New Ratings System for Video Games in Australia

Some video games in Australia will be given an R18+ rating, limiting them for purchase by adults, when newly introduced legislation goes into effect next year. As the average age of video game players reaches the early 30’s, many parents are unaware that many games now feature graphic violence and sexuality.

The new law will give video games a similar classification as films, and is similar to regulations in force in other countries.
“Some parents have assumed that on seeing this classification on the cover of a computer game that these games were deemed to have less adult content. But they do not,” said Father Richard Leonard, SJ, the Director of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.
Some of us might wonder about the decision to even allow older teenagers access to MA 15+ computer games, but, now, at least a parent can see an R18+ classification and know that it is not only illegal for their children to be playing them, it is clearly immoral,” he said. “In regard to the present system for computer games, the status quo is not good enough.”
Listen to the full interview by Charles Collins with Father Richard Leonard: