To Attorney-General Atkinson,

I have read your position on the matter of an MA18+ rating for games in Australia, and feel I need to communicate my disagreement.

I play video games, many of them violent and gory. I get an enormous amount of enjoyment playing games that others (and you) would find horrific, disgusting and abhorrent.

You might find it difficult to understand why I find enjoyment in this, but believe me when I say that I have been playing computer games for decades, that I am well-adjusted and a productive tax-paying member of our society.

I am able to play these games without ill effect because as I am an adult, I know the difference between reality and fantasy. If I was to be confronted by something horrific in real life, such as being forced to watch someone being butchered in front of me with a machete, I would probably have the same response as anyone else – I would probably lose my lunch along with my sanity, and would be reduced to a fearful gibbering wreck. So I don’t feel that these violent games have affected my morals or ideals, or my ability to recognise or deal with reality.

Now, I can understand why parents would want clarity in the classification laws so that they have some idea of what might be appropriate and might not be appropriate for their child to play. This is really important, I think, because we all know that most children are unable to separate reality from fantasy – don’t most children fantasise about an imaginary friend at some point? I certainly wouldn’t want to experiment on my child – but parents should be at least armed with accurate information about the games content so they can make their own decisions about their own children.

This is exactly what the Australian ratings system is supposed to provide: that accurate information. It’s a suggestion – if you are under 15 years of age, the content in a MA15+ game is probably not suitable for you. Your parents might disagree, and decide that you are mature enough to handle it, and so there are no laws stopping a parent from buying a MA15+ game and letting their child play it – the law stops at the counter.

This is all well and good up until the point where it interferes with my ability as an adult to play games in the original form in which they were intended. I like watching violent films and playing violent games. I’m able to do this without it affecting me, because I can separate reality from fantasy – as I stated above. So why is the Government putting itself in the position of a parent, and deciding what I, an adult, can and cannot view?

If your voters don’t want their children playing MA18+ games, then they shouldn’t buy them for their children. There is no need to refuse classification on these games – just create an MA18+ category, and put everything that would normally be RC into that category. As long as these games are only sold to adults – a situation we already have with videos, alcohol and tobacco – then it remains the decision of the parents whether or not they may play these games.

I’ll say it again: I’m an adult, and I know the difference between reality and fantasy. Violent video games don’t harm me, and if people are worried about their children playing them, then parents don’t have to buy them for their children.

I feel it is dangerous that a servant of the people such as yourself could single-handedly decide what activities are appropriate for an entire country. There is no due process here, just a decision by fiat unsupported by a majority of adults who actually play computer games.

Please reconsider your position.