Let's beat a dead horse
So Left 4 Dead 2 has been banned in Australia. Let's all group together and let out one big "sigh" together. OK? On three.
One.
Two.
Three.
*SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH*
Why are sighing? If it's not because yet another highly anticipated game (of which its predecessor caused no proven social implications) has been banned in Australia, then it's because yet another article is being written about the issue.
Because we've all heard it before.
"blah blah blah....WE NEED AN R18+ rating for games....blah blah blag...Michael Atkinson is a tool...blah blah blah."
The truth is, I am personally mentally drained of the entire issue. I've given up. I've signed enough petitions, I've written enough emails and I've built up far too much rage for a man I don't even know.
To be totally honest, Michael Atkinson isn't even worth getting worked up about.
So this will be the last time I really have anything at all to say about this issue, because I can't change anything, and just as this country slowly and more obviously becomes another China, I am losing my sense of dedication for the topic.
No doubt there will be plenty of people saying how all violent video-games should be banned. The fact is, there is no evidence whatsoever to prove that violent games encourage violence (in Australia and abroad) and there have been more noted instances where a movie as influenced a violent act than games.
It all comes down to the baby boomer generation's inability to evolve with the times. That's a generalization, I know, as I'm sure there are plenty of older gamers out there, but the general population within that age group don't fall into the category of being "gamers". The vast, vast majority, actually.
As has been quoted in the past, "Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime."
The argument that an R18+ rating would make adult games available to children is ludicrous - it shows how we have no trust for the classification system. It's not "available" to children at all. And if a child has material that is suitable only for adults, it's not the maker of that material who should be held to blame, but rather the guardian of that minor.
People argue that children will have access to adult material. They won't at all. It's restricted to adults. Just as pornography is and just as R18+ movies are. if we don't allow this rating for games, we shouldn't for movies either, as adult movies are just as accessible as adult games.
But that argument has been said over and over again. The gamer opinion seems to mean nothing. Just as has been seen through a lack of Government encouragement for the video-game industry in Australia, the gaming industry is still seen as one directed solely at children.
The pacification of the Christian way is infecting our freedom and lifestyle. Just as the seemingly freedom-laced Netherlands becomes victim to the recently voted-in Christian libertarian political party, we are subjected to horrendous censorship laws that insult the basic confounds of society and assume that we cannot determine the difference between right and wrong in a damn video-game.
The issue is tired out. Some may criticise my lack of interest in the issue anymore, and that's fine, but don't stop the fight. Gamers, developers, publishers and the general public deserve more than this. I don't have children and I'm an adult that knows violence in a video-game does not mean that violence in real-life is OK. Just as our legal system tries to preach, the typical citizen would also be able to make that conclusion.