I think rstuart has hit the nail on the head. Getting a bunch of like minded conservatives to create forum accounts for the sole purpose of leaving supportive comments on a conservative article is not just silly, but is going to be quickly 'found out' especially on a site like OLO where the weekly readership is generally made up of highly educated individuals.

For any of the one post wonders that do come back and read further comments, until you have actually played any of these games, or seen any that contain the "depraved violence/sex" that you so often cling to, then might I suggest that for your second post you think about an apology admitting that you were in fact, wrong, and that none of the material the ACL is so afraid of making it "in to the hands of children" even exists, let alone is available for sale in Asutralia or otherwise.

With the exception of one or two gratuitous sex 'games' on sale in Japan - which would be Refused Classification here anyway - everything touted to fill the R18+ category is currently misclassified as MA15+, or has been mildly toned down to just slide in below RC.

It's been said before and I'll say it again; the "think of the children" argument is null and void. Stand up to your responsibilities as a parent! Despite the complacency of many parents that this may apply to, at lease the great bulk of them would understand that R18+ is most definitely not suitable for children, either their own or others.

The reason R18+ is a good thing, is because all parents know straight away that little Johnny should NOT be playing an R18+ game just like he shouldn't be watching an R18+ video. The psychological difference between the two classifications in the eyes of the parent is the number on reason we DO need the R18+ game category.

Please save us ACL!
Prohibition is such a success that we want to emulate it everywhere...especially into mediums of which we have *no* understanding!
Sure the paedophile games will become even more popular, sure the kiddies will get the most wicked games on torrents *because* of the publicity...but we don't want to send the wrong message now do we?
Lets let the criminals deal directly with our kids like the druggies do...such scum have no place in a regulated market!
And yes...our freedoms are in *your* hands. After all, who ever heard of a hypocritical Christian? Lead us, oh perfect beings!

Sigh...I guess control freaks just cannot give up their addiction.

Dan: They do it in the media, they do it in schools, they do it in public life.
With God foremost, Good is ignored. Only the ego and stick matter to these people.

Another point that needs to be made is that a lot of larger retailers will not stock violent or "Adults Only" games, K-mart and Target don't sell games like Mafia II or The Witcher.
I may be wrong here but I seem to recall a spokesman from one of the large chains (Big W ?) saying that his stores would not stock an R-Rated game even if the classification was changed.
Nintendo have said in the past that they will not publish R-Rated material for their consoles and given the shift in focus in gaming generally to family friendly and what are termed "casual' games I can't see the publishers falling over themselves to back "video Nasties" which might damage their other brands.

An indication on how far away from the wider community Lyle and the ACL are on this issue is the position of Catholic Church in Australia.

They made a submission to the 2010 inquiry in support of an R18+ games classification and more recently welcomed the draft guidelines.

That's not to say that Australian Catholic Bishops just can't wait to play some R18 games. They said that they'd prefer that such content didn't exist, but in the real world it does exist and is already available. They'd like to see it classified appropriately.

The ACL are often out of step with wider community values. On this they really seem to have put themselves out on a limb.

I've noticed some wild claims from them in the past that such a rating would allow games depicting rape and graphic sex to be sold in Australia. It shows that they never understood what was being proposed. They like a bit of doom prophecy to scare people into action. It has less impact every time they exaggerate and distort to attempt to shock.

I consider myself a libertarian and as such tend to be against all forms of censorship.

However, I do acknowledge the partially formed minds of children need protection from the hardcore realities of the adult world.

I see no problem with a classification system designed to protect children.

I do see a lot of problems with attempts by some to re-introduce, for want of a better word, a modern day “Hays Commission” charged to police computer games.

Such an organization would be unnecessarily paternalistic in nature, seeking to regulate people as much as what they are allowed to see.

We have hopefully grown beyond that era

Just as I hoped we had grown beyond the lies of socialism and controlling government -

unfortunately, the battle for "liberty" from both censors and over-regulating politicians, pretending to be a “paternalistic government” seems to be part of an unending war.