Loading ...
(Image : Copyright Unknown)
2008 couldn’t have started out on a worse note for the struggling Indian gaming community. Already reeling under problems such as delayed releases of titles (and the complete absence of others, like UbiSoft ones), game price stickers tugging heavily at our monthly incomes and less-than-average broadband connectivity, Indian gamers will now have to bear the additional burden of trying to get their game past the eagle eyes at the Indian censorship board.
Confirming the decision by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the Censor Board chief, Sharmila Tagore has said that they will now actively censor computer game software as well, in an attempt to keep objectionable content out of the hands of children who shouldn’t be playing them in the first place. According to DNA India, Sharmila Tagore says:
This is true that there is a proposal that the Censor Board should start censoring all video games - and I agree with proposal totally. We have already submitted our proposal to the ministry and the draft is being considered by them.
Apparently, it looks like this issue began with a number of parents voicing their concerns that their little ones were playing games that are entirely unsuitable for them. According to the proposal, the Censor Board will identify games with aforesaid “unsuitable” content and will advise age limits for children to access the videogame content. But chillingly, in a move that we are used to hearing coming out of Germany’s radical game ratings board, Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK), the Censor Board will also reserve the right to ban a videogame if it deems it unsuitable for an Indian audience.
If the game does clear certification, it is supposed to be marked with an appropriate age ratings label that will clearly mention which age group is allowed to buy and play the game. And furthermore, like DVDs being sold here, they will have to carry the Censor Board approval certificate on the box itself.
According to our Sharmila Tagore:
When this is done, the parents will get a clear idea about the contents of a video game that they are buying for their child. Also, if there are certain portions in the game that are not suitable for children, might get excluded from the game.
This is, unfortunately, how the Gestapo tactics begin. Time and time again, the Indian government has proven how little it knows of technology and has gone after cancerous tumors with a cudgel rather than a sharp scalpel. How many of us have forgotten how Yahoo! Groups got banned, how a dozen social networking and blogging sites suddenly found themselves short of all their Indian users because the ISPs here decided to do a little Dr. Breen routine and prostate themselves at the feet of our malefactors. How about the Baazee (now eBay India) CEO getting arrested because someone sold objectionable content through their site?
The real problem here is that the Indian government, as usual, has no clue as to how the gaming scene operates in the country. There are no local DVD replication and packaging outlets in India as far as games are concerned. Almost 98% of the games are directly imported from other countries and sold in their original packaging, especially when it comes to console games that are directly imported from other PAL territories. And honestly, I just don’t see distributors drive their profit margins any lower by spending money out of their own pockets to set up a facility to print and repackage the discs with the Censor Board certificate.
Even if the local distributors agree to these demands and start repackaging the games, the whole point about marking the game discs with age-appropriate labels has already been done! The world already has excellent, established rating systems in the form of the ESRB, PEGI, CERO, BBFC, OFLC and the USK. Every game available in India already carries a clearly marked ratings label that indicate which age group should be playing that particular game in the largest possible label on the front cover as well as the spine of the game’s protective case. (see image below)
Unfortunately for all us Indian gamers, the government seems to have it in its head that a game is pretty much like a movie, where they splice content in and out of the movie as they desire. But with games, that is hardly the case. Most games undergo months of testing and certification before a master “gold” copy gets sent out for mass manufacturing. If a censoring agency wants a few cuts here and there, the developers and publishers would rather not release the game here at all rather than spend a couple of million dollars more making all the changes and going through the whole rigmarole all over again - which is something we have been seeing ever since the BBFC refused to certify Manhunt 2.
Since we don’t have any official word on the draft proposal’s contents, I wonder what will happen if a game fails certification. In Germany, if the restrictive USK refuses to certify a game, the game automatically defaults to a Mature rating and can still be sold legally in stores, just not to anyone below the age of 18. So what happens if the Indian Censor Board refuses to certify a game? Will it be unconditionally banned or will it follow the other countries’ recommendations and automatically default to an 18+ rating? Worse still, who are the people that are going to play and certify the games? With no transparency in the certification processes of the Censor Board, it’s a little like standing outside the Operating Room in a hospital and waiting for the surgeon to come out and tell you if the poor chap is alive or dead.
Which brings us neatly to the whole point of censorship itself. The whole point of censorship exists to ensure that no objectionable content falls into the wrong hands, not to enforce the personal opinions of a group of people on the general populace. When does it become acceptable to allow highly charged sexual and violent content on television and in cinema and start censoring a medium that transcends the boundaries of interactive entertainment? Parents, listen up, your kids are more likely to emulate Bollywood stars that race around in flashy cars, sleep with other men’s wives and use up entire ammo depots in a single scene rather than indulge in senseless videogame-inspired violence.
But I am not one to scream about a problem without offering a solution. I am equally concerned about M-rated games falling into the hands of children who shouldn’t be playing them in the first place. And the first step towards eliminating that is educating parents about the ratings system and how they work. Work with well-informed gamers in the country who can help the community when it comes to these issues. If a doctor’s place can carry a big poster on all those health-related tips, make sure places that sell videogames prominently display the ESRB ratings system and how they work. If kids aren’t allowed to get alcohol without presenting age-proof ID, they damn well shouldn’t be allowed to buy an M-rated game without proving they’re over 18.
Powered by Gregarious (42)
TRANSLATE
Translate this post into your favorite language. Click on any of the flags below to view the translated version. NOTE: Translations use the AltaVista Babel Fish Translation Service and may not be 100% accurate.
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Okay I feel my modesty has been outraged right now, this is the most ridiculous thing a bunch of power hungry Idiosyncratic people could have actually churn out, stickers and the right to censor games that are not appropriate for the Indian audience, listen up kids this is going to lower the amount of rapes in the country and by banning videogames is going to stop corruption at all levels, oh I forgot the thriving flesh trade that our country blossoms in, this move is aimed to support all those who fall below the poverty line and are F@#$ing dying out of the cold wave that has struck the Northern region, first it was banning smoking in movies in an industry which caters to 3.6 billion people, I see the consumption of alcohol and tobacco has drastically gone down statistically speaking that is (reader’s note advised since Statistics in the Indian context are subject to heavy modifications and rigging).
Sharmila Tagore a little Back history about this mother who has encouraged her own son to Smoke throughout his life, lived with a King who knows nothing about an economy except the land he lives in. This little woman was the first one to wear a bikini in Bollywood goes ahead to propose this bill for an Industry which cannot even stand up on its feet, yeah this is democracy people this is democracy as we all know it. Woman do you even know the growth that has been pegged by the industry and I forgot the wacky parents who have nothing better to do than attend parties and f@#$ around with the neighbor and leave their bunch of spoilt cum illegitimate brats in front of the television with a PS3 and a 360 who know nothing about the level of creative sprit and can never appreciate what a company like Infinity ward can bring about.
Oh and BTW I guess all these nitwits have the grey market and piracy all figured out I guess.
January 4th, 2008 at 11:40 am
I hear ya! it’s like i was telling Krishnan last night - it’s a good thing that India wants to play with the big-boys and rightly secure it’s position in a growing global economy. I mean we were all proud to know that Tata’s probably gonna get the Jag and Land Rover names. But when the moral police try to suddenly become ‘cool’ and ‘expand their remit to technology’, thats almost like your local ‘doodh-waala’ telling you that he’s from Buffalo NY!
And what the fuck is this about parents complaining. Those parents should be stripped naked, tied to a tree, have sugar syrup poured over them and be eaten alive by fire-ants. Didnt those ‘responsible’ parents bother to even READ the rating system? The education needs to be given to the parents who buy these games for children. A kid’s gonna do what a kid’s gonna do.
If games are banned, who’s to say that Palika or Burma Bazaar or Lamington road will not sell the game? A chat with any shopkeeper in Palika will make it clear that game companies do NOT care about piracy. The focus is on Bollywood! So just keep it that way.
Why is India trying to act ass-ways and fix something that aint broken? So that’s where all my fucking tax money goes!
January 4th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
I agree to every SINGLE point made by the blog poster and the 2 comments made prior to mine.
‘Responsible’ parenting DOES mean classifying what your kids are subjected to entertainment wise. It certainly does not mean handing out wads of cash to your 13 year old telling them to “go get whatever you want from planet M”, compensating for the fact that both mommy and daddy are busy working the day and filling their veins with crack at the night.
Considering that a lot of India’s population is in 25-38 range, (KEY demographic to gaming and movie business), here is hoping that the censor board and our very own dimple cheeked Sharmilaji accept audience’s maturity and let the banned tittles default to the 18+ category. That move would be the most acceptable i guess, considering that titles like GTA and Manhunt ARE infact derogatory to a 13 year old, still developing morality and mentality….
Comming to a final question, say these laws are indeed layed down in the future, they will/can govern only retail versions of the game right? As in only sold on a physical media along with a receipt? How does onliine shops like STAM and D2D feature on this? Cause i am sure as shit they cant censor that….IF, they do go to the lengths of BANNING these online shops as well, that would be a slap in the face of the ‘peoples’ constitution’ of india…
January 4th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Valid points. But i doubt they even know what STEAM (not STAM!
) and D2D.
January 4th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Now now, don’t you guys go around giving these people ideas. Next thing you know, they will unconditionally ban the Steam service because they can’t control it and make some money out of it.
January 5th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Yep.this is just what indian gaming need.
January 5th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Reggie…I LOVE your website!!!!!!
January 6th, 2008 at 3:55 am
Implementation. Implementation. Implementation.
It will pass, children. Don’t worry.
Few days of talk and then everything will be back to normal.
As for the question of using the existing ratings system…well we don’t exactly follow the ratings decided upon in other countries for movies do we? I don’t see any bureaucrat ever agreeing to that, if he/she has actually gotten to the point of wanting to have a control system. Then there’s the question of the ‘culture’ not allowing for some content which might supposedly be acceptable elsewhere (I’ve never gotten this. Parents and their concerns are the same everywhere! :)). Hey, I’m just the self-proclaimed mind-reading messenger.
And when it comes to kids trying to ‘emulate’ something stupid, well it’s exactly that. Stupidity. Counselling is what we need to deal with these kind of problems. I’m not even remotely an expert on the subject but I do believe that getting help for their kids is about the last thing on any parent’s mind, especially in a society (and I don’t think that’s too uncommon) where a certain stigma is associated with seeking psychiatric/psychological help. Again, just conjecture.
Anyhow, none of these issues are gonna go away in one night, and neither do we have too many rusty old lamps lying around. Till then, just gotta rely on our systems to (not) do their jobs and leave us be, as always.
January 7th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Video games has always been everyone’s darling. Age has never been a barrier for it. we spend hours and hours playing games but are we aware that video games were introduced in India in late seventies and the only machine available to the gamers were the ping pong machines. Not many of us including me are aware about it. It was recently that I got this cool news through this cool site about gaming http://blog.games2win.com
January 7th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
^Ahhh…the relevance of this. I’m so enlightened I could shit!
March 24th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
if actress like sharmila tagore wear two piece bikini in sixty period , then what wrong about rakhi sawant clothes today .