CrimeCraft banned in Australia originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Back at the end of January, after we spent months investigating, talking to the Australian Classification Board, and both State and Federal Australian Attorneys General offices, it became clear that an apparent discrepancy in Australian games ratings was no discrepancy.

MMOGs were being sold on store shelves in Australia without the mandatory classification required by law. The whole thing was a tangle of confusing and contradictory information and statements from publishers, developers, industry associations, retailers and government departments. The government departments involved ultimately passed the buck back and forth between State and Federal jurisdictions, until their press-offices simply refused to talk.

Now, at last, the government seems to have gotten its message straight. In the wake of the coverage most MMOGs applied for and received a rating. Even Blizzard's World of Warcraft (a bit of a johnny-come-lately) has a proper rating this month and only Funcom's Age of Conan and Mythic's Warhammer Online seem to be holdouts, as far as we can tell.

Continue reading MMOGs rated in Australia. Warcraft a bit late, no sign of Conan, Warhammer

MMOGs rated in Australia. Warcraft a bit late, no sign of Conan, Warhammer originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Australian Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, has promised to extend Australia's proposed network-level content filtering regime to block games, online games, downloadable games, and websites that sell or allow download of games that are deemed not to be suitable for a 15-year-old audience. This, despite research by the IEAA (the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia) that the average age of Australian Gamers is 30.

Even though Australian Federal and State laws say otherwise, some MMO titles exceeding that classification are already sold on Australian store shelves, by simply bypassing compulsory classification. Australian Federal and State authorities refuse to respond to any enquiries about the topic.

The matter becomes even more confusing and complex, however, as it introduces a new, defacto classifications body to the mix.

Continue reading Australian network filtering promises to reach out to block games, online games and more

Australian network filtering promises to reach out to block games, online games and more originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After issuing some apparently definitive statements about the requirement for MMOGs to be classified for sale in Australia, the department responsible seems to have thrown up its collective hands in confusion and is apparently unable to determine whether MMOGs should or should not be classified.

While the government held firm for a while that MMOGs were no different to other games for the purposes of the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act of 1995, and that the position upheld by the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) was incorrect, that message changed earlier this week, when the message wavered and the department then suggested that publishers and retailers (and us) should seek advice elsewhere.

Continue reading Aus government confused on MMOG ratings requirements

Aus government confused on MMOG ratings requirements originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Since we broke the story on the unlawful sales of unrated MMOGs in Australia last week, there has been a fair bit of coverage, from Australian newspapers to assorted gaming blogs. Much of what you've probably read since the original story covered here and later in the Sydney Morning Herald haven't really had much in the way of new information, and like a game of Telephone, the tale has grown somewhat in the telling.

So, here we're going to set it out for you, so you can get the information straight.

Firstly, Australia has not suddenly banned MMOGs, nor has any law related to their classification or sale been abruptly changed. The regulations have been in place since at least 1995, and there's nothing new in that regard.

Continue reading Australia takes no action on unrated computer games

Australia takes no action on unrated computer games originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Life used to be so simple. You'd walk into a store, present your purchase, pay for it and walk on out again. The laws and regulations that govern both you and the seller were the same. With mail-order, phone order and digital downloads, that is no longer the case.

You see in a simple transaction, like the purchase of an MMOG, there are actually two distinct actions taking place, a purchase and a sale. The act of selling is governed by the regulations that the seller is subject to in their jurisdiction. The purchase is under the jurisdiction of the buyer.

It's funny, really MMOGs like Funcom's Age of Conan on Australian shelves may trigger all sorts of fines (especially if the title is ultimately refused classification), but sales of the same title to Australians via Steam could well be immune to all the ratings fuss.

Simply put, the enforcement act that governs the sales of rated and unrated material in Australia applies almost entirely to selling (not to buying) and the act of the sale for most digital downloads is taking place out of range of those regulations.

Continue reading Gaming the ratings game

Gaming the ratings game originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

One of the hitches in game-ratings in Australia is that there are no "R18+" or "X18+" ratings for games as there are for films. Games that would fall into these categories are refused classification. Because of this, no video games can be traded or sold in Australia that have content that is not appropriate for a 15-year-old. Without a formal classification (and compliant labeling) for a game, it is a criminal offense under Australian State and Territory laws for it to be sold, hired or demonstrated.

The problem here is that comparatively few MMOG titles sold on Australia's retail shelves ever carry a rating and labeling as the Classification Act requires. Could publishers, distributors and retailers of these unrated MMOGs suddenly wake up to find themselves in a legal hole hundreds of thousands of sales deep?

Continue reading MMOs defy classification in Australia

MMOs defy classification in Australia originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.