WoW not for sale in Australia? (Official Response)

Posted 2009/02/06 at 12:36 PM by Malgayne

hereWoWinsiderMassively

Hello everyone:

We wanted to get the word out to you on the latest information that has been circulating in regard to the legal status of sales of World of Warcraft in Australia. There has been a lot of wrong information circulated and we wanted to make sure you had the most accurate information to either update your communities with or amend information that you may have shared with your communities.

Our official stance is as follows:

Blizzard Entertainment and its affiliates work very closely with the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia to ensure that we are in full compliance with Australian law as it relates to the distribution and operation of our games, including World of Warcraft. We’d like to reassure all of our players that World of Warcraft is currently, and has always been, distributed and operated legally in Australia.

Best Regards,
Nethaera

blizzard news

Comment by 135553This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by 192334This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by Steve2Blizzard said it's legal. You dare question Blizzard? Blasphemer! :-)Comment by SeptimusAs far as I was aware it has been and should always be legal to buy WoW in Australia. Lich King is on the shelves and plus if it was not allowed to be there, there would be a massive news roll about its call-back or something. Because I'm sure major gaming stores would not want a ruined reputation about selling illegal gamesComment by 71056This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by SalaliUm, read the actual blog.Comment by MasterOfDisguiseHaha no 1st Amendment sucks for you.Comment by 57943This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by HaxzorI've heard nothing of this in the news, and it'd be something our crappy newsreaders would jump onComment by TeddiursaI can't see why WoW Insider would gain anything on lying about this, so I'm gonna trust them. Blizzard on the other hand are known to have lied multiple times about several things or at least heavily altered the truth, they don't deserve to be trusted. IMO, Blizzard are afraid that people will know they made a mistake.Comment by 303016As a resident Aussie, maybe I can fill the blanks in here a bit for those not familiar with the situation.

Our classification body, the OFLC (Office of Film & Literature Classification) has been in the news now worldwide for it's somewhat unique standards for the assessment of interactive media. Games were only rated dating from the mid 90s when films and other media obviously were much earlier. The problem lies in that our system is severely outdated and hasn't really been modified in standard since it's inception, back in the age when gaming was more of a niche kid's hobby. Several studies here in Oz have now revealed the average age of the gamer to be well over 30 so there's been a public outcry for a change to the system, seeing as we're still stuck without an R classification for gorier or more risque titles. You probably heard that games like Silent Hill 5, F.E.A.R. 2, Dark Sector and of course Fallout 3 probably being the most infamous of the time (forcing content change of the game worldwide, just because of our system) among others have had a real hard time getting a clean release here. Most of them eventually made or are making it here but the red tape involved in modding/reapplying/reclassifying just bloats the whole process out, frustrating the publishers (costing them money) and the potential players (making them wait longer for class-A games).

Now, the recent ruling as I understand it is that the OFLC now wants online interactions rated under the classification code as opposed to just offline, so that clause about "Gaming experience may change online" doesn't fly anymore apparently according to beaurocracy. How they expect a non-linear, unpredictable series of interactions to be gauged and classified is utterly beyond me and obvious showing of why we need a serious change of government in this country (the man responsible for most of the issues we're suffering is the South Australian Governor General, Michael Atkinson; any changes to policy must be agreed by all states and he constantly stands in the way with his antiquated, illogical, "Think of the children!" mentality).

So of course, games that are online-only are effectively un-rated and theoretically "banned" under our classification system. Personally, I think it's a whole much-ado about nothing because I seriously don't expect WoW to start being pulled off shelves over here. At the end of the day, they'll likely have to abbreviate the rough nuances of games like WoW much like I understand the ESRB (the American equiv. you guys are more familiar with); like alchohol use, blood, mild "themes" (whatever that's supposed to mean), etc etc etc.

Hopefully that clears things up. Wall of text crits for over 9000!Comment by buzz3070see if you can clear something up for me they are banning it because of a outdated system and from what i understand a governor who uses a line people have used in america to get what they want and they give no more reason then that

so if i understood that correctly well yeah that makes perfect sence if you ask me /end sarcasm
(btw if i idd not understand it correctly then plese correct me i am not trying to be a troll or anything and i actually do not know what a troll is and i am being very serious hereComment by lordhakera32I'm gonna have to trust Blizz on this one. They have all the reasons for lying, but hey if it's still on the shelves who cares :>

P.S. And also I know they will ban me if I blastpheme against them! They're watching us all o_0 Fear the wrath crit of over 9000!Comment by 303016see if you can clear something up for me they are banning it because of a outdated system and from what i understand a governor who uses a line people have used in america to get what they want and they give no more reason then that

so if i understood that correctly well yeah that makes perfect sence if you ask me /end sarcasm
(btw if i idd not understand it correctly then plese correct me i am not trying to be a troll or anything and i actually do not know what a troll is and i am being very serious hereWoWComment by saltrad4considering Wow has a net nanny feature built in for the foul mouthed drawves gnomes and warlocks in trade and you have to actually turn it off if you want to know what that guy just called you....ok to long! anyway blizz makes a point of keeping it clean for those that would be offended... though i still don't want to know who the local boozers are in stormwind when i'm there.

Every one is getting drunk on Hard lemonadeComment by 290874This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by 86700This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by AfgncaapThis is actually all a beat up over a comment that a government body made which was incorrect. The body in question has no authority in the area of games classification.

WoW is not actually a game according to our classification board as they have 3 classifications:

* Standalone game (no online components) - Must be classified.

* Game that includes standalone and online components - Must be classified. The Board does not take into account the online components, but may include a consumer advice that the gaming experience may change online.

* Online only game - not a computer game for the purposes of the Classification Act. This is due to the fact that the product sold in stores does not include a computer game, but rather provides data to access an online game.

For more info:
http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2009/02/blizzard_wow_is_sold_legally_in_australia_after_all.htmlComment by 71056This post was from a user who has deleted their account.Comment by ProtagonistDBOf course it can be compelled, because the Supreme Court has said that the First Amendment is not absolute, and among the things that can be regulated are matters of a "prurient" nature (cussing, lewd acts, etc.) I know of no fundamental law that says speech is privileged under any circumstances and for all content. The reason games and movies are self-governed is because the industry's argument is that self-enforcement is better than government policing. Sen. Lieberman would happily eviscerate the ESRB to place a Federal ratings system in place if people cared enough to write the legislation.