NSW moves to ban the sale of World of Warcraft?!!

[Naoru]

http://au.games.ign.com/articles/950/950795p1.html

Lolwut? Australia steps back into the stoneage as far as videogame licensing goes. This is going to be really easy to enforce when you can directly download WoW from blizz.

[Karjalan]

"The NSW legislation covers computer games bought online as well as those bought in stores, and treats single, multi-player and online games the same way"

But it sounds like one of those things like young kids buying r18 games... that no one enforces or cares about.

[Cartollomew]

The article is a little vague as to who is doing or saying what; but it's pretty clear that an outbreak of stupid is going around somewhere in NSW.

Hopefully we'll catch it and quarantine the infected individuals.

Additional:

Reading tfa original is a little more informative...

*No new laws have been passed. It is the interpretation of the NSW Attorny General's office that all games (including online) must be classified prior to sale.
*Nobody on a federal level has commented on this. The NSW stooges seem to think their interpretation will be the same interpretation made on a federal level.
*The games industry guy is just as stupid as the AGs - he's talking about the sale of access keys without media - but WoW is sold with media.
Basically what he's saying is that yes, they are breaking the law, but if it starts to get enforced, they can just sell access keys and force the user to download the content. The little prepaid cards are exempt from classification too#.
A simple "No comment - the people making your classification laws are retarded though" would have sufficed.
*Cops aren't enforcing it. Why? It's not really their job until someone complains. If I released "Cart's hawt nekkid bitches online" and sold it in stores without passing it through the classifications board, Mrs Lovejoy would probably kick up a stink and the cops would kick in the doors of any of my retailers. Nobody is, so nobody cares.

It should be noted that, as always, the actual Classifications Board (Office of Film and Literature Classification) are blameless in this matter. They don't consider anything or make recommendations regarding the law or how it should be interpreted, beyond just reviewing and classifying content.

#Okay, I suppose one could argue that they're selling the key and the media is free. Not sure where you'd stand legally on that one.

[midi]

How can you classify a number as MA+?

It's interesting that WoW isn't classified and I wonder if a MA+ would of interfered with it's sales here. Would be funny if AG's get all pissy and ban WoW because I doubt it will dent their sales all that much now you can buy the keys straight from Blizzard online, download the client online, and even get a friend to copy their WoW folder onto a portable drive and paste it onto your machine. Did this with recruit-a-friend and did everything with a credit card and Blizzard online.

That last piece is worth knowing as well. WoW is self contained. You can paste your WoW folder onto a brand new machine and it will run. Handy for making a backup of WoW considering how long it takes to install now.

[Cartollomew]

Ja, that's what I did with my new lappy - just dumped a perfect copy of my other install, worked first time, addons and all.

Delicious.

It's a murky area, since Blizzard don't actually *sell* any software. They sell the service or account, so really the media content can't be controlled (unless it was actual illegal material - World of Kiddie Porn would probably get a few people arrested).

I'm not sure where that leaves the people who host it; technically, our government could ask Blizz not to service Australian IPs, but they'd probably just get ignored.

It's certainly nicely highlighting the fact that our ratings system needs as much of an overhaul as our copyright system.

[midi]

Well, they do sell software. The price of buying the key online is much cheaper than buying the game. Blizzard aren't opposed to making more money out of people unwilling, or unaware, that they can download the content all online.

It'll be interesting to see how this pans out. If it becomes 100% clear WoW needs a rating will they even bother? They can accommodate new Australian users without the need to actually sell their software within Australia if they choose.

Will the cost of getting an appropriate rating outweigh the loss of the software profits?

[Cartollomew]

Well, they do sell software. The price of buying the key online is much cheaper than buying the game. Blizzard aren't opposed to making more money out of people unwilling, or unaware, that they can download the content all online.

One could argue that the added cost is for that particular distribution channel, and has nothing to do with the software - and I suspect that would actually largely be the case.

But yeh, I'll be watching - I suspect the whole thing with just fizzle out though.

Nobody cares enough to make this a political matter, so it'll be handled sensibly.

[midi]

It was more a minor point than anything else. And yes, I imagine the only reason it made the news is because it was WoW.

[midi]

Highly recommend you don't click link.

Didn't know you could suppress the natural link style.

[Cartollomew]

Highly recommend you don't click link.

Didn't know you could suppress the natural link style.

Whut?