents are ultimately responsible for what input their kids recieve in the fragile little minds of theirs. There will always be people doing bad things because - well, they do bad things. The reasons are many and complicated, but games (as TV before them) are not the one and only cause of this. A catalyst, perhaps, not the reason.

Re:More Stupid Censorship and Irony

I use to believe that our violent urges could be taken out on a game but that was before i realised that children today grow up in a world full of violence and they cannot appreciate the games like people a generation older than them can because we didn't

Re:More Stupid Censorship and Irony

Oh, so we should allow anything inappropriate like drugs and guns to be freely allowed - like that works! Perhaps we should allow porn of all types to be available in public libraries, because clearly most parents do the "right thing" and educate their kids... what a joke, what world do you live in?

    Guns and porn are freely allowed, just not to a kid. You need a licence for a gun - you can even carry them arround in the street if you have a permit. Porn is allowed to everyone who's legally old enough.
    I also had this discussion with a friend a while ago about if drugs should be legalized, like alcohol is - i think that marijuana should be legalized, but he made a pretty good case about how every single drug should be legalized, which is a longer story in itself. Even then, alcohol, tobbaco and some medicaments ARE drugs and you can get them, again, if you're old enough.

    Eventually it's up to the parents to decide what's sutiable for their children to see. See, kids are NOT the only one playing games. And we have a rating system already to determine which games can and which ones can't be sold to a kid. Banning it was completely unnecesary. The game doesn't encourage vandalism more than GTA encourages stealing cars, Hollywood action movies encourage shooting people and religious TV shows encourage catholicism.

Carrying a gun in public

You dont need a license to carry a gun in public, you only need alicense for certain kinds of guns.

People, this is VERY country and state specific.

For example, in my state of ND, the ultra-short list:
1. Open carry of unloaded firearms is legal, except for

Re:More Stupid Censorship and Irony

I'm sorry but I can't be supportive of any game that encourages breaking the law.

So, do you think this [chathamhillgames.com] game should be banned? It encourages kids to take the roles of 19th century slaves illegally running away and depriving their masters of their lawfully-owned property!

And what about this [wikipedia.org] game, where players are encouraged to steal a continent from its indigenous people, and then to commit high treason against their monarch? Clearly it should be banned! Won't somebody think of the children?!

Sorry, but breaking the law is not always wrong. I would far rather our children were being taught to think for themselves and to actually consider the moral implications of various acts, than that they were being brainwashed into a black-and-white "Obey the laws because the State Knows Best" worldview.

If there is hope, it lies with the proles. Let's educate them.

And in perception, how like a God!

Whilst you might like to think this game is about "expression", clearly the real motive in the game is to break the law.

"Clearly?" Damme, I wish I had the extrasensory powers you must possess. I can't even figure out the motives of individuals most of

that sucks

I guess kids will have to stick to the real thing.

They have now guaranteed it will be a hit!

I think we have long gone past the point were censorship of this nature will have any effect. What with bittorrent and other P2P networks, people will still be able to obtain copies. And by making such a big deal of it, all the authorities have done is made it into the latest 'must have' computer game.

And I would love to read their position paper (which will apparently get relaeased) soon that explains the majority and minority positions. I cannot understand how they feel that they should ban this game and yet allow violent movies to not be banned.

Who else feels...

...that they were concerned the game would promote THE OTHER aspect of the gameplay?

Grafitti vs beating people up...

So Spraying a tag on a wall is worse than the old knee-to-the-solar-plexus move? Chigago-Curb-Job? Columbian Necktie?
That makes me very sad. We teach our kids that violence is cool, acceptable, exciting, fun.
Then we complain about all the violence in the streets.
If you want to ban a game, please ban it for excessive violence, not for some paint sprayed on walls.

Re:Grafitti vs beating people up...

I think the only justifiable time to ban a game is when it depicts a real life crime. Sexually explicit pictures of a minor, a murder being performed, and that type of stuff.

What is being done in Australia is blatent censorship. The government needs to rea

Strange laws

I'm in a bind about this. What most people don't know is that Australia lacks an Adults only game rating, so any game unsuitable for people between 16 and 17 must be banned, as 15+ is the hardest rating. This was the reason for the banning of games such as GTA3 (before changes) and BMX XXX. I'm torn on this issue, because I don't believe these games are suitable for kids under 18, and so by Aussie law, they're banned. Sure, it's up to the parents, but a game can't be rated 18+, so any 16yo would be able to get his hands on any game without parental consent. In summary, the ban is correct under Australian law (we should by no means lower the rating of titles to get them oin shelves), but the OFLC needs an 18+ rating, pronto.

Re:Strange laws

but a game can't be rated 18+, so any 16yo would be able to get his hands on any game without parental consent.

I don't think there is that much of a difference between 16 and 18. Kids who are going to be influenced by a game to go out and spray paint stu

Re:umm

R & X cannot be used to classify games - MA is the maximum. From your link (emphasis mine): "Films and computer games are now classified G, PG, M or MA 15+. Films can also be classified R 18+ or X 18+. R 18+ and X 18+ are not classifications for comput

Philip Ruddock

the game features a world where freedom of expression is suppressed by a tyrannical city government.

I've got an idea for a character in the next version of the game.

But seriously, most of the games out there promote violence, road rage, all kinds of stuff, and they can still be sold. What makes graffiti so important?

You Fuckstick!

Sorry, the form heading said "Reply to: Philip Ruddock" and I got carried away by the moment....

Re:You Fuckstick!

I got carried away by the moment

We need to be carefull. His media manager's assistants are going to have to print out 50 pages of /. on friday morning. Phil is not going to be a happy chap after spending friday reading at -1.

Better carry my passport arou

It used to be Music

It used to be music that everyone said was a bad influence, now it is Video games.

I love the following Frank Zappa quotation.

"There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do
something we'd all love one another."
-- Frank Zappa

Not exactly the same, but close enough if we replace love songs with first person shooters and....

Nevermind

Re:It used to be Music

I call bullshit. Love songs are usually about lust and romantic love, not loving your fellow human beings in general.

A bit of context, please.

The real issue, once again, is that Australia don't have the equivalent of the UK's "18" or US "M" for games, so the highest possible rating is the aforementioned MA15+. So games like the GTA series are already banned there.

Since the game involves just as much violence against policemen as GTA does, and the only non-violent aspect to the game is the vandalism, my only surprise is that they considered it possible for an MA15+ in the first place.

Not the issue at all

The lack of an 18 rating was tangential to the issue at hand. (And GTA is not banned here, we have a modified version, though I got mine from New Zealand :)

This game was not banned because it featured graffiti in a fashion similar to how GTA features vi

Re:yes, we do

No, we don't.

From the FIRST PARAGRAPH of the link you so helpfully supplied:

"R 18+ and X 18+ are not classifications for computer games."

Forget RTFA -- this is more RYOFL.

Jet Set Radio

Was Jet Set Radio [wikipedia.org] banned in Australia?

Re:Jet Set Radio

No. But Jet Set Radio was far cuter... the action was deliberately cartoonish and hence rather unreal and irrelevant. Thus, there's no "promotion" of graffiti or violence, and the game was classified as M.

Don't you think...

Don't you think that Federal Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, the board and other authorities should be banned in Australia because they promote software piracy?

Wow

So it's ok to "promote" shooting people, running people down and using / abusing prostitutes (GTA and plenty of others) but it's not ok to "promote" tagging a wall. Hmmmm we have a very weird society.

Re:Wow

So it's ok to "promote" shooting people, running people down and using / abusing prostitutes (GTA and plenty of others)but it's not ok to "promote" tagging a wall.

GTA was banned in Australia too [zdnet.com.au]

Hmmmm we have a very weird society.

I'm not sure whether you're talking about the USA or Australia - you seem a little confused. (but yes, they're both quite weird)

shouldn't somebody resign ?

"The game [that] involves battling the authorities to overthrow corrupt officials..." "...has been banned by authorities"

Riiight .....

What they have basically done, then, is turned this game into an instant automatic hit. Everybody in Australia will want a copy of this game now, because it's illegal. And they will get copies of it. Either paid-up ones, sent in an innocuous music CD box by friends or relatives abroad; or, much more likely, pirated copies. {Does anybody actually pay for games? I suppose there must be one or two.} Everybody outside Australia will want a copy because it's been banned in Australia.

All things considered, this is a fantastic marketing stunt.

My proposed solution, by the way, is to ban all sales of video games to {but not possession by} minors. That way, parents and guardians get to decide what is and isn't appropriate.

Just seems like senseless paranoia to me.

I've never understood the whole idea behind banning video games and trying to blame them for various social problems. That's giving games much more influential power than they, or any form of media, ever has had. Really, if someone decides to spray paint just because they've been playing this game, they have other problems unrelated to video games. Parents should be regulating the games that come into their home, because they are the only ones who know if THEIR child is mature enough to understand them. It's not up to the government... And plus, the people in power today see video games as "new" and "confusing." Maybe when people raised on Atari, Nintendo, etc gain political power, we won't see such a witch-hunt on games.

Game banning in Australia

From someone who lives here, here's the deal with what gets banned (as in games), and the GTA oddities: GTA 3 was released here, uncut. Then they found out about the prostitutes, and revoked classification- forcing a recall
After this, the game was edited to remove the prostitute functionality and re-released, conforming to Aus standards. The reason the prostitutes were removed was NOT because of the sexual content, rather, it was because of the very strict rules we have here about sex and violence. It was the fact you could kill hookers after sex that had the game censored.
Vice city was pre-edited by the developers and had NO sex (the Candy Suxx FMV's were fucked up) Pardon the pun.
GTA:SA came out WITH hookers, unedited. I have no idea how/why this happened.
Generally games are censored here when sex and violence is mixed, IN ANY WAY. Duke Nukem 3D was censored because you could shoot the strippers.
I dont understand the logic of this banning though

Stupid logic

In Japan, no game really gets publically banned for being violent or degrading (other than the pubes-mosiac thing), but then there is little violence in society and next to no graffiti. There is no fear of violence ever influencing anybody.

The logic goes that maybe if there was less graffiti and less violence in Australia, then we could have violent games and nobody would care about any influence.

Seems to me that the outside world influences video games more than the other way around.

Don't Panic

The only differences this decision will have on the game in Australia are:

1. Increased popularity of the game
2. Lower profits to the manufacturer
3. Larger US/AU bandwidth usage for a few weeks.

That's about it really.

Gee...

"The decision was endorsed last night by the Federal Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, who had asked the board to review of the game's MA15+ classification after local councils and state governments voiced concerns that the game would promote graffiti."
Gee, for a minute I thought they had concerns the game would promite violence, but *pfew*, violence is still normal, and accepted.

The writing is not on the wall

And from that day forward no graffiti was ever sprayed on the walls of Australia again. The clean grey concrete canyons were the envy of the rest of the world where no other nation had the foresight to ban this evil computer game.

hahaha

City officials attempt to shut down game that trains people how to overthrow Corrupt City officials.

Re:GREAT!

Australia doesn't like graffiti much ... a while back they started putting spray cans behind locked doors in hardware stores and art supply shops to stop them being stolen - because of course the only tool you can use to graffiti with is a spray can. Might

Re:GREAT!

No you don't, at least not in Sydney. Anyway I don't see how something like this *really* actually fuels graffiti. I'm one of those people who thinks that GTA doesn't fuel people going around shooting everybody, and like the designer said, it's not that hard to draw on a wall, and if a kid wants to do it he doesn't need a game to show him how.

Quoth the Simpsons:


Meyers: I did a little research and I discovered a startling thing...
There was violence in the past, long before cartoons were invented.
Kent: I see. Fascinating.
Meyers: Yeah, and know something, Kent? The Crusades, for instance.
Tremendous violence, many people killed, the darned thing went
on for thirty years.
Kent: And this was before cartoons were invented?
Meyers: That's right, Kent.

Re:GREAT!

The difference is that most kids know that killing is wrong, and won't kill someone because of that (as opposed to not killing someone solely because they might get caught). But a lot of kids put graffiti in the same category as underage smoking/drinking, smoking marijuana, shoplifting, and other nonviolent offenses. Nobody gets injured by graffiti and vandalism, so it seems more like a victimless crime, and so a kid's sense of morality is more likely to be swayed by peer pressure and media influence.

I'm not saying the game should be banned. Freedom of speech and all that. But I am saying that games like Getting Up and Tony Hawk's Underground 2 should be rated closer to the adult end of the scale by the ESRB and that retailers should take this rating into account when selling games directly to minors. I'm also saying that developers should think about the impact that their work has on society and make an informed decision about whether they're handling things responsibly, rather than just thinking, "Man, this is sweet!" and charging forward.

Re:GREAT!

Yup, you can be carded (16+) before you can buy spray paint. I've been refused in the past when Dad sent me to buy black spraypaint for a building job.

Re:GREAT!

and once they are past banning pencils, they will quickly un-ban them. Otherwise, people will start to doodle stuff on the bathroom walls with the "writing tools" they produce there and which can't be banned in bathrooms. (ick-ick, just hold it through dou

Re:...and so they should !!

Jet Set Radio Future.
And it was done better than this dreck will be.

Re:...and so they should !!

Try the original on the dreamcast... Maybe you should point out it was the first cell shading game and had one of the best sound tracks of any game ever made.

To graffiti you had to do simple chains on the joystick and to finish a level you'd have to graffi

Re:Not surprising - the games are coming up!

I lived in Melbourne for nearly five years, and I used to really enjoy looking at the graffiti whilst on boring train journeys. I'd MUCH rather look at the graffiti - some of which is absolutely amazing - than a plain, blank grey wall for an hour, but that's just me I suppose.

It would be a much better use of time if they could stop the trains on the Frankston line smelling like stale piss.

Re:Not surprising - the games are coming up!

"It would be a much better use of time if they could stop the trains on the Frankston line smelling like stale piss."

The fresh piss has been on back-order for ages.