RimWorld Unbanned In Australia After Appeal

thegamer.com:

Australia has an oddly puritanical relationship with video games--so much so that a game you wouldn't necessarily think should be banned eventually winds up being refused classification. Without a classification from the Australian Classification Board, games cannot be legally sold in Australia.

That's what happened to RimWorld just last month. An upcoming console release for the PC game was refused classification for depicting “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."

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Those who have actually played RimWorld note that all the above content is in the game, but it's hardly in your face about it. The game's stylistic graphics prevent excessive gore beyond a few red splatters, and most of the really awful stuff is just described in text.

But if Disco Elysium can get its ban overturned, then so could RimWorld. Ludeon Studios appealed the decision last week, and after a meeting with the Board, has been granted the classification of R 18+, which restricts the purchase of RimWorld to ages 18 and up.

In its decision, the Classification Board noted RimWorld's adult "themes and drug use have a high impact" on players.

"The game includes fantasy drug use, but in the Review Board’s opinion, the game mechanic ultimately provides disincentives related to drug-taking behavior, to the point where regular drug use leads to negative consequences such as overdose, addiction, and withdrawal," the Board wrote (via Eurogamer). Players may choose for colonist pawns to consume drugs in