Australia bans WOW

[Wednesday Friday Addams]

Australia, February 3, 2009 - In a shocking move this morning, the Sydney Morning Herald has reported that Australian retailers will no longer be allowed to sell any online game that has not been classified by the Australian Classification Board.

This move directly affects games such as World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, Age of Conan and Pirates of the Burning Seas – titles that don't contain a single-player experience, and therefore did not apply for classification. The previous understanding was that online games, by their nature, fell outside of traditional national classifications – a loophole that the Classifications Board want stitched up.

According to the report, a spokesperson for NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said the NSW Classification Enforcement Act prohibited publishers and retailers from selling unclassified computer games. The spokesperson also encouraged individuals to report any retailer or individual found operating outside of the Classification Act of 1995.

"The NSW legislation covers computer games bought online as well as those bought in stores, and treats single, multi-player and online games the same way," he said.

Australian police will be responsible for enforcing the penalties, which range from $1100 to $11,000 for individuals and/or 12 months' imprisonment, and approximately double those figures for corporations.

We've contacted Activision Blizzard for further comment. Please check back shortly as this story continues to develop.

http://au.games.ign.com/articles/950/950795p1.html

[Albert Mond]

Wow. Those Aussies sure are fags.

[Cicero]

Doesn't surprise me. The current government is rather keen on molly-coddling us to death. Heard about their 'clean feed' plan? Slowing down our internet to dial-up speeds so they can block porn?

Yeah, I'm glad I'm moving to the UK this year.

[Wednesday Friday Addams]

But how will people live without porn?

[Albert Mond]

Originally Posted by Cicero

Doesn't surprise me. The current government is rather keen on molly-coddling us to death. Heard about their 'clean feed' plan? Slowing down our internet to dial-up speeds so they can block porn?

Australia: the heat isn't the only thing it has in common with Hell.

Originally Posted by Wednesday Friday Addams

But how will people live without porn?

I hope they make it themselves.
Kangaroo porn sounds quite enticing.

[Sir Canvas Corpsey]

I knew about the porn block, the thought is nice but they take the protection of youth waaaaay too far. I blame fucking Hetti Johnston, and her fucking Bravehearts thing, they started this with the Bill Henson case.

[Necrophagist]

Fuck dick munching Aussiefags!

[Renatus]

While governments are powerful and have quite a vast system at their desposal, they are only finite, while the internet is infinite and without bounds. The Nazis couldn't stop the french resistance, and that was back when the ability to communicate was far easier to restrict.


Frankly they would have better luck cutting off all ocean access. Look at Cuba and their work to restrict Cuban access to outside tv stations, the cubans have access to far less technology than Austrailians, yet still manage to get a signal from the outside, and they're an openly communist government.

[Tam Li Hua]

That's so uncool. Not to mention that I have no idea how WoW = Pr0n in the minds of some of these folks.

And to think, I once wanted to live there..

[Cicero]

It's not about WoW being remotely 'bad', it just hasn't been rated by the Australian rating system, so it can't be sold in shops here. What the idiots don't seem to have realised is that you can download most online games right off the internet without buying them in a shop, so it's the sort of bullshit that can easily be bypassed.

The clean feed thing is a whole other kettle of fish aimed at fighting child porn (by blocking child porn websites, along with anything the imperfect system mistakes for it, along with absolutely anything else the government deems inappropriate, which will also include regular porn). I have less of a problem with what they want to block than the facts that a) they feel we need these things blocked in the first place, as if they're some scourge on society and b) it'll slow our internet to fucking DIAL-UP SPEEDS. They also don't seem to have figured out is that even if they block child porn websites from public viewing, they're not going to stop the ped0philes from being ped0philes.

[ArtificialOne]

I lived in Adelaide, AU between 04 and 07. Most people like the massive bureaucracy. The tax system was pretty good and so was the laws governing lawsuits. You don't get the multi million dallar payouts for a broken leg like here in the states. It was such a pain in the ass to do anything else though, like getting a drivers license and the immigration office was nuts. My case worker was going to school and only worked twelve hours a week! My work was going crazy trying to get my 457 visa.

I can understand the ratings on the games though. Really surprised it took them this long to actually do it.

There's no way they can cut off sea traffic back and forth from the country. Indonesian fisherman are always finding ways around to fish in the waters and numerous times have even landed on the coast. Indonesia is very poor and fishing companies always find people to make the trip into Australian waters.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...?from=storyrhs

[CptSternn]

Any country that bans any game just makes more people want to play it. Every time a government mentions banning a game (i.e. Manhunter 2, GTA, etc.) the sales go through the roof.

Considering they give the game away FREE in most shops in the US and EU, I'm betting there is no shortage of install disks floating about in AU.

It will be WOW who have the last laugh.

[Renatus]

Originally Posted by ArtificialOne

There's no way they can cut off sea traffic back and forth from the country. Indonesian fisherman are always finding ways around to fish in the waters and numerous times have even landed on the coast. Indonesia is very poor and fishing companies always find people to make the trip into Australian waters.

I know, thats why I said better luck, because explaining just how impossible blocking the internet is.

Note: for the sake of avoiding angry replies this was posted in a calm tone.

[Apathy's_Child]

If I were in charge of the country, I would totally ban WoW. And reality TV. And shitty music. And Twilight. Fuck it, only forms of entertainment pre-approved by myself would be allowed.

[Corpsey]

Wicked. One benevolent dictater you sure would make.

Originally Posted by Wednesday Friday Addams

Australia, February 3, 2009 - In a shocking move this morning, the Sydney Morning Herald has reported that Australian retailers will no longer be allowed to sell any online game that has not been classified by the Australian Classification Board.

This won't slow down or prevent those sorts of games in NZ should it? I don't know where our retailers get them all from but I'm assuming we import a little from Aussie.

I don't care if it makes WoW or said games impossible to perchase in NZ but I'll be pissed off if they stop me in any way from getting Starcraft II.

[menus era sota]

haha- this is typical austrailia. on the up side, we can now supply the games to them on ebay.
i am so glad i moved from there - forget gettting a game rated 21+ there.

but seriously, look on the brightside - now we can make money off this by selling WoW to them on ebay.

[Despanan]

Hmmm, looks like the Ban also includes Fallout 3, at least the earlier version where some of the in-game drugs had real-world names.

[Renatus]

Originally Posted by Despanan

Hmmm, looks like the Ban also includes Fallout 3, at least the earlier version where some of the in-game drugs had real-world names.

Hmm? like what? The only ones I can think of are Jet, Buffout, Psycho.

[Despanan]

Yeah, those are what they replaced the names with in later versions.

Med-X is actually Morphine.

I think Psycho is Speed, I don't know what drugs were renamed Jet and Buffout.

[Albert Mond]

Originally Posted by Despanan

Jet

Acid?

and Buffout.

Steroids?

[KontanKarite]

LoL!!!! Oh my god. LoL!!!!

Some things are so stupid and ridiculous I can do nothing more but laugh.

I'm guessing "Jet" was Coke and "Buffout" was Special K or something.

[Malice In Wonderland]

It was only Med-X that was a problem I believe.
the other drugs have had the same names throughout the series.
But yeah, I think they are all based on real world drugs.

[Cicero]

The Fallout 3 thing was just to do with Australia's lack of its own R rating, so anything with such a rating overseas has to get edited down to our sensitive, sheltered level. Nevermind the fact that the main market for computer games here is people in their 20's...