Online Games Censorship in Australia

Australian video game publishers and retailers are risking hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines by selling online role playing games such as World of Warcraft without age classifications.

The games industry believes there is a legal loophole exempting online games that don't have a single player component from classification requirements but this view is contradicted by the federal and state attorneys-general.

World of Warcraft, with more than 11.5 million subscribers, is the most popular of the online-only games but there are other examples including Age of Conan, Warhammer Online and Pirates of the Burning Sea.

All are sold as boxed sets in retail stores across the country without classification by the Classification Board or the appropriate labelling, for instance M or MA15+.

A spokesman for NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said the NSW Classification Enforcement Act prohibited publishers and retailers from selling unclassified computer games: The NSW legislation covers computer games bought online as well as those bought in stores, and treats single, multi-player and online games the same way.

The spokesman added that enforcement of the act was the responsibility of police but penalties for breaking these laws ranged from $1100 to $11,000 for individuals and/or 12 months' imprisonment. For corporations the fines were approximately double.

A spokeswoman for Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland said that, although it was up to each state and territory to enforce game classification requirements, Commonwealth legislation also had no loopholes for online games: The National Classification Scheme does not distinguish between games based on whether or not they contain a single player component. Online games are computer games within the meaning of the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995 and are covered under the existing legislation.

But Ron Curry, chief executive of games industry body the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia said he believed that online games without a single player component did not require classification by the Classification Board.

Update: Loopy Australian Classification

7th February 2009. See article from incgamers.com

Despite reports earlier in the week that World of Warcraft and other multi player online games were being withdrawn from sale due to legal reasons, the games are still for sale in all stores.

A loophole in the Australian law that allowed online games with no single-player content to go on sale without a classification was exposed earlier this week, and the federal and state attorneys-general declared that all titles without this classification were to be withdrawn from sale. However, this only applied in NSW, the other states were unaffected. Also, it was up to the police to act on complaints about sales of the games, something which they are unlikely to receive.

Game distributors, retailers and advertisers may be at risk of prosecution and heavy fines for selling popular online games such as World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online and Age of Conan without classification.

The gaming industry has long assumed that online multiplayer games like these are "unclassifiable" due to the inherent unpredictability of online play, and therefore do not require classification. This assumption has led to countless copies of online multiplayer games being sold without classification over the years, despite legislation which prohibits the sale, demonstration and advertising of unclassified games. The assumption is said to be based on an understanding between the industry and the Classification Board, with anecdotal evidence suggesting that distributors who have applied for classification of this type of game have been told by the Board that it wasn't required.

But this longstanding assumption may be under threat. When media reports shed light on the disconnect between the legislation and the industry's practices, representatives of the Commonwealth and New South Wales Attorneys-General firmly rejected the view that online multiplayer games were exempt from classification. A spokesman for the NSW Police Minister also weighed in with an invitation to the public to contact local police if they saw retailers selling games illegally.

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Australian Home Affairs minister Brendan O'Conner has revealed proposed new laws to Parliament to allow the censorship of apps and games sold online.

Technically the Classification Board should review every app, but because of the sheer size of the app store -- it contains hundreds of thousands of apps -- it is simply impossible to do so because of a lack of resources.

O'Conner says instead of having the Classification Board review every single app, the Government will use the online content system which in based on ratings provided by the store. The store allows users to complain about offensive material. Only apps that receive complaints will be subject to review by the Australian Censorship Board.

If Apple, or any other marketplace provider such as Google, continued to sell content that is refused classification then they would be breaking the law, O'Conner said: We would prosecute people who actually broke the law. People cannot [be allowed to] break the law. People cannot at the moment sell, distribute or watch... games that have been refused classification.

App makers say it would be too cumbersome. MoGeneration chief executive Keith Ahern says the current system within the App Store is working well: The current system is probably more effective than anything the Government can introduce. So maybe the bigger question is, how does the App Store set this? I would say that system has been partly responsible for the success of the app store itself

Thousands of mobile phone apps released every week in Australia will be exempt from classification for the next two years under a federal government plan to give mobile phone application creators and businesses clarity pending the ongoing review of Australia's classification system.

Currently, mobile apps are treated the same as video and computer games and are technically required to be classified by the classification board. But because of the huge volume of apps created every week, very few actually go through the system.

Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor, who will introduce the legislation to allow the exemption, said:

The current classification system never envisaged the technology powering smart phones, let alone the rapid development of online games or mobile phone apps.

These changes will allow most mobile phone and online games to be supplied without classification for the next two years, while retaining safeguards to protect children from computer games that are of concern.

The exemption will not apply to computer games likely to be refused classification and the classification board will retain the power to call in a game if it is likely to be classified M or above. The public will still be able to lodge a complaint.