Games Are Outpacing Classification Systems - Margaret Anderson | grokludo 3

Margaret Anderson became Director of the Australian Classification Board in 2013, a time when it still made opaque decisions and wasn’t prepared for the tidal wave of gaming content that would come in the following years.
She talks to grokludo about declassifying the classifications as it were, and dealing with the multiple challenges that games created as a fast-moving technology that vastly outpaces the laws written to regulate it.
On the way we cover Australia’s debate over whether or not to have an R18+ rating for games, the quagmire of loot boxes and gambling content in games, and some fun stories about what it was like at the Board in these big moments.
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:00 - How games are rated differently
12:00 - The R18 Rating Debate in Aus
14:58 - What Margaret wishes people knew
20:37 - How classifying games works
25:08 - Publishers changing games after classification
28:47 - Diversity is the Board’s strength
34:30 - Watching disturbing content
38:40 - Funniest thing the Board was blamed for
41:08 - Margaret hates the C word
43:45 - Defending anime to the Aus Senate
46:43 - How do we get meaningful change on loot boxes?
56:31 - What responsibility do industry bodies have around loot boxes?
1:00:20 - An idea for ratings based on types of fun
1:05:08 - What Margaret misses about the board
1:08:03 - Today’s Classification Board
1:09:08 - Prisoner’s Aid NSW
The latest Digital Australia report by Jeff Brand:
https://igea.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DA22-Report-FINAL-19-10-21.pdf
Prisoners Aid links:
prisonersaidnsw.org
matesonthemove.org
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