Who Really Wants R18+ Computer Games?
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small screen News Digest of Australian Council on Children and the Media (incorporating Young Media Australia) ISSN: 0817-8224 Who really wants R18+ computer No. 260 Dec 2009/Jan 2010 become desensitised to the use of more extreme violence, more impactful de- games? violence by repeated exposure; that play- pictions of sexual activity and drug taking ers of games where violence is glamorised The Interactive Games and Entertain- than at present . Do you approve of this?”, risk more hostile thoughts and feelings, ment Association has for some time been the responses might not be so enthusiastic. and display more aggressive behaviours. trumpeting the statistic that “91% of adults The fact that there are now many older think there should be an R18 + classifica- Respected video game researcher Craig gamers does not reduce the obligation to tion for games”. So why don’t we have Anderson and his team of cross-national protect minors. The average age of alcohol one? researchers sum up their latest meta- drinkers may well be 50, but we have still analytic review of the video game research Here’s a bit of background to the answer. have laws to protect the young. studies, with: “The pattern of results for different out- We know that once R18+ games are in the In 1993/4, the relevant Federal, State and comes and research designs (experimental, system, children will access them. With R Territory Ministers, introduced a sys- cross-sectional, longitudinal) fit theoretical Rated cinema films, ticket prices and exclu- tem of classification for computer games. predictions well. The evidence strongly sion rules limit children’s exposure. Not so That system allowed games with con- suggests that exposure to violent video with R18+ videos and DVDs, where access tent from G (General) up to and includ- games is a causal risk factor for increased is much easier. Responsible parents, who ing MA15+ (Strong impact and not legally aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, supervise what is seen in their own home available to those under 15 years). and aggressive affect and for decreased despair at what is seen elsewhere. At present, games with content more ex- empathy and prosocial behavior.” Australia’s classification system aims to treme than MA15+ level are Refused Clas- “It is not surprising that when the game provide adult freedom to see what they sification. The Ministers believed that the involves rehearsing aggressive and violent want, but children must be protected. If interactive nature of games would make thoughts and actions, such deep game in- we add in R18+ games we compound them more impactful: that “doing” the vio- volvement results in antisocial effects on lence and being rewarded for it would be parents’ problems. the player. “ (Anderson, CA et al, Psycho- more harmful than just watching it (as with Furthermore, many in the community are logical Bulletin, in press) films). This caution has been supported concerned about the impact of the strong by a growing body of research evidence. Consideration of these issues is not violence found now in MA15+ games. advanced by the recently observed aggres- There are growing indicators from However, gamers and the industry have sive and ill-informed lobbying by gamers. over the past 5 years mounted a campaign research that playing (and being rewarded to allow R18+ content. In response, the for being the best at it), rather than watch- All Australian parents need to actively Minister for Home Affairs has called for ing, is more influential; that gamers can participate in this review. public comment by Feb. 28. (see http:// www.ag.gov.au/gamesclassification) Important Australian conference on children & the media to be opened by the If accepted, the proposal will allow games Minister for Home Affairs, Brendon O’Connor with content more extreme than at present into the sale and hire system. By definition, Growing up Fast & Furious, March 19 2010, Sydney, NSW R18+ content is likely to be offensive (a legal definition) to sections of the adult People interested in the impacts of media violence, community, and minors should not be advertising and sexualized media on children should exposed to it. not miss this unique opportunity to hear three leading international researchers. There are many flaws in the industry’s ar- guments, which range from “no proof of Professor L. Rowell Huesmann (top R), Professor harm”, and “this will provide greater pro- Ed Donnerstein (L), and Distinguished Research tection for children”, to “gamers are now Professor Craig Anderson (lower R) will discuss older and need access to content that’s age- their recent research on media violence. appropriate” (Ron Curry, CEO of IGEA, They will be joined by Australians Professor Louise Newman talk- 30/12), and citing the 91% survey figure ing about the sexualisation of children, Dr Wayne Warburton on above. violent music videos, Dr Cordelia Fine on children’s understanding of ACCM believes that if a survey question advertising and Professor Elizabeth Handsley on the role of regulation were framed as “There is a proposal to and classification. permit an R 18+ classification for compu- ter games. This will mean that the sale and Early Bird registration has been extended to 3 February 2010. hire system will make available games with More details: http://www.youngmedia.org.au/ WHO REALLY WANTS R18+ GAMES? IMPORTANT AUSTRALIAN EDITORIAL : PROTECTING CONFERENCE NEW JOURNAL THE VULNERABLE BEST & WORST OF THE DECADE small screen Dec 09/Jan 10 p2 EDITORIAL Protecting the vulnerable To use the peanut analogy again, one might not be so concerned about allowing peanuts if we knew that only no. 260 Dec 09/Jan 10 The gaming lobby’s main argument in favour of allowing the sale and distribution of R18+ com- one other child in the class was likely small screen puter games is about numbers. There are so many to bring them. The risk of contamina- Editor: Barbara Biggins OAM people over 18 who play games, they argue, that tion is far greater if you know a lot of Compiler: Caroline Donald children will bring them. the interests of children should be overlooked. Prof. Elizabeth Editorial Board: Barbara Biggins, Handsley Jane Roberts, Judy Bundy, They do not deny that playing R18+ games is So with computer games: if there Elizabeth Handsley. potentially harmful to children. They argue sim- really are as many adult gamers as the lobby small screen is published at the ply that this potential for harm is irrelevant, when claims, we have cause to be very worried indeed beginning of each month and so many others want to play. about the flooding of society with ultra-violent reports on the events of the games. If there were only a few such gamers, previous month 11 issues per Yet there are numerous instances in our society maybe I wouldn’t be so worried. year (Dec/Jan double issue) where we accept that some people - even a major- Published by ity of people - should be restricted in their actions The gaming lobby is not able to make any assur- Australian Council on in order to protect the vulnerable. ances that R18+ games would be kept out of chil- Children and the Media dren’s hands. This is interesting, considering that (ACCM) For example, if a child is violently allergic to when it comes to internet filtering, the ‘anti-cen- PO Box 447 peanuts, no other children in his or her class are sorship’ lobby is 100% certain that the black-list Glenelg 5045 allowed to have products containing peanuts of banned sites WILL be leaked. You can’t have it South Australia anywhere in the classroom. This is highly incon- both ways. [email protected] venient to those other children and their families. www.youngmedia.org.au But no reasonably compassionate person would The gaming lobby is made up of people who see Tel: +61 8 8376 2111 demand that peanuts be allowed, and the allergic it as a problem that their games aren’t violent Fax: +61 8 8376 2122 child left to suffer. This is so, no matter how large enough. I am concerned at the risk that these peo- Helpline: 1800 700 357 the group affected by the ban or how small the ple, by dint of their sheer energy and vociferous- ACCM is a national, non-profit group being protected. ness, will lead public policy. community organisation. Its mission is to promote a In my view, the more adult gamers there are who Please listen to the voice of the ordinary mums quality media environment for would have an interest in playing R18+ games, the and dads who think that computer games are Australian children. greater the risk that those games would fall into already plenty violent enough. No part of this publication children’s hands. may be reproduced without permission of the Editor. Call for Contributions • Industry self-regulations vs. government mandates and their perceived efficacy Contributions are welcome. Journal of Children & Media - Special issue • The impact of borderless satellite television Volume 4 issue 4, December 2010: on a country’s ability to regulate content or advertising addressed to children Media policy for children: International perspec- ACCM’s services are • Implications of the World Wide Web ac- tives supported by grants cess for censorship efforts designed to pro- from the Guest Editor: Amy Jordan, The Annenberg tect children South Australian Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylva- • Analysis of the public protective discourse Government nia; [email protected] that is used to justify regulation • Historical consideration of regulation of The central presence of media in the lives of sexual content and the social construction children and adolescents has led many societies of childhood to seek strategies to encourage acess to poten- ACCM’s Web Page and tially beneficial content (such as educational Contributions to this special issue are wel- television programs) and technologies (such comed from a wide range of theoretical and Broadband access as broadband internet access).