Legal Niches

Game Industry Head Debates Atkinson Form Letter

By gamepolitics

The CEO of an Australian and New Zealand videogame industry group has taken to his blog for a lengthy part-by-part answer to a form letter received from South Australia Attorney General Michael Atkinson (pictured left) in response to an inquiry calling for the addition of an R18+ rating category.

Ron Curry is CEO of the Interactive Games & Electronic Association (IGEA) and received the same form letter others have when attempting to contact the notorious anti-game advocate. Curry begins by noting that he believes Atkinson's stance is full of 'moral panic, misinformation and factual inaccuracies.'

Curry's response to an Atkinson paragraph that claims that videogames in the home 'cannot be policied:'

This is just a ridiculous comment regarding games being somehow magically different from films in the home.

And where is the conversation about console devices to lock out children.  Industry has parental control systems to assist parents, but at the end of the day it is a matter of real parental control in the home.  The systems can help parents, and no one would be so naive to think they would replace supervision.

Curry on Atkinson acknowledging 'that others have different opinions' from his and that he will continue to campaign against an R18+ rating:

I think most people are willing to accept that Atkinson has an opinion that differs from the majority of people in our community.  It is unfortunate, however, that an individual with such a narrow and misinformed view can shape national policy from such an incredible position of power.

Atkinson: "I am baffled and worried about why proponents of R.18+ games are putting up their hands and saying ‘Give us more cruel sex and extreme violence!'"

Curry responds:

I'm not really clear who (apart from Atkinson's own personal preference) has claimed that games are more interesting to an adult simply because they contain extreme violence, explicit sexual material or highly offensive language. More so, who is calling for more cruel sex?

This assertion is patronising in the extreme, deciding what is good for all adults and is dripping with moral panic.

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on December 03, 2009 (boomark / email).