Tuesday 22 November 2005

Freedom of espresso? Hot coffee and the banning of Grand Theft Auto

Earlier this year the biggest selling computer game in the country was
banned after revelations that it contained hidden sex scenes – the
so-called "hot coffee mods" to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

On Thursday (24 November) the government regulator that imposed the
ban, the industry peak body that resisted it and a leading academic
studying games and community attitudes will come together to debate
the issues as part of the Australiasian Conference on Interactive
Entertainment (IE2005) at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Chair of the session, Director of Arts Informatics at the University
of Sydney, Chris Chesher, said the hot coffee incident had shown that
there is little connection between the current regulatory regime for
video games and the values of the large proportion of the community
that enjoys and appreciates them.

"We hope this panel will raise the level of the discussion of the
ethics of computer games beyond the level of moral panic, to recognise
games as a legitimate cultural form," Chester said.

"Games regulation should be consistent with other audiovisual media.
With no R rating for games, the Office of Film and Literature
Classification can choose only to ban a game outright, or to apply
what might be an inappropriate lower classification."

The panel members will be:

· Paul Hunt, Deputy Director of the Classification Board of the
Office of Film and Literature Classification

· Chris Hanlon, Chief Executive Officer of the Interactive
Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA)

· Jeffrey Brand, Associate Professor of Communication and Media and
Director of the Centre for New Media Research at Bond University

There will be further discussion by UTS business/law student Matt
Watts, who recently completed an honours thesis on the legal issues
around the hot coffee incident and University of NSW PhD candidate
Rowan Tulloch who is studying the cultural aspects of games.

The panel is being held from 11am to 12.30pm on Thursday at the IE2005
conference venue on the UTS Haymarket campus (corner of Quay St and
Ultimo Road). The conference, bringing together high-powered games and
interactive entertainment researchers from Australia and around the
world, begins tomorrow and continues until Friday.

For more information on the program see the conference website:
Website: http://research.it.uts.edu.au/creative/ie/05/

Ends...