My blog does not represent the views of Murdoch or any of its affiliates. All posts are NOT to be taken seriously and are written only for entertainment purposes.
Recently, the video game Left 4 Dead 2 or “L4D2” was banned in Australia. Due to the fact that we’re a protective society, we do not have a video game classification that can handle “Adult” games, the game in its full form is unable to be released in Australia, due to the ability to use a selection of everyday items as weapons and the fact that the “Infected” in the game can be decapitated, looking particularly brutal.
On one level, this is good, a control of the media flow allows Australia to be unsubjected to the violence and bloodshed of an interactive medium showing lots of gore. But on the other hand, what is banning this game really telling us? Putting for once second aside the commonly used debates that the majority of Australian gamers are actually adults and that this is just the government wanting to control the media we see (Hey, in my opinion, China is going better because of it.) and ultimately, our society, banning this is doing much more.
Under part 5B, Item 5 of the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act of 1995, it states that “Software whose main purpose is for training, instruction or reference, as a manual, a lesson, an encyclopaedia or a guide” is exempt from classification. Left 4 Dead 2, should logically be entitled to this, here’s why:
Australia, as a country is very patriotic when it comes to standing behind fighters, even now, the ANZAC day tradition lives on, commemorating the braveness of ordinary people fighting for their countries, but more importantly, the comradeship when it comes to fallen soldiers. Veterans will often tell heart renching stories of the friends and the bonds created during the hell of war. L4D2 is a co-operatively played game, meaning when you play, under most circumstances, you are playing with 3 real other people, all people who want the group, not just their characters to survive under these gruelling unfortunate circumstances. I am not saying that we should look at a selection of gamers as veterans, but look as the game supporting people willing to help others survive during a hell on earth. During the game weapons and health can be either used by a player or given to someone else, and seeing you can only hold one “med kit” it does warm your heart to see someone willing to heal someone else, when they desperately need it themselves. In fact, it encourages this, notifying all players when another player stops a zombie hindering another person. One of the many achievements is healing someone when you have less than 10% health yourself, often people don’t know this and gain it performing a gesture, admitting that another player is better than themselves in some way, and would prefer them to survive rather than use it themselves. The words “A lesson” are a very interesting choice to use in these guidelines. A lesson is interpreted as a moral or an honourable principle people should uphold. It should be debated that companionship is a lesson. A lesson worth fighting for.
Another player perspective is the fact that some people are unfortunately, born violent. In our society, unfavoured tendencies such as these are, normally, suppressed through years of therapy, trying to get to the root of the anger and finding ways to avert it, however, when anger problems are identified, a person cannot immediately suppress such feelings, they need to be vented. Simulated environments can do such a thing. Left 4 Dead allows people to vent tendencies of wanted to divert their anger and be able to actually get the satisfaction making someone else feel pain, without actually hurting anyone in the process. Let’s take another example, the example of pornography. As you may or may not be aware, there are large collections of pornography which are drawn, simulating some of the more unusual nieces, such as paedophilia and bestiality, now if there’s a way for people that are “satisfied” with these sort of material, who unfortunately can’t really be “cured” then isn’t it fantastic that there’s a way for these people to vent their urges without any abuse occurring, isn’t that at least, something which should be supported as an alternative? Not if the Australian government has anything to say, if the leaked ISP website ban list is anything to go by as it lists several drawn pornographic sites as they depict such acts of abuse.
Desensitisation is largely classed as a negative thing, slowly degrading society by making more and more aggressive or distasteful tendencies accepted. However, there are such groups which require to be desensitised to violence as part of their job. The Australian Army is reported to be using the “Operation Flashpoint” game series to allow army officers to be calm in situations of battle, and be able to handle acts of aggression in a real world environment. Although “zombie apocalypse” might not be as a respected field to be able to handle, and the availability of weapons and ammunition on the streets freely is an unlikely scenario, this game does teach the act of management and working under pressure in a group environment, navigation and decision making intense situations. And aren’t they good qualities to have in any business employee?
So, are we, as a society, ready to learn something, in a place, everybody believes is a bloody environment which has been the apparent downfall of a generation?
I hope so.
There may be a test.
Note: I am perfectly aware that materials cannot be given an E rating when their content would give them a “M” but I believe that L4D2 is so, ahem, educational, that it should void that requirement
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