Australia bans Marc Ecko’s Getting Up

Atari’s forthcoming game about graffiti artists, Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, has been banned in Australia by the Classification Review Board, who believe the game will encourage players to go out and scrawl graffiti all over the clean streets of Oz. The game is due for release in the graffiti-ridden UK this Friday, the 17th.

Australia’s Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, asked for a review of the game's MA15+ classification last month, following some concerns over what he thought might be the potential impact of the game. The game was also set to be released in Oz this coming Friday, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen now.

According to a spokeswoman from the Office of Film & Literature Classification, "It is the Classification Review Board’s determination that this game promotes the crime of graffiti." The spokeswoman goes on to say that the OFLC will not rate games if they "...contain detailed instruction or promotion of matters of crime."

"I am satisfied the decision to refuse classification is consistent with the proper function of the Review Board to reflect community standards and apply the Act, Code and Guidelines," Mr Ruddock said.

This is not the first time Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure has been stirring up some valuable PR controversy-column inches for itself, having had some stick only last month from the chairman of the UK's Anti-Graffiti Association (AGA).

As we have said before, SPOnG is fully aware that the line between artistic graffiti and community-spoiling vandalism is often somewhat blurred. We are also aware of the cost of clean-up operations to city-dwellers, and SPOnG is vehemently opposed to the mindless tagging of buses, trains and public and private property.

However, as we have also continued to stress, playing Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure is not going to inspire players to rush straight out and scrawl ‘KAZ IS A SLAG’ across their local shops, trains and buses with a permanent black marker. We use ‘KAZ IS A SLAG’ as an example as it’s the first bit of rubbish graffiti we saw when we looked out of the window onto the pleasant north London street scene outside.

And we reiterate what we have said before - the main contributor towards inspiring and promoting this type of vandalism is poor parenting. Not TV, videogames, movies, booze, drugs or sex. All those things are all forms of entertainment or recreation (in one form or another) which children need to learn to use (or not use) responsibly as they grow into mature adults. And it’s the responsibility of a child’s parents, above all, to teach them the difference between right and wrong.

Atari is due to release a statement on the matter later today, so we'll be sure to update you with this news as soon as we get it.

As for Kaz, or Karen as her parents christened her, she's not a slag. Granted, she may have made some wayward choices regarding boyfriends, but a slag? No, just misguided.