Thu, Dec 10, 2009 | 20:00 GMT
Atkinson says you don’t “need” to “dismember” people in games
During an interview with an ABC news outlet in Australia, Attorney General Michael Atkinson stated that an adult videogame rating for the country is only wanted by “very zealous gamers” trying to “impose their will” on society.
His comment was in response to the recent rating given to Aliens vs. Predator – a game that Rebellion refuses to edit just to appease censors.
“This is a question of a small number of very zealous gamers trying to impose their will on society, and I think harm society,” he told ABC. “It’s the public interest versus the small vested interest. I accept that 98%, 99% of gamers will tell the difference between fantasy and reality, but the 1% to 2% could go on to be motivated by these games to commit horrible acts of violence.
“You don’t need to be playing a game in which you impale, decapitate and dismember people.”
Yes. Yes we do, Michael.
In response, Australia’s Interactive Games and Entertainment Association CEO Ron Curry countered Atkinson’s remarks, stating that the man has no right to dictate what the population can and cannot interact with.
“It doesn’t seem democratic that a single attorney general should be able to dictate what the vast Australian population can interact with,” he remarked. “The government trusts us to be adults with films, but they only want us to be children with games.”
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12 
Posted in: Australia, Politics, Violence in games
Tags: aliens vs predator, Attorney General Michael Atkinson, rebellion, ron curry
12 comments
#1
Gekidami
10/12/09, 8:13 pm
“This is a question of a small number of very zealous gamers trying to impose their will on society”
To quote Brüno: “The kettle is calling the pot black”.
#2
OlderGamer
10/12/09, 8:21 pm
Spot on Gek. I just don’t understand those guys. They make the US gov look good.
#3
Gekidami
10/12/09, 8:27 pm
Surely Obama makes the US government look good all on his own.
#4
GwynbleiddiuM
10/12/09, 8:30 pm
Apparently Australian government is being run by chickens.
#5
mescalineeyes
10/12/09, 8:30 pm
ignoring the whole sending a bunch of new troops down to afghanistan, he isn’t doing too bad, true.
#6
MushroomStamp
10/12/09, 8:31 pm
Obama is only the guy in the unfortunate position of having to clean up a decade worth of abuse from former incumbants. He is not very successful so far because the same corrupt officials are still in the House and the Senate. One man can not fix a decade of greed. How short your peoples memory is over who really caused this depression. At least he is TRYING to help, more than we can say for all the ANTI policy people.
#7
OlderGamer
10/12/09, 8:38 pm
I am with you Mushie.
#8
Blerk
11/12/09, 9:04 am
Dismembering is good! Healthy! Cleanses the soul!
All those people who aren’t dismembering folk in games will be off into the outback this weekend to dismember tourists. For real.
#9
jnms
11/12/09, 9:27 am
Pure fascism. Very simple really.
#10
scratchy69
11/12/09, 11:01 am
There’s only one way to settle this….. FIGHT!
#11
Psychotext
11/12/09, 11:41 am
You don’t have to take their… heads off, to have a good time, no no.
#12
vincentw00t
11/12/09, 11:55 am
That guy doesn’t NEED to be a total bellend. It’s not stopped him.