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Australia not allowed to sale online games
Lence
Member CommonPosts: 109
Australia, February 3, 2009 - In a shocking move this morning, the Sydney Morning Herald has reported that Australian retailers will no longer be allowed to sell any online game that has not been classified by the Australian Classification Board.
This move directly affects games such as World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, Age of Conan and Pirates of the Burning Seas – titles that don't contain a single-player experience, and therefore did not apply for classification. The previous understanding was that online games, by their nature, fell outside of traditional national classifications – a loophole that the Classifications Board want stitched up.
According to the report, a spokesperson for NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said the NSW Classification Enforcement Act prohibited publishers and retailers from selling unclassified computer games. The spokesperson also encouraged individuals to report any retailer or individual found operating outside of the Classification Act of 1995.
"The NSW legislation covers computer games bought online as well as those bought in stores, and treats single, multi-player and online games the same way," he said.
Australian police will be responsible for enforcing the penalties, which range from $1100 to $11,000 for individuals and/or 12 months' imprisonment, and approximately double those figures for corporations.
Comments
I'd hate to live in Australia : Like shouldn't people be allowed the freedom of choice?
miss post, wrong topic :P
and what exactly do you think this means? blizzard and anyother competant company will already be on the case of getting it rated. they just didnt bother before. its not like it cant be rated. the govt wouldnt put in this rule and then make it so that a game cant get rated now would they? Scaremongering panic oh noes the world (of warcraft) is ending gobble gobble cabbag du babble officer?
Playing polished, lag free, feature complete games is carebear. Whining about a game you hate but still play is hardcore man!
...and I bet all the MMOs that need to get this approval will get it done ASAP as to not lose new customers. Until that happens people will just purchase their games online then...heh
Isn't AoC and PoTBS single player games? They are so empty...
Oh well, who whant to play them anyway?
This topic has a VERY misleading title.
Another great example of Moore's Law. Give people access to that much space (developers and users alike) and they'll find uses for it that you can never imagine. "640K ought to be enough for anybody" - Bill Gates 1981
That is the whole point. So you get interested and go in here and read it. While the name is not a complete lie, it aint the truth either (as rated games can be sold). I do however doubt that this is not something out of the bleu or random and that companies could and should have had there producted rated already.
The people who make these laws need to be slapped in the face with a big ol' tube snake, repeatedly. I don't understand why Australia hates gamers so much. If I lived there I wouldnt put up with that shit and would organize all kinds of chaos. What's the worst that could happen? You have to flee Australia and live somewhere else? You're doing yourself a favor at that point.
Hope you got your things together. Hope you are quite prepared to die. Looks like we're in for nasty weather. ... There's a bad moon on the rise.
The Australian games rating agency is like any other government agency. They are just protecting their turf. When games are rated, I'm sure there's a big fat fee involved. They want to make sure no game developers slip through the net adn get out of payin gthe fees, that's all.
You live in the US, with is prolly not something new to you :P, but the US has the most strick rating agency in place. I do not see what the fuss is about.
It seems that MMOs where excluded from being rated, with was already ongoing for single player game. Now they included them, with to me does not sound that supprising and I really doubt big games companies have not expected this.
Just order online.
Right. And in the USA the country goes into meltdown if a woman shows her nipples on free to air television. Can you even say the f and c words or show full frontal nudity on free to air TV in the USA? You can in Australia. So spare me "Australia is a police state rubbish".
Ok, lets look at this.
A spokesman for NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said the NSW Classification Enforcement Act prohibited publishers and retailers from selling unclassified computer games.
"The NSW legislation covers computer games bought online as well as those bought in stores, and treats single, multi-player and online games the same way," he said.
That is the NSW Attorney General saying that. NSW does not equal Australia. New South Wales is a state and has about 30% of the total population of Australia. I'm not aware of any of the other 5 state Attorney General's making a comment about.
A spokeswoman for Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland said that, although it was up to each state and territory to enforce game classification requirements, Commonwealth legislation also had no loopholes for online games.
"The National Classification Scheme does not distinguish between games based on whether or not they contain a single player component," she said.
That is the Federal Attorney General's statement. But as pointed out enforcement is a State's issue. Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and South and Western Australia could chose to things to carry on as normal.
What has been stated is that the loophole that online games dont need a classification since their is no single player content is no longer being accepted by the Federal Government and the Classification Board (which is under federal control).
I do not see why mmorpg companies cannot just get classification www.classification.gov.au/special.html . I have seen argument thats since the content changes they cannot seek classification. Well, they could classify the content on the disks sold. For example original WoW, Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King could all get classification. Many single player games have patches released which add content and no problems occur. Many games contain both single and online multiplayer content and none have been banned because people say "poo" and "bum" in the online multiplayer content.
And finally www.gameswarehouse.com.au/longpage.asp www.cheapgames.com.au/world-warcraft-wrath-lich-king-p-1776.html
I was in JB Hi-FI yesterday and saw AoC, Warhammer and WoW all on the shelves.
So, yeah. Internet=misinformation.
This also covers ONLINE. Therefore no one is allowed to sell WOW or any other MMO to anyone in Australia.
Creator of ELTank and Nostalgia
They'll just have to get the games rated. In the United States, WoW is rated T by the ESRB, for example.
Minor enforcement issue. Games will now get rated and everything will die down.
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You do realize that you live in Michigan which is within the borders of the U.S. correct?
If for some reason you missed it, the U.S. has some pretty strict ratings laws. Just saying.
Now that you know this I look forward to seeing your demonstrations on the news.
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Australians you have my symphathy. Your government seems to have some very internet unfriendly policies. I understand that they are also errecting a great firewall of Australia to prevent people accessing the world wide web in an unrestricted fashion and only government sanctioned sites will be viewable, very similar to China in fact.
Travelled around the world for years in my youth and no-where else i'd rather call home than Australia and yes its not perfect. You should do yourself a favour and think before you speak as you jare ust confirming how foolish you really are.
There is no "great firewall" in Australia to prevent people from accessing the world wide web and there will never be one regardless of what the government's intentions are.
Did any of you ADHD Ritalin addicts even read my post where I stated this is a non-issue? Yet people are coming here and keep sprouting the same nonsense.
Yeah and the US is secretly run by an alien race of lizards that feed on humans.
Actually my Australian friend came to visit over xmas and mentioned it and also I read this: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7689964.stm
I don't know where you get your info from but it looks like they are moving in this direction.
For those who can't be bothered to read it they are trialling filter software to be introduced nationally. There will be 2 lists of banned sites that will be inaccesable from Australian internet connections, first list is voluntary and the second list is compulsory. Unless they have back tracked on this issue, which they might have but I haven't read anything about that, it is still their intention.
Travelled around the world for years in my youth and no-where else i'd rather call home than Australia and yes its not perfect. You should do yourself a favour and think before you speak as you jare ust confirming how foolish you really are.
Though I would have worded it a bit differently than goneglockin (and a bit ashamed to be called a fellow American in that instance), suppression of information of any kind is nothing other then a form of dictation which can only lead down the pathway of tyranny. I hope the Australlian people will fight this restriction as it only serves to control information and ideas. Yes it's only video games now, but... what's next? All it takes is one law like that to set up a domino effect for the next one, and the ones following.
The Australlian people have my support, fight (with peaceful protesting of course) for your rights. Tell your Government that you won't be dictated as to what you can or can't do!
Finally some truthful information in this thread.
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Actually my Australian friend came to visit over xmas and mentioned it and also I read this: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7689964.stm
I don't where you get your info from but it looks like they are moving in this direction.
They can move all they want. They will never get the legislation through the Senate. The Coalition (National and Liberal Parties) plus the Greens and the independent senator have said they will not pass any legislation about internet filtering as is.
The only way the Australia Labor Party will ever get internet filtering through is if they have a double dissolution trigger and call a double dissolution election and there is no way in hell will a Government go to the polls with internet filtering as their main policy.
Basically there is no chance in hell that the internet filtering as proposed by the ALP will go through both houses of parliament.
I get my information by living in Australia and having a BA with a major in Pol Sci. Your friend probably doesn't know what he's talking about. Australians aren't a particularly bright bunch.
Case closed.