MMOs illegal in Australia

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Australian game publishers and retailers are risking fines and imprisonment for selling online MMOs which haven't been rated by the country's board of classification.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian games industry believes there's a legal loophole that allows games that don't feature a single player component to go on sale unrated.

Consequently, the likes of World of Warcraft and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning are currently being sold at retail despite not having received a rating by the country's Office of Film and Literature Classification.

But, says New South Wales Attorney-General John Hatzistergos, this is prohibited by the state's Classification Enforcement Act.

"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.

"If there is any suggestion that any business is trading illegally, police need to know, and it should be reported," he added.

Penalties for breaking the law can range from cash fines up to $11,000 and/or 12 months' imprisonment, or double those totals for corporations found guilty.

However, Ron Curry, chief executive of the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia, disagreed with Hatzistergos.

"There are different classification requirements for games depending on how they are accessed by consumers," he said, acknowledging that packages sold in stores containing a disk with a game stored on it do need a classification label on the box.

"However," he added, "in some instances the box sold in a retail outlet contains an access key to the game which can only be accessed online. If such a game is hosted locally it falls under the jurisdiction of the Broadcasting Services Act, but if it is hosted internationally, it's classified in the country that hosts the game, rather than in Australia."

Quite what this means for the future of MMOs in Australia is a little unclear, but it sounds like something big is about to go down.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald.

Tom Ivan