The long awaited and highly reported meeting of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General's was held today. One of the items on the agenda was the introduction of an R18+ classification for games. It was thought that the discussions would not go very far because of the SA attorney general blocking the proposal.

SCAG has decided that they could not make a decision today but agreed to put it forward for public discussion. This decision was immediately criticized by Australian Christian Lobby (ACL)and and the Eros Foundation - a pornography lobby group, which means this is the first time these two groups have been on the same side.

These two groups are worried that if an R18+ rating is introduced and not applied properly, it might gain the same loopholes that the current R18 rating for movies has which gets away with real sex in films. They are more concerned about games having the loophole due to their interactive nature.

The consultation with the public will not be the final decision but will help seek community views and inform SCAGS position. The federal government had not reached an opinion on the R18+ rating as yet.

The ministers are trying to find a balance between freedom of expression and community worries. One minister thought it strange to allow R18 for film but not for video games.

Submitted by Eldude 28/03/2008 31 3

Join MyDS to vote for your favourite story!

Source URL:

http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,23447566-5014239,00.html

• 
  Children of Mana
• 
  Pokemon Emerald
• 
  World Championship Poker Deluxe Series
• 
  Tales of the Tempest

• 
  3D Pokemon
• 
  Diddy Kong Racing-3
• 
  Sonic Adventure 2 Battle Commercial
• 
  Nintendo DS iPod clone

• 
  85 59
• 
  17 50
• 
  41 48
• 
  33 43
• 
  44 37
• 
  47 34