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posted by janrinok on Saturday March 17 2018, @10:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the its-not-a-game dept.

The UK's Video Standards Council Rating Board has refused to issue a UK Certificate of Classification (archive) for the JRPG game Omega Labyrinth Z, due to it "clearly [promoting] the sexualisation of children". The publisher's appeal of the decision was rejected. This is the first game to be banned in the UK since Manhunt 2, which was initially refused classification by the British Board of Film Classification, but eventually classified "18" after censorship, a second refusal, and an appeal.:

The game is explicit in its setting within a "school" environment and the majority of the characters are young girls - one child is referred to as being a "first year" student and is seen holding a teddy bear. The game clearly promotes the sexualisation of children via the sexual interaction between the game player and the female characters. The style of the game is such that it will attract an audience below the age of 18.

There is a serious danger that impressionable people, i.e. children and young people viewing the game would conclude that the sexual activity represented normal sexual behaviour. There is a constant theme of sexual innuendo and activity throughout the game that suggests behaviour likely to normalise sexual activity towards children. As a means of reward gained by successfully navigating the game, the player has the means to sexually stimulate the female characters by using either a hand held remote device or touch screen software.

The VSC Rating Board believes this content in a game, which would have strong appeal to non-adult players, is an issue which would be unacceptable to the majority of UK consumers and, more importantly, has the potential to be significantly harmful in terms of the social and moral development of younger people in particular.

Omega Labyrinth Z was released in Japan on July 6, 2017 for the PlayStation Vita and PS4 platforms, and will be released in North America and Europe in early 2018. The game was also refused classification in Australia and Germany, and will not be released in New Zealand or Ireland.

The UK's Digital Economy Act 2010 shifted responsibility for classifying most video games from the British Board of Film Classification to the Video Standards Council.

In unrelated news, Luigi may or may not have a penis.

Also at BBC, Gamasutra, and Kotaku.


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 18 2018, @11:28AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 18 2018, @11:28AM (#654430)

    JRPG game Omega Labyrinth Z, due to it "clearly [promoting] the sexualisation of children"

    Speaking as a resident of Japan, after a glance at the game's Wikipedia page linked in TFS... Bwahaha. That amount of "sexualized" content is controversial? I'm not even talking about the adult, 18+ rated stuff, I've seen worse (... better?) in comics and games aimed at ages 12 and up. [wikipedia.org]

    It's sad when people are unable to distinguish reality and god-damn cartoons.

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  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday March 18 2018, @05:35PM

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Sunday March 18 2018, @05:35PM (#654543) Journal

    It's quite normal for new media to be more highly censored than older media. I haven't looked at either so I can't comment directly, but your surprise is unwarranted. Those who are afraid of the new will often have other prejudices reinforced when they contact it.

    --
    Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.