Australia prevents sale of World of Warcraft and other MMOs

Americans have to have things rates by their board and so do we.

When I heard about this yesterday it was said that the whole thing was twisted and blown out of proportion.

Per Australians I have talked to there are no issues buying these games and there wont be. Besides even if such was the case, companies like Blizzard wouldn't let it stay that way for very long.

Let it also be noted that they can't and aren't attempting to stop anyone who already owns the games from playing.

"According to the report, a spokesperson for NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said the NSW Classification Enforcement Act prohibited publishers and retailers from selling unclassified computer games. The spokesperson also encouraged individuals to report any retailer or individual found operating outside of the Classification Act of 1995."

It's funny how it took them 14 years to read their own law and start enforcing it.

P.S. I wonder what http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation will have to say about this next week...

the entertainment gestapo? who cares if it's classified... ITS JUST A GAME!

I'm just confused about why they don't want to pass the games through the board? Most of them seem like pretty harmless games even though I think most people play them entirely too much. I know it for a fact, my roommate and all the people he plays with online are on the game at least 6 to 8 hours a day or more if they really have nothing else to do.

Lame. Kids should decide if they would rather waste their life in front of the computer or not. If someone can choose to become a repulsive gambler and/or alcoholic, why can't kids choose to waste their life in front of the computer screen? They'll need less food, they'll need to use their car less (or get their parents to use the family car), and they'll have a tremendously low risk of dying since they won't be leaving their room.

ummm when the guys from blizzard level some of their financial "assets" at those australian politicians things will likely sort themselves out. Those guys have more gold than any level 90 night elf I know.

They aren't stopping them, they're just forcing them underground.
Downloading an MMO is as easy as downloading pirated software and media.

Surely someone, somewhere is already working on fitting the Certification Board into a game scenario as bad guys. I think it would be cool to use a fantasy game to teach users ways to defeat the "meat space" board.

This is silly.

how will the gamers come; surely they won't go out side

and another freedom bites the dust... go go police nanny state...

another sad day in the decline of human freedoms,

its not a freedom if someone can just take it away, you either have all the freedom in the world or none at all... it is a temporary set of privileges.

Australia's following firmly behind its parent Britain in becoming a Nanny State.

What? What kind of board is this? The Game Gestapo?