Real Life

If I came up to your face, stomped my foot down, looked you straight in the eye and said “Fuck off asshole,” what would you do? You’d either

1) Say “What’s your problem?”
2) Say “What’s your problem, assmunch?”
3) Punch me in nose, break my back, kick me in the balls, bite my arm, and then say “What’s your problem, assmunch?” And then give me a wedige. I’m then sent to a hospital for which you are now paying the bills for. Everybody wins.
4) Cry like a whiney little bitch.

Online

Now take that same concept and imagine if I said the same things in World of Warcraft, or any other MMORPG? What would you do?

1) Type “What’s your problem?”
2) Type “What’s your problem, assmunch?”
3) Target me, type /spit, pull out your Sword of a Thousand Truths , slay me in one hit, and then /spit again on my corpse, in case the first one missed. Then do it all over again because I respawned and like to bully you perfectly safe and sound in my own house. Nobody wins.
4) /Cry like a little bitch.

For those who don’t know, the real life part of my discussion is also known as “bullying”. The Internet part of my discussion is known as “cyber-bullying,” or, that concept that people made others aware again with commercial ads who can’t seem to figure out the answer to “If you wouldn’t say it in real life, why say it online?” (For the answer to that question, see the real life #3 in my above example, and then compare it #3 in the Internet part.)

Anyway, there happens to be a law out in Australia right now (again) that is making the selling of unrated games illegal. (Speaking of unrated, I guess that means kiddies can buy rated R movies nowadays thinking it’s a “Dawn of The Dead – Lite” and then have the mom sue the retailer because the people who rate DVD’s decided change”Director’s Cut,” “Un-Cut,” or “Slightly more gory/sexy/adult oriented shit we couldn’t show you in the theaters even though the movie is already rated R,” to “Unrated.”) That is, any game that the Australian ESRB has decided to not rate is declared illegal. Keep in mind that the ESRB does not rate games that does not have a single player component. This would make every single god damn MMORPG out there, including the fat dollar bill filled pot-bellied World of Warcraft.

• 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,” he said.
• 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,” she said.
• 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.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/biztech/no-classification-online-games-legal-minefield/2009/02/03/1233423203018.html

What a crock of shit. “Does not require” classification by the Classification Board? Don’t you love how he doesn’t say “why?” So what you’re telling me is that it’s ok to go around maiming people “offline,” ok to maim people “online,” but NOT ok to maim people “online,” if the same game doesn’t allow you to maim people “offline”? Granted, the real reason behind this new law hasn’t exactly been said, but I begin to wonder if any of these “lawbringers” have even played an MMORPG before? I’m sure a lot of Australians disagree to this new law, and even though the police aren’t exactly enforcing this law just yet (they have bigger fish to fry like..I don’t know…stopping murderous thieves? Not retailers that sells games that a few people out of a few million feels is unethical) I’m expecting picket fences any time now. It may be their law, but I think it’s also unethical to completely ignore the fact that all these MMORPGs CLEARLY STATE

“GAME EXPERIENCE MAY CHANGE DURING ONLINE PLAY”

They have this warning for a reason. The ESRB rates the GAME, not the PLAYERS. Maybe Australia expects everyone to play nice, like all gamers mindsets are capped out to 10 years of age and never know any better. (And yet….) There is no way in the world that companies can predict what other players might do online or how they interactive with others. (or..”things.”) Therefore, they can only rate the game itself. If they didn’t have this warning, they would get sued, because junior learned a few new four letter words. As for Australian gamers who do know better, I can only tip my hat and say God speed, before even Hello Kitty Island Adventure gets banned.