Question: The Australian government plan to block URL leading to violent online gaming sites. By examining three different online sites, how these laws might effect onling gaming?
Online and offline video games have been ridiculed for having ultra-violent content not suitable for children and adults. Classification guidelines have come under debate for not allowing these violent video games into Australia by accepting a R18+ into the rating system for computer games. Under the Australian Classification code for Films and Computer games ‘adults should be able to read hear and see what they want.’ (2008: 4)
Recently, the Australian Government moved their concerns to online gaming which has access to ultra-violent video games .The government have discussed placing filters to block URL’s that lead to violent online games. This means that anyone above the age of 15 will not be able to access restricted video games online or offline. I questioned, what kind of online gaming will they be targeting and how these sites will be affected by examining three online game sites.
Brey argues ‘Video games can in principle enable and graphically represent the realization of almost any imaginable action.’ (1999: 6) This includes mutilation, murder and it includes any sadistic action that may be deemed immoral in society. ‘The difference in other media, such as television and literature, are passive media that merely are experienced by the users… video games user are actively engaging.’ (1999: 6)
An online gaming site, 666games.net (2007), is an entire site based on violence and gore. Every game promises blood and violence. Since opening in 2006, 666 games, has had over 1.5 million plays on the site and defines itself as the ‘largest violent gaming site on the internet.’ With repetition of the words like ‘violent, sadistic, painful’ repeated everywhere on this site, its clear its target audience are looking for not your average ‘shoot and kill’ violence. While it does remind its audience ‘always keep in mind, its digital violence’, some graphics and games seem to surface on the side of unnatural. All 505 games from shooting to even puzzles are devoted to the thought of ultra-violence and often refer to killing as ‘fun’.
In my opinion, the most sadistic game on 666 games, were the ones which had no skill or talent, or points involved but purely to kill, a helpless victim, with torture devices like razors, chainsaws and spikes. The torture game 2 has realistic graphics and the aim is to ‘let a virtual guy bleed to death.’ The player becomes a torturer in a chamber. There is no points, no score. They describe this game as ‘an extremely realistic rag doll, tied up and ready to be killed.’
This type of website would become censored if the government was to input filters. It has realistic images with the main aim of violence, it’s free to play so anyone and everyone can access it even children and it’s easy to find. When I typed in ‘violent games’ this was the very first site to come up proving its popularity on the internet. Whether gamers should be allowed to access this website is a matter of personal opinion but the filters would probably try to deny access to this site.
Another online gaming site, absolu-flash.com, provided a warning before entering the site. While it wasn’t a personal check over system, it did ensure that anyone over the age of 16 might find these games offensive. So you click ok, and get to play. The games featured on this site weren’t graphic; all games were cartoons, to kind of put humour in violence. It is a free play site for anyone but many of these games were concerning because of their content, their storyline. Many games were mimics of real life tragedies. They include ‘massacre at school’ which was described as an ‘adventure game’ and ‘suicidal bombing’. ‘Suicidal bombing’, is of course a cartoon remake of the Bali bombings or can relate back to 9/11. The game is described as ‘you’re a mad man committing suicide in the middle of a crowd.’ This game almost desensitises humans to the real effect that these bombings had and makes it into a ‘funny game.’ While the graphics aren’t realistic, the message it sends into society is. You score points for ‘how many people you injury or kill.’
However, the Australian government may not filter or block this site as it has a warning to consumers before entering the site. This warned consumers that the content may only be suitable for 16+ ages as some games may offend. But there could be debate due to message these types of games send out, does anyone really want their children playing a game which depicts a real life scenario of violence.
In the US, their classification system is an age rating system (3+, 7+,12+,16+,18+) This means that games that may have received restricted classification in Australia may still be available in the United States. Steampowered.com (2009), is an online subscription service which allows people all over the world to buy and play video games online. Video games which would not be allowed into Australia physically are online and available for adults to play. Games like Darkest of Days or Left 4 Dead are popular action online games, and even if Australia may not allow them to enter the country physically, this retail website allows them to play it online.
The government censorship laws get debatable in this sense; will they block the distributor of online gaming? If this site is allowing violent games to still be accessed will they block this entire site? Obviously, this would anger anyone who has subscribed to Steam and whether or not it’s entirely fair is also questionable. If these ultra-violent video games are bought by adults through a service that is controlled by an overseas company they might not block this site. However, American has a different rating system and allows for R18+ games and the Australian government would probably encounter problems if they try and block an online distributor.
After examining three different types of online gaming sites which host ultra-violent games, it’s clear that the Australian Government may have trouble with these filters as there is no 100% accuracy rate when blocking URL’s. They can create brand new sites with similar content, they block one site and a new one opens. Further there is the issue of ‘under blocking or over blocking’ and the backlash of the Australian public when they realise they are now restricted online. Offline video games have limits, the restricted classification ensures they have control over regulation but because of the capacity of the internet it’s hard to regulate.
References
666games (2007) [Accessed: 14/9/09]
Absolu-flash (2006) [Accessed: 14/9/09]
http://www.absolu-flash.com/gore-games/index.php?noP=9&rubrique=gore
Steampowered (2009) [Accessed: 14/9/09]
http://store.steampowered.com/genre/Action/
Caslon Analytics 2006 ‘Censorship and free speech’.
http://www.caslon.com.au/censorshipguide10.htm
Moses, A (2009) ‘web filters to censor video games’ [Accessed: 14/9/09]
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/web-filters-to-censor-video-games-20090625-cxrx.html
Office of Film and Literature Classification. 2008. Guidelines for the Classification of
Films and Computer Games, Commonwealth Government of Australia, Haymarket
NSW.
Brey, P 1999. ‘The ethics of representation and action in virtual reality’, Ethics and
Information Technology, vol. 1, pp. 5 – 14.
