Since I came a part of video game press, scouring other gaming news sites and viewing reader feedback has taught me many things.  One surprising fact that I was previously unaware of is Australian's rather unfair censorship policies, which many of you have brought up in your comments.

Last night on ABC's Q&A, a panel of Australian policitians revealed just how little they understanding they possess regarding censorship and video game content.  GamePolitics included a clip posted on YouTube with their coverage of this televised debacle.

Interestingly enough, Fallout 3 initiates the discussion with a fan sporting a Fallout 3 t-shirt asking the first question.  The big issue here is that Australia does not have an 18+ rating and as a result, many video games are simply banned or "refused classification."  The brief description of Fallout 3 given by the announcer makes the audience member chuckle a little out of embarrassment for just how terrible it all sounds on paper, but politicians are supposed to be above all that, right?

Only Senator Mark Arbib maintained any semblence of good sense, appearing the most unbiased among his peers.  For those of you who don't feel like watching the clip, here's is a partial transcript:

Announcer: Okay, so here's the question... Should there be censorship of these things, or should people over the age of 18 be able to buy these things with an R rating and play them, even though, as we've just heard, they're obviously extremely violent?

Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group, Heather Ridout: Look, I mean if they're over 18, they'll find one way or another to get hold of it, Tony, and they do. But, as a mother of three kids, two of whom spend an awful lot of time playing these sorts of games, I mean I just find the whole thing appalling, the minds that come up with this stuff. Now Grand Theft Auto is one of the more famous games that seemed to turn everyone into a car thief, you know?. My Jordan thankfully didn't do that. But... I mean I'm not a censorship girl... But violent games, violence breeds violence. It's not nice.

Sen. Nick Xenophon: I think we need to listen to the psychologists who've looked into this. And this is different in the sense it's interactive. People get immersed in these games and I think there's a real risk. I think as a society we can live without it.

Announcer: But does the risk warrant censorship?

Sen. Xenophon: Look, I think it does, when you look at some of the concerns of what it can trigger in some minds, then I think we need to be just a bit cautious about it.

Sen. Mark Arbib: To actually ban them they must be terrible games. So, personally, I'm probably thinking R rating over the age of 18 is fine because as you said, if you wanna play to game, you're going to get it somehow. But I haven't seen the games so I really can't judge whether they should be banned or not.

Announcer: ...these things are being banned because there isn't a rating system on video games... that means anyone of any age can buy them...

Sen. Arbib: As I said, I think there's a strong argument to actually have a rating system, for all games, no doubt about it. And not just an R rating, but ratings just the same as ratings for the movies... so yeah...

Sen. Barnaby Joyce: You can't just say you can see it, therefore you should be allowed to see it, otherwise you legalize snuff movies and all sorts of profane things which I don't think take our society ahead... we had the thing with avatars, is that the right term, where people can actually go out and rape people. Now, this is not acceptable. You have to draw a line... you must take into account... those who are vulnerable to influence, how they would be affected by that. And if you don't, well you suffer what comes next. I, too have four kids... I want these kids to grow up in quiet, unaffected streets. And if there's someone playing a video game where they're raping someone, I'm not feeling good about the place, so, knock it out.

Christine Jackman, Journalist: I agree, we urgently need a rating system. I'm not a pro-censorship person, either... (to the audience member in the Fallout 3 t-shirt who asked the question) Can I throw it back on you... why would you want to play it...?

Audience member: I want to play the game because it's a story-driven experience that you could experience in a movie... however the Australian government won't let me.

Christine Jackman: And how many hours do you think you or your friends would be playing those games a day?

Audience member: It differs between everyone... the average gamer is anyone nowadays. The Queen has a Wii... it's not a question of who's playing them or how long they're playing them, it's a question of whether we're allowed to as adults...

The announcer goes on to mention that the average gamer is around or over the age of 30.  Jackman tries to backtrack by mentioning that games are interactive and not purely visual experiences and as such, ethics is still playing catch-up with technology until they can better understand the effects video games may have on behavior. 

We'll ignore all the research concerning this topic that are now floating out there; what could they possibly hope to offer other than a clearer perspective on the subject?  Perhaps it would benefit the Australian government to look into some of those studies before making snap judgements.

As a non-gamer audience mentions, there really are greater threats to society and general well-being than video games, and he brings up gambling as one of these problems.  Clearly, pokies (slot machines) and gambling have a greater impact on Australian society, yet these politicians are busying themselves with unjust censorship of video games, which haven't been proven to have any direct effect on negative behavior or society as a whole.  The rest of audience then expresses its approval with a round of applause before Xenophon continues.