Did the Australian Classification Board just ban Rimworld?

[Clam Slamwich]

Based Tynan.

[persPaladin]

Here is the Australian Classification Board's statement about it:

https://www.classification.gov.au/about-us/media-and-news/news/media-statement-classification-game-rimworld

[Nick Nape'em]

Astasia a écrit :

The console port (that is apparently a thing) can't be sold in Australian stores, that's about all that means AFAIK. There wont be any effect on digital sales. From what I've heard from Australians, the classification board tries to make itself a thing and act like it's doing stuff, but accomplishes nothing and nobody likes them. RimWorld probably just got a nice little sales bump though from the headline. So, good job Australia.

we arnt happy about it either, its humiliating

[clarkeveritas]

The German and Australian Censorship Boards are among the worst in the world. Have to protect gentle minds from anything that can harm them. This world is filled with overly-sensitive idiots I'm afraid.

[Luzilyo]

clarkeveritas a écrit :

The German and Australian Censorship Boards are among the worst in the world. Have to protect gentle minds from anything that can harm them. This world is filled with overly-sensitive idiots I'm afraid.

To be fair, I think germany's gotten a lot better lately. Not many things are getting banned here anymore, at least not that I'm aware. Only recent issue is Valve banning all nsfw games in germany, but that's not because the censorship, it is because german government said "you either need to implement a better way to verify the age or you're not allowed to sell nsfw content anymore" (which is fair, valves age verification is basically just "please enter your birthdate" and hoping that people are honest lol) and it was an active choice by Valve to simply stop selling those games in germany rather than improving their age verification. Other websites that already have better age verification are still allowed to sell those games.

[clarkeveritas]

I had heard, and I have absolutely no idea if there is anything to this, that Germany was trying to be extra-safe, especially when it had to do with certain mid-20th century issues. No idea if that's why they tended to be a bit strict on those things, but I just always remember whenever I was looking up mods there would usually be a "Get the German Version to work like the rest of the world" mod. I think with pc gaming it's probably pretty easy to find mods that get around that censorship, but I just picture a bunch of opportunistic politicians pushing these things forward to "save the children" like you have all over the world. I saw some docs on how in the US there were a bunch of slimy politicians that went after Rap, Doom/Wolfenstein (the first ones)..... what the hell was that one.... OH!!!! Mortal Combat! They went bananas over that one. Although I suppose ripping one's spinal cord out is a bit extreme regardless of the time period.

I just think that people should be allowed to make their own decisions. The argument against those violent games/music was that everyone that played/listened to them would become psychopaths. I literally go on Frog Patrol around my pool everyday to make sure that no frogs get stuck under this lip where they couldn't ever get out. So in my case at least using chainsaws on demons didn't turn me into a psychokiller.

[Kortak]

Strange they dont put a label on it ..18 y and older or something.. Mostly adult people play this game..games are not always for kids or something..

Do they BAN porn and shooters too?...Is Karen the boss there?

[clarkeveritas]

I remember with the old Fallout Games there was a bunch of stuff removed. Part of it has to do with "If you take an in-game drug and it has a positive effect: you are promoting drug use." I think that's why Med-X isn't called Morphine. But the +25 Damage Reduction that Med-X gave was considered a "Positive Drug Effect". And I think children were removed from Fallouts 1 and 2 because stray (or intentional, which I never did that, personally) bullets/lasers could kill/melt/explode the kids.

[Luzilyo]

clarkeveritas a écrit :

I had heard, and I have absolutely no idea if there is anything to this, that Germany was trying to be extra-safe, especially when it had to do with certain mid-20th century issues. No idea if that's why they tended to be a bit strict on those things, but I just always remember whenever I was looking up mods there would usually be a "Get the German Version to work like the rest of the world" mod. I think with pc gaming it's probably pretty easy to find mods that get around that censorship, but I just picture a bunch of opportunistic politicians pushing these things forward to "save the children" like you have all over the world. I saw some docs on how in the US there were a bunch of slimy politicians that went after Rap, Doom/Wolfenstein (the first ones)..... what the hell was that one.... OH!!!! Mortal Combat! They went bananas over that one. Although I suppose ripping one's spinal cord out is a bit extreme regardless of the time period.

I just think that people should be allowed to make their own decisions. The argument against those violent games/music was that everyone that played/listened to them would become psychopaths. I literally go on Frog Patrol around my pool everyday to make sure that no frogs get stuck under this lip where they couldn't ever get out. So in my case at least using chainsaws on demons didn't turn me into a psychokiller.

Yeah germany used to be absolute ♥♥♥♥ with censorship. Like I mentioned earlier, the german version for GTA San Andreas, for example, was so heavily censored that the game as a whole became a lot harder.

Usually, when you'd need a weapon or, more likely, some more ammo, you'd go look for some ballas, hit them a few times until the drop to the ground, then stomp em till they're dead and you could take their gun. In german version you were unable to stomp people because "it's unfair to hit someone that's already laying on the ground" so you'd have to wait till they got back up and started shooting again before you were allowed to continue hitting them. That made it pretty difficult to get any ammo without losing either health or money (had to either headshot everyone very quickly or buy a bulletproof vest), and if you had no gun at all it was pretty much impossible to get one without buying it (if you had the money and ammu nation already unlocked) or looking up weapon spawn locations.

If you desperately needed a little money (for example to buy a bit of ammo or a bullet proof vest), there was always a drug dealer or two around who you could shoot or beat up, they'd usually drop about 2k. In the german version, no one would drop any money because "it's rewarding the player for killing innocents, psychologically rewiring them to become a school shooter" or some ridiculous bs like that. Might not sound like much but this passive stream of income from dead ballas and the occasional crack dealer kill actually amounted to quite a bit.

Granted, GTA SA was rated 16+ but this extreme censorship still was way too heavy-handed.

But that's all in the past, like I've said, at least to my knowledge there haven't been any such issues in like the past 5 or 10 years or so. Before valved banned nsfw games in germany, it was even possible to buy agony and I think hatred was purchasable too (no idea if it still is tho). I'd like to imagine it's because enough people have realized that video games actually do not cause school shootings, but with how stupid people usually are, it's more likely they just don't care anymore because their TVs moved on to other topics and stopped telling them that video game violence is evil and turns all teenage kids into mass murderers.

[clarkeveritas]

I've always felt that having an outlet like gaming that lets you get out your aggression is a healthy thing. If I'm having a bad day and want to punch through a wall- I'll put on Killing Floor 2 and have vent that way. Angry music and KF2 usually gets all the angst out from my experience.

[Luzilyo]

yeah, exactly. but usually on tv you only hear all those experts say how seeing violence in video games normalizes it and gets teenagers more accustomed to it, especially since teenagers (allegedly, for whatever random reason) can't distinguish very well between reality and virtual things, so then eventually they go out and do that stuff in real life because they will think it is exactly like the game or something (lmao, now that i've actually typed it it sounds even more retarded. can't believe that people honestly believe this ♥♥♥♥)

[Montley]

Right, so We cannot purchase the main game, but DLCs are still visible for us, are we able to purchase new DLCs if they come out?

[Morkonan]

persPaladin a écrit :

Here is the Australian Classification Board's statement about it:

https://www.classification.gov.au/about-us/media-and-news/news/media-statement-classification-game-rimworld

Yeah, it's entirely focused on the "Drug Policy" screen and the mandatory scheduling of drugs as well as the ability to force colonists to consume them.

That they exist is secondary, but would also require significant changes to the game to reach the standards Ludeon may like it to reach. (Doubtful they'd care at that point.)

So, removing interactabilty in forcing drug consumption in any way would seem to satisfy their minimal standards.

[Canon]

Kortak a écrit :

Strange they dont put a label on it ..18 y and older or something.. Mostly adult people play this game..games are not always for kids or something..

Do they BAN porn and shooters too?...Is Karen the boss there?

Porn, almost
they were going to ban porn with stars that didn't have big enough boobs

[S1]

Morkonan a écrit :

So, removing interactabilty in forcing drug consumption in any way would seem to satisfy their minimal standards.

It would also ruin the game. I honestly don't know what the best policy would be for Ludeon at this point except for maybe accepting that they can longer sell to Australians. I'm just happy I have my copy.

[TurtleShroom]

Australia was right to rank "Rimworld" the way it is, but it didn't need an outright ban. The game is already rated "M" for Mature, so it should only be allowed to be sold to consenting adults.