Tue, Feb 16, 2010 | 18:18 GMT
No R18+ advocacy website opened; Michael Atkinson gets more threats
Two bits of news concerning the R18+ debacle going on in Australia today has an advocacy against the rating getting its own website, and the second bit has South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson getting more death threats.
Starting off with the threat bit, Michael Atkinson has said gamers are once again threatening he and his family, more so than the nastiest group of Hell Angels bikers could ever aspire to.
Speaking to ABC (via GamePolitics), Atkinson said that another pasted letter was slipped under his door at 2AM “from a gamer” and said that his email is constantly being spammed.
“I feel that my family and I are more at risk from gamers than we are from the outlaw motorcycle gangs who also hate me and are running a candidate against me.
“The outlaw motorcycle gangs haven’t been hanging around outside my door at 2AM, a gamer has.
“I have no evidence to say that it [the threatening material] is being circulated by members of Gamers4Croydon. I don’t know who sends me this awful material.”
In response, Gamers4Croydon president Chris Prior denied Atkinson’s claim and countered by saying: “It’s really quite absurd, and it trivializes the lives that have been ruined by cruel motorcycle gangs. We are a party formed to challenge Mr. Atkinson publicly, civilly, and within the rules of South Australia’s democracy”.
In other news on the R18+ subject, and new advocacy group has formed a website called NoR18games.com, and it voices the opinion that “the last thing Australian needs is extremely violent and explicit games feeding into youth and adults minds.”
Here’s a blurb, once again, courtesy of GamePolitics:
Although R18+ DVDs are already available, computer games involve the player in an interactive role where they become the character doing the killing, raping, beating or sexual activity. An example of a currently banned game that would be allowed into Australia is a Japanese creation where the player is encouraged to gang rape and beat young women. Other games involve “first person” playing where the player takes the role of torturing or mutilating people.
GP dug around a bit, and found that the NoR18Games website may be affiliated with the Australian Christian Lobby, which has also come out against R18+, thanks to the “Find Out More” section of the site.
It will get uglier before it gets better, folks.
11 
Posted in: Australia, Hot, Politics
Tags: Michael Atkinson, r18+, South Australia Attorney General Michael Atkinson
11 comments
#1
Hunam
16/02/10, 6:27 pm
Next they’ll start censoring the internet! Oh wait.
#2
Freek
16/02/10, 6:34 pm
As an outsider, you can’t help but laugh at the utter misrepresentation of the hobby by both sides. Death threats, japanese rape games, motor cycle gangs? Really Australia, really?
Strange that the rest of the world isn’t given as an example. You can easely point to a number of countries where 18+ games are sold and see that society has not collapsed into chaos. And you’d be hard pressed to find rape and torture games in the avarage game/media store.
#3
Psychotext
16/02/10, 6:38 pm
Everything I’ve seen from Atkinson on the subject indicates he has very little time for “democracy” and would rather choose to save an ignorant population from themselves.
#4
Khanivor
16/02/10, 6:43 pm
Australia really seems quite determined to out-spaz the other English speaking nations of the world and claim the title of Most Spaztastic.
#5
psxman
16/02/10, 6:47 pm
“a Japanese creation where the player is encouraged to gang rape and beat young women. Other games involve “first person” playing where the player takes the role of torturing or mutilating people.”
Why’ve I never heard of these games?? Have I been looking around the wrong areas at Play-Asia or something? Or are they simply making it all up?
#6
Psychotext
16/02/10, 6:51 pm
The former are common (or used to be, I think Japan banned them too recently), the latter could be any FPS game that they care to overreact to.
#7
blackdreamhunk
16/02/10, 7:22 pm
ahahahahahahhahahahahhaah that picture is clasic lol
#8
PolyGoneWithTheWind
16/02/10, 9:45 pm
It’s like we have, as English people that is, two sons… America went off the rails but now seems to have settled down, bought a house, dressing better and getting on with more people… and now Australia has decided to have a mid-life-shitasmic crisis because it hasn’t had a hug for a while and Mummy never really understood them…
God Bless Britain, we’ve always been mental but at least we’re consistently mental. You know where you stand with us.
#9
PolyGoneWithTheWind
16/02/10, 9:48 pm
On a serious note – Politics + Culture never mix well. It’s easy to see culture as a pervasive force for moral lapses (it has happened for centuries, after all Jesus was a kids magician)it absconds politicans and the society that are hired to protect and grow from blame of any malfunctions from an individual.
Always easier to blame something unrelated than cure the cause… As long as politicians have hides to save, games, Marilyn Manson, hip-hop and magicians will always be persecuted…
#10
The_Deleted
17/02/10, 12:30 am
Australia is a twat.
Stand up and fuck him off.
#11
MasterChiefFenix
17/02/10, 7:26 am
AVGN FTW!