Censorship for games in Australia?

I just read an article that makes me very nervous.


http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/state-of-decay-refused-classification-in-australia-20130627-2ozku.html


An open-world zombie survival game, State of Decay launched globally earlier this month, but it missed its local release, as the Australian Classification Board had not reached a verdict on the game.
It was announced on Wednesday that the game had been refused classification.
“Today, State of Decay was given a Refused Classification (RC) rating by the Australian Classification Board, meaning that the game cannot be made available to Australian customers at this time,” reads a statement issued by Microsoft. “[We are] currently evaluating the options with regards to the title’s classification.”

Are you reading that?

Developer Volition is working on an edited version to secure an Australian release.

Are you alarmed? I am very alarmed. I might let my complaint letter to the Australian Classifications Board speak for itself here.


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Enquiry Details
In what capacity are you making this enquiry?	(Choose one) Concerned citizen Student Parent Interest/morals group representative Media Industry (film) Industry (computer games) Industry (publications) Industry (cinema) Government Film festival Other
Other
Category of enquiry	(Choose one) Rating of film - too high Rating of film - too low RC/banned film Content of film Rating of computer game - too high Rating of computer game - too low RC/banned computer game Content of computer game Rating of DVD - too high Rating of DVD - too low RC/banned DVD Content of DVD Rating of publication - too high Rating of publication - too low Content of publication Applying for a classification Training enquiry Film festival Website enquiry Employment Media Online Content Other

To Whom it May Concern,

I recently read a disturbing article on SMH.com about a game - State of Decay - being refused classification and was being edited FOR release here, I wanted to check with the people that would know, whether this was true.

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/state-of-decay-refused-classification-in-australia-20130627-2ozku.html

If this article is false, please advise.

If this is true, I want to know how I can protest this.

I read that Australia wants to release an edited version of this game. I am not happy with this. I am a 27 yr old adult, and feel very alarmed when material that I purchase here has been censored in any way.

I value choice.

If the game is too violent, or there is drug use, or there are people exploding then I - as a 27 yr old adult - have the choice not to spend my money on it.

If the game developers want to access a larger market, they have the choice to remove certain elements from the game.

But removing elements from a game just because Australia refuses to allow the game into the country is not an acceptible choice.

Please write back.

Regards,

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I'll post the reply here. I hope this isn't true, but if it is - this is no good.

What a fitting name...

A male character from borderlands had a boyfriend. And?

This isn't going to be a big post. It's just something I've wanted to say for a while, but it's such a small thing that I haven't said it.

Sir Hammerlock from Borderlands universe had some man love.

How do I know this? Because he makes an offhand comment about an ex-boyfriend in a mission he sends you one.

Why does it matter to the game? It doesn't.

That's why I wanted to say something.

So if he only makes a single offhand comment about an ex-boyfriend, and it doesn't matter at all to the game, why are you posting about it?

Simply because I found it really, really cool. There's no big reveal, there's no payoff to it or big storyline about his sexual preferences, he's not a romance option within the game. He's just a character in an FPS who happens to be gay or bi.

After sending you off to morph bugs into super bugs, and asking you to kill the ugly spider-octopus that chopped his hand off - this is just another mission. It's just something you do in the hopes Hammerlock will give you a badass sniper rifle.
"An old boyfriend of mine, name of Taggart, was hired to wipe out the Stalker population a while back. He also, adorably, tried to write a book about his adventures in the Highlands. You find the chapters of his book, and I'll plagiarize the living daylights out of them for mine. Win-win-win, as they say! Nobody says that. I say it." - Sir Hammerlock


This is business as usual stuff. It just happens.

And I love that.

It doesn't matter, in the end, Sir Hammerlock is just a cyborg dude giving you a quest. And we really need more of that sort of general, unphased representation. It's such a little thing, but it is important to gaming culture - to our culture at large.

You go, Gearbox.

Just chilling, being a role model for character creation.