Banned game gets the go-ahead: State Of Decay lands adults-only rating

Ninemsn games writes: A game that was refused classification in Australia and banned from sale for rewarding players for using virtual drugs has been re-classified with an adults-only rating.

State Of Decay was banned last week because of its depiction of and interaction with "stimulants", or illicit drugs.

[AedanClarke]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Australia has some pansies on the ratings board.

[AusRogo]

We sure do! I remember Fallout 3 had to be altered for here because of real drug names in game too.. its pathetic.

[titans9999]

When I moved to Australia for 7 months, because I was dating my wife at the time, I remembered I had to purchase games for my American ps2 from a guy who was doing business below the radar....sucks that I had to make a purchase to a video game drug dealer, but it all worked out! He wasn't a drug dealer, but we met in a street for the sale....very weird, but well worth it! Lol!

[BozoLoco]

The ratings board just do their job. Unlike in US, Australia's classification board is a government initiative, so therefore the "standards of morality" are dictated by the government.

The country's also very politically fragile, more so than the US I'd argue, so a lot of these bans are "progressive censorship" because the guidelines are shaped around progressive teachings of morality.

Basically, the government tells us what is right and what is wrong, and a lot of people sympathise with the government because they're big government advocates.

In the US, I'd imagine even the most liberal of citizen would be against banning a game for such a mundane thing.

In Australia we don't really have the same understandings of "liberty" and "personal responsibility" as the US, which is a shame. We're very pathetically reliant on government.

[AedanClarke]

@AusRogo
In fact, Australia's bitching is the entire reason Med-X was even called Med-X in the final product. Yes, that was a change made everywhere because "morphine" is considered EL TERRIBLE in Australia... *rolls eyes*

@IC-1101
Indeed. Which is why I'm disappointed with the way the US is going and is also the reason I'll never move to Australia (plus it's friggin' hot and you have the biggest friggin' spiders I'll ever see).

Something tells me you aren't the most left-wing fellow in the world, though. :P

[ufo8mycat]

Australia treating their people like children.

Ratings board needs to learn that people can make their own decisions. They are adults, not children, so stop treating them as such.

[zeroskie]

Look at what our Aussie brethren have to deal with.

[Kryptix]

lol It got banned last week for "rewarding players for using virtual drugs." Well, guess what, the world isn't pretty and never was. They need to stop trying to baby sit grown people that already know the consequences of using drugs and other mature subjects. Are their school books filled with rainbows and unicorns? They're smart enough to understand what and when wrong is wrong, that's why there's no proof that video games make you lose self control and go insane. Hope someday Australians can get to enjoy any game they want to in the future.

[Hicken]

Poor Australia. As stupid as things are here in the US, we sometimes have advantages over other countries.

Hope they get that settled soon.

[Adolph Fitler]

Too late d%$kheads, I gave the U.S. my money instead, so the Australian gaming division of MS suffers the loss of not getting my money, just like I was "FORCED" to do with The Walking Dead on U.S. PSN, & many physical copies on my PS3, that meant me giving the money to Asia, when I bought from overseas......and that was on games like Mortal Kombat & the awesome Syndicate, as well as others.

We get an R rating & were still a joke, yet Evil Dead will come through censorship with an MA rating knowing our retarded rating board.