Last month we brought you the story that Xbox Live zombie game State of Decay was banned in Australia. Today, the Australian Classification Board has lifted the ban.
The reason the game was initially refused classification was due to the games’ use of real world medications that the player was able to administer to the character by raiding pharmacies in order to heal.
Undead Labs, the developer of the game, needed only to change the terms such as “Stimulators” to “Supplements”, coming up with vitamins instead of medications. This simple change meant the game could be rated in Australia and thus be allowed to go on sale.
However, the Classification Board gave the game an ‘R18+ Rating’ for what it calls ‘high impact violence’. Interestingly, the Drug Use category went down from being higher-than-high impact violence to “Mild Impact” thanks to the name changes.
With the ban effectivly lifted, it means that only one title has been refused classification since the R18+ rating was brought into Australian law. That game is the hotly anticipated Saint’s Row IV, which has been deemed illegal to own in Australia.
For the sake of reference, two games were banned in 2012 when games were not allowed to be rated R18+. Syndicate was refused classification along with The Witcher 2, the latter being censored to meet the MA15+ requirements.
What are your thoughts on video game classification in Australia? Does it need to be fixed? Have your say below.
Related Posts
