Did you know that the government declared RimWorld banned in Australia? Videogames are always under the scrutinizing eyes of the public since their surge into mainstream culture. There will always be players who don’t agree with certain themes included in games. Mature themes are not for everyone, and we understand this standard is needed for younger players. For this reason, many games are designated with a ban in some territories and countries. But games leave this ban after community clamor.
RimWorld is a type of game that has all manner of elements to make the experience realistic. Of these themes, are the elements of violence, narcotics, and inhumane crimes. In the country of Australia, RimWorld has an R18+ in the current classification system. But at some point, the government declared RimWorld in Australia for the themes depicted in the game. How did this happen, and why is the game playable in Australia now?
“Incredible” Game Themes
The country of Australia, like other countries, has a classification system to filter content. This classification board gave RimWorld a rating of “Refused Classification” after sitting in the Steam store. Refused Classification made RimWorld illegal to sell in the country and rarely affected owners of the game in Australia. This is because of “matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency, and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults.”
Of course, this reason holds, because Rimworld depicts this as part of the core game. However, the developers, together with the community and its legal team, managed to overturn the classification. This overturn made the body reclassify RimWorld into an 18+-rated game. Let it be known that RimWorld wasn’t the first game to experience this in Australia. Other games that experienced this is Disco Elysium and We Happy Few. These games also have mature themes embedded into the core principles of the game.
Rimworld Banned in Australia for Other Reasons
Let us explore why the board refused to classify RimWorld in Australia. The first one is addiction and narcotics, which is a game mechanic. Addictions, withdrawals, trading, farming, and processing drugs are also prominent parts of the game. The game also randomly generates characters to have addictions and some even go through withdrawals. This undoubtedly leads straight into the next one, which is violence, crime, and cruelty.
Colonists in the videogame are prone to committing acts of violence and crime. Of these acts, some are inhumane or listed as war crimes. Murder is a common occurrence in the game, as well as the inhuman slaughtering of animals. But perhaps the most questionable act is how organ harvesting and selling are present in the game. The team of Tynan Sylvester and Ludeon Studios were able to overthrow the ruling, settling with an R18+.
RimWorld is an amazing game that follows close to the real world. Tynan and his Ludeon team polished the game, and now it is a classic for its players. With a strong community and developer, this game will outlive most negative rulings about it.
