Fallout 3 Gets the Boot from Australia

Recently, Fallout 3 has earned Austrialia’s RC rating, meaning it would be “refused classification” from their ratings board. As the Classification Board puts it, the current version of the game “cannot legally be shown, sold or hired in Australia.” Essentially, the board is putting Fallout 3 on the same aesthetic level of hard core pornography and snuff films. But the real surprising part: it’s not for its violence.

Though Bethesda has refused to comment on this issue, according to the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) board report, the game was refused classification due to the “realistic visual representations of drugs and their delivery method (bringing) the ’science-fiction’ drugs in line with ‘real-world’ drugs.” Meanwhile, the game’s violence–which is by no means tame–is not really addressed at all. Apparently shooting up bad guys, as in the classic Aussie Mad Max film series, is acceptable to be seen, but showing prescription pills and syringes in-game is too extreme.

I guess drug use is the one thing we didn’t see Mad Max do, since he was too busy with his revenge-fueled murderous rampage across the wastelands of Australia. Once again, video games seem to be left in a unique category outside the world of mass media where they are not acceptable as an adult medium. The reviewers are obviously seeing games as primarily directed at children, not adults. And I’m not quite sure how things work in Australia as far as a child’s purchase power, but usually kids can’t get their hands on R-rated films, Harlequin romance novels, and parental advisory CDs here in the US of A. A complete ban on Fallout 3 seems a bit over the top.

Australia’s adult film ratings are R-18+ and X-18+, basically separating an adult film from an “adult” film. Video games however, don’t get this luxury. The highest acceptable video game rating is M-15+. So, in theory, all games have to be acceptable for a fifteen-year-old. It doesn’t bother me that a government wants to classify something as “adult,” but they should at least use a more consistent and considerate standard. Banning a video game for drug-related themes doesn’t necessarily make the game more “adult,” but it certainly gives the adults of Australia less consideration.

What would Mad Max have to say about this? Well, he’d probably just chain someone to a car, set up a complex fuel drip to eventually ignite, and offer his victim a hack-saw, allowing him to either cut off their own hand or brutally burn to death. And, according to the OFLC, it’s fine if adults watch.