Graustein
Cheesy Member
Posts : 76
ESB Points : 0
Join date : 2009-09-08
Age : 34
Location : Your face
 |  Subject: Zombie March  26/2/2010, 1:30 pm | |
| Howdy all! On the 27th of March, a mass zombie march has been organised. This serves a dual purpose: Firstly, to get a bunch of people walking lurching around the city like zombies, covered in fake blood, and generally being zombies. Because awesome. That alone should be enough reason to go. However, there's also a political reason: This march is serving to raise awareness and bring attention to Australia's R18 games issue. I've summarised the issue below for those who care (warning: I feel passionately on this subject): - Spoiler:
There is no R18 games rating in Australia, meaning that any game not deemed suitable for an MA15 rating is RC (Refused Classification) and its sale is made illegal in Australia. This leads to two things: obviously, it means that several games cannot be sold in Australia, which is, quite frankly, censorship. The other main effect is that some games that would be rated 18 in other countries are slightly dumbed down and released as MA15 games. So we have fifteen-year-olds (or, let's be realistic, fourteen- or thirteen-year-olds) playing games originally intended for adults and not made with "suitability for young teenagers" as a priority. So even if you don't think a loss of super-gory games (which, incidentally, tend to be MA normally anyway) is a bad thing, the fact is that many of these games are in fact made MORE available to kids.
As for WHY this state of affairs continues: In order to implement an R18 rating, the various Attorneys-General of each state need to vote unanimously in favour of the issue. All but one (Michael Atkinson, AG of South Australia) have voted in favour. Atkinson, under the mistaken impression that blatant censorship is keeping our children safe, is vetoing any attempts to implement an R18 rating. He believes that these games will inevitably make their way into the hands of children unless he personally keeps them illegal in Australia (So, why not push for a banning of all adult products unsuitable for children? Like Schindler's List, for example? Shall we sanitise every medium?). I could go on for pages explaining why Atkinson's actions are misguided, counterintuitive to his stated goal, hypocritical and a slap in the face to the concept of freedom of speech, but nobody really wants that.
TL;DR: There are no R18 games in Australia, this is blatant censorship, this march is to raise public awareness regarding this issue which, I feel, goes beyond games (to be honest, there's very few R18 games that I have any interest in anyway) and goes right into freedom of speech territory.
So. I know that this sounds like something extremely political, and for some people (me included) it is. HOWEVER. Even if you don't feel strongly about R18 games in Australia, the fact remains that a huge crowd ravenous horde of zombies marching lurching around the city is Awesome. Yes, Awesome in this context is a proper noun. For those who care, this is a great opportunity to make your voice heard and put pressure on Atkinson to stop being a prick. For those who do not care, this is a great opportunity to be a zombie. Everyone wins! The event has a Facebook page for those interested in it. For those who don't want to click on the link: Date: Saturday, 27th of March Time: 11:00-16:00 Location: Hyde Park Fountain You don't need to bring your own zombie outfit or fake blood, but you WILL want to wear clothes that you don't mind getting fake blood on. I've been told that stuff stains. The information I've given above regards the event itself. The club may wish to pick a different rendezvous time/place, and then go to Hyde Park as a group. Finally: I know I've played up the political aspect of this event, but I'd just like to emphasise that an interest in R18 games is not required in any way, shape or form to attend. All you need is to show up and have fun being a zombie. It's probably not a good idea to show up if you actively object to the implementation of an R18 rating, since showing up means you at least condone it, but that's all. It promises to be an awesome day, irrespective of one's political leanings, so let's not let that get in the way of some good clean zombie fun. | |
|
elcd
Cheesy Member
Posts : 77
ESB Points : 0
Join date : 2010-02-25
Age : 38
Location : In ur bathroom, huggin ur toiletz!
| | Subject: Re: Zombie March 26/2/2010, 1:35 pm | |
| I'd be keen, but what's the bet that only 50 people show up... | |
|
Graustein
Cheesy Member
Posts : 76
ESB Points : 0
Join date : 2009-09-08
Age : 34
Location : Your face
| | Subject: Re: Zombie March 26/2/2010, 1:40 pm | |
| - elcd wrote:
- I'd be keen, but what's the bet that only 50 people show up...
Not terribly likely. The Facebook group is almost 600-strong at this point, and the last one, in November, had more than 150 people. Not an immense shambling horde, true, but that's still a lot of zombies making themselves heard. Well, assuming they actually said anything other than "brains". Edit: That 600 is people saying "I will definitely come". There's also almost 800 maybes, and over a thousand people who have been invited, but have not replied. We all know how plans can go awry, but I'm pretty optimistic about this one. | |
|
dannieh
Sempai
Posts : 2783
ESB Points : 170
Join date : 2009-08-27
Age : 110
Location : uwsanimedesu.forumotion ;)
| | Subject: Re: Zombie March 26/2/2010, 2:03 pm | |
| yosh! time to break out the guns.. touche~ resident evil come to life >=D
im joking (>=D).. definately cant go..
birthday :S
have fun and love to see pics | |
|
gagA
Sempai
Posts : 2275
ESB Points : 52
Join date : 2009-09-28
Age : 34
Location : in my HAPPY PLACE
| | Subject: Re: Zombie March 26/2/2010, 10:03 pm | |
| ==" zombie . . . eww sorry *slowly walks away | |
|
Bluna
Sempai
Posts : 2306
ESB Points : 1319
Join date : 2009-08-25
Age : 34
Location : in a Box
Character sheet
Role-playing: Lady wizard
Secondary Role:: your mum
| | Subject: Re: Zombie March 1/3/2010, 10:36 pm | |
| fake blood on my priceless clothes, never =0 | |
|
Sponsored content
| | Subject: Re: Zombie March | |
| |
|
