Comments on: Michael Atkinson replies to R18+ enquiries

By: Nato

Nato — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:01:11 +0000

As a gamer i can easily say that just because a game has been classified as R18+ hence a ban in Australia isnt goin to stop a dedicated gamer. If it isnt sold here, we will go to where it is available. If anything, why not aim your sights at Piracy Mr Atkinson, the more you restrict people the more likely piracy will increase overall.

As for being a religious man, i believe you have picked up the wrong plate to eat off. You cannot have a vegetarian run a meat market, they lack the taste for produce. One that has to suit the needs of many must have a broader aspect and i think its safe to say that Mickeal does not play games….only with OUR games.

Mr Atkinson’s new law brought to Sth or West Aus in which shops now must cover videos with the R18+ rating so that only the title can be shown is just a bag of laughs, though the industry isnt laughing because he is basically altering the finished product which no Movie production company would have agreed to. To me, that is a copyright infringment right there.

“More cruel sex and extreme violence”? You must be joking. Did you come up with that yourself Mickeal? Yes, i think you did. How dare he make such an assumtion let alone place it in writing for others to see without even polling the general community. Such a statement implicates gamers as sick children.

If its all coming down to what we dont want our children to see than dont buy it for them, implement the child protection software that is already available in consoles, thats what they are there for.

As for your position (Micheal A), however you got there, we feel less burdened with the knowledge that you can not be there forever. Enjoy your reign of terror while it lasts

By: Bleh

Bleh — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:55:23 +0000

The part that infuriated me was that gamers wanted “more cruel sex and extreme violence”. That isnt what we want at all and its extremely poor debate etiqueete to strawman us like that.

By: Johno

Johno — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:17:00 +0000

Imposing your general beliefs on a society that doesn’t want them … Isn’t that Faschism?

By: Xee

Xee — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:42:35 +0000

Let’s face the actual facts Mr. Atkinson, most of the games you claim are destroying childrens lives are on xbox 360 and ps3 both of which have a parental lock system incorporated so a password can be implemented by parents to prevent children from accessing content.

Shouldn’t someone who actually understands the technology be in charge of these things.

Atkinson is not a reasonable man, he will rely on his church going constituate to get reelected and pose as the “god fearing local man protecting your childrens future”.

Something must be done about this problem.

People like Atkinson within the government are pushing to censor ALL forms of media.

Videogames are just the first target because it’s easy to call out “PLEASE SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN” and thousands of conservative parents will jump.

He’s just banned r rated movies in his local state of SA, and the federal government is pushing to censor the internet.

HOW LONG UNTILL ALL MEDIA IS RESTRICTED AND ALL YOU HAVE ACCESS TO IS CAREBEARS?

Parents DO have the ability to protect their own children.

He can claim he is more concerned with “more important issues” all he wants.

But, why then is censorship constantly the main agenda of politicians these days?

And you’ll also note, he doesn’t specify what these “more important issues” are.

He’s a clasic example of the blind leading the blind using a guise of religion and good family values.

No doubt Mr Atkinson has skeletons burried deep down within his closet.

[ad hominem attacks removed -ed]

By: Russell

Russell — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:40:55 +0000

Nevan, there are far more important things than games on which to base your vote, think about it.

By: Nevan Ford

Nevan Ford — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:51:42 +0000

funny thing. Look up the Good Game site (yup the show), and download the last episode for last year with an interview with said AG, interesting viewing that kind of makes him look like a 6 year old basically stating ‘I don’t want it so there’ he states that independant studies into this are funded by developers and publishers of games when in reality (you know, where WE live) the studies where actually independently funded and they could back that up, and Mr.Atkinson (I’m from SA and I refuse to accept this man as our AG) couldn’t back up a single fact he stated. Hmmmm I know politician’s are dodgy but flat out lying? who does he think he is? Mike Rann? might have to vote liberal next year I think.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:52:34 +0000

In regards to the response you are preparing, one thing to consider and perhaps investigate is the impact that the lack of an R18+ rating will ultimately have on Australian retailers. The fact is as consumers most Australian gamers will refuse to purchase a heavily censored product. A perfect example can be made of Left 4 Dead 2 and the large amount of Australians who decided to import the “full” product from online retailers. Essentially Atkinson is forcing Australians to spend overseas.

By: dirk

dirk — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:29:47 +0000

this is infuriating, proponents of r18 aren’t saying ‘give me more cruel sex and extreme violence’ they’re saying ‘we’re over 18, we’re adults, you have no place to tell us what we deem moral, get off our backs’

and in reference to the game where you take drugs?! ‘These activities are illegal in real life why ask governments to give people the right to do them virtually?’ am i reading this correctly? does this moron think that you can overdose on virtual ecstacy? does he even understand why drugs are illegal?

the government is responsible for protecting individuals from other individuals and things out of our control
parents are responsible for protecting their children
once you hit 18 you’re responsible for your own damn self, i don’t need to be sheltered from the real world by the government, i’m just as much a part of the real world as anyone in government

By: dirk

dirk — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:27:30 +0000

this is infuriating, proponents of r18 aren’t saying

By: ilandrah

ilandrah — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:28:06 +0000

Atkinson claims that desensitising people to violence will lead to an increase in violent crimes, the actual figures of crimes committed Australia wide over an extensive period would prove otherwise. I have been looking around and have found some results indicating violent crime has decreased overall between 1995-2005, but I would like to find some later results, as well as figures from much earlier periods (ie: pre-gaming).
I think that the number of people enlisting in the army (which has certainly decreased rapidly) is also a fair indicator that gamers are not causing people to become more violent or more interested in weapons and warfare etc.
These two points would clearly and factually display that gamers are not going to act out any of the fantasy elements they interact with on screen.
A history of censorship is also worth a look, at one time the waltz was banned in many areas, as many books that are now considered to be classics.
Overall I agree with Treb, that any letter needs to be in “polispeak’ it is all they seem to understand.