What You Need To Know About Australia's New Game Classification System

Did you know more video games were banned in Australia in the past four months than were collectively banned between 1994 and 2014?

These refusals of classification came in the lead-up to the Federal Government embracing a new classification system; a system that has actually been celebrated by the gaming industry.

We know what you're thinking: "Huh?"

Let's break it down.

Slow down Einstein. What's a classification?

Video games need to be officially rated by the Classification Board before they can be legally sold, exhibited or advertised in Australia. When a title is "refused classification" by the Board, it is effectively banned,

Got it. So, why's there so much banning going on?

Figures from the Attorney-General’s Department indicate 220 games have been refused classification since March.

According to ABC News, only approximately 50 games were banned by the Classification Board in the two decades prior to 2015.

That’s a pretty big jump.

The reason is as follows: the Federal Government has spent the past few months transitioning to a new international classification model that actually reduces government regulation, and in the process, has been frantically classifying more than 150,000 titles awaiting ratings.

Some of those titles included Drunk Driver and HoboSimulator. The reasons for them being refused classification seem pretty straightforward. However, one such banned title was Sherlock: Criminal Case, rated merely E10+ in America. There are no explanations for why these games were refused classification on the official Australian Classification Board website, so we don't have all the answers to this mass banning, unfortunately.

Thankfully, the ever-vigilant Refused Classification website has pledged to document all titles in the coming weeks, bringing further clarity to the matter.

What's this new classification model then?

As of this week, Australia is officially participating in a global program to regulate games, joining the UK, the USA, Canada, Brazil and much of Europe in using the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) tool.

The tool requires developers to complete an online form to chronicle and categorise their game's explicit content in hugely specific manner.

The results of the IARC submission then inform the participating nations where the game fits into their classification system (or if it should be refused classification full stop).

Why is the gaming industry excited by this?

The Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGAE) estimate the release of 180,000 to 200,000 new digital games annually. The Classification Board has, traditionally, only managed 400 classifications a year. So, a new system was essential for developers stuck in the bureaucratic backlog.

It also previously cost money for developers to apply for classification. (This article by Games.on.net approximates the cost at being around $5000.) The IARC tool, on the other hand, is free for developers when they submit a game to the Google Play store.

This opens up the possibility of smaller developers releasing games to the Australian public without having to cut through red tape.

With less regulation, is this going to herald an anything-goes age of video game debauchery?

Probably not. There will always be those in the world happy to picket and protest games they find offensive.

Also, the Classification Board still has the power to revoke classifications made by the IARC tool if they disagree with the rating after an audit.

This system of self-regulation will require users to make complaints about games and, crucially, provide evidence to back-up those complaints.

The classification ministers will review the success of the program in 12 months' time to decide whether or not they will make use of the IARC tool permanently.

This is a lot to digest.

That it is. We won't be able to gauge the program's success in the short term. It will be interesting to reflect in a year's time on the state of the industry. Be sure to share your thoughts below.