Video Game Censorship and the Art of Horror

Jintor

Jintor

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PRETENDING that video games are for children is to ignore an emerging form of art, argues game critic Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw.

Imagine the happy, idyllic world that the Australian censorship board wants us to live in.

The sun beats down upon rolling green hills where children of all creeds and nations link arms and skip merrily through the daisies, singing their simple innocent songs of joy.

Not a single confrontational thought crosses these children's minds until the moment they turn 15, when they are wrapped in bin liners to cover their shameful pubescent bodies and dropped off a bridge.

It's a lovely ideal. It's also totally unlike the world in which we actually live.
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http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,24493980-5014239,00.html

This is better reading for Aussies, but whatever, take a peek.
 
some very good points there, I don't see why games get 'de-gored' for the sake of a lower age restriction. Let the game be what it is supposed to be, played by who it's supposed to be played by.
 
I concur, but who doesn't? How exactly are games unlike books, movies, comic books, etc. as a medium? They all need to have proper warnings (some are better than others) to ensure that kids don't see inappropriate content. Where that line is drawn is for another discussion. I find that in terms of engagement, between all three media being of superior ilk, that games, books, movies, then still art are the most engaging in that order.
 
Vectyr said:
some very good points there, I don't see why games get 'de-gored' for the sake of a lower age restriction. Let the game be what it is supposed to be, played by who it's supposed to be played by.
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Parents:
Take some responsibility. If you have a PC in the house & your child uses it, then know how to find out whats on it & what your child is looking at. It's sad how so many parents will blame all acts of "disorderly conduct" on games. They will stand by & let their child play the games, but watch out if something bad actualy happens. I have a daughter & I have 2 main PC's in the house with several sub-PC's & I know whats on them at all times. I also let my child play PC games, because 1) I have taught my child the difference between right & wrong & 2) I know exactly which games she is playing, as I am the only one to install them.

Game Devs:
I understand & respect your desire to make your games available to the widest audiances, as thats how you'll make the most money. However, please don't "dumb down" your games just because one reviewer said a negative remark, such as has happened in Australia. Make your games, but give the rest of us a parental lock feature.

-MRG
 
I disagree that censorship is okay for some games but not for others. You can't really say that some games don't deserve to have gore while others do 'because they just need it.' That's completely subjective. I'm sure there are some people in the world who think that No More Heroes is as culturally sophisticated a game as Silent Hill: Homecoming, and that the removal of gore in the Australian version is a desecration.

I know that Yahtzee decries censorship on the whole so I'm largely on his side, but I don't think that saying 'censorship of that game was fine, but not of this game' is the best way to argue it.
 
I guess it's a 'literary' kind of arguement, where he's saying "If you ban all this pulp, shitty games, you'll have the ban these masterpieces too".
 
Again this is not the OFLCs fault but Atkinson's for denying an R18+ rating for video games. Every other Attorney General is for such a rating except for Atkinson, the prick.

Imagine the happy, idyllic world that the Australian censorship board wants us to live in.
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The Office of Film and Literature Classification is not directly responsible. They are merely imposing the rules they've been given to use. If you want to blame someone blame Atkinson, he's the one who thinks games are for kids. We've defeated that argument with raw statistics and he still won't budge from his retarded position. An RA18 rating is keeping violent games away from kids, rather than they be trimmed to suit an MA15 rating. So why is he against it?

I can't stand this bullshit to be honest. I wish Atkinson would let the system do it's job instead of being a "what if teh kiddies see teh violence lol" man. Kids will see violence no matter what you do. The argument that films are easier to enforce age rating on is a load of crap. DVDs do you know what they are?

The rest of the article is fine. Continue.
 
I read this earlier and once again yahtzee makes some very good points :)
 
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