Fallout 3 doesn't just deliver a very gritty and dark portrayal of human society, but also
a dark and gritty post-apocalyptic society, meaning the depravity and decadence is naturally
cranked way up.
The survivors of The Great War, which ended in nuclear destruction of most of the world,
are forced to live in terrible conditions and have little to hold onto, when it comes
to hope, for things improving.
This environment is virtually a petri dish for sin and corruption.
Crime is rampant and dangers lurk around every corner.
Like modern society, drugs and other vices are a way for survivors to deal with these
pressures.
Whilst frowned against by the general populace, drug-use is very common, especially amongst
the less rule abiding citizens.
The world of Fallout 3 features many different types of drugs or, as they are known in-game,
"chems" - short for chemicals.
The one we'll be focusing on this video is Med-X and how the inclusion of the drug originally
caused the game to be banned in Australia and then censored worldwide.
Med-X is a potent pain killer administered via a syringe and, when consumed by the player,
it reduces damage by 25%.
The drug is based on the real life drug morphine, which is an opiate based pain killer and is
highly addictive and illegal unless given by health care professionals.
Med-X isn't just based on morphine though, but was originally called morphine and it
is this that prompted the Australian ban.
The Fallout games have always featured various chems that provided the player with a wide
range of effects, however, this was the first time for one to be named after a illegal real
life drug.
Furthermore, Australia has a long history of video game censorship and, whilst things
have got a lot less strict in recent years, a big source of problems in Australia has
always been drug use related to "incentives and rewards" and this specific type of content
is something that continues to be an issue today.
The website Refused Classification, a specialised resource focusing on Australian censorship,
has a detailed write up of the different twists and turns that the Fallout 3 decision took.
As usual, this video will be focusing on the facts to help you learn exactly what happened
and what the issue was.
The story begins in July 2008, 3 months before the game was scheduled to be released.
It was then that the Australian Classification Board refused the title, cited that it "promoted
or encouraged proscribed drug use".
A title being refused classification in Australia means that it is illegal to sell within the
country.
It's not illegal to own them for personal use in most of the country, but it is in Western
Australia and a few other regions, where things are stricter.
Fallout 3 was one of the biggest and most anticipated games of the year and so this
decision was naturally met with huge controversy.
Refused Classification has a copy of the Classification Board's Fallout 3 report, which details the
game's content and why it was refused classification.
The report explains: "In the Board's majority view this game warrants
an 'RC' classification in accordance with item 1 (a) of the computer games table of
the National Classification Code:" This referring to this paragraph in the Classification
Code which states: "Computer games that: depict.
express or otherwise deal with 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 to
the extent that they should not be classified;" will be Refused Classification.
The Guidelines for the Classification of Films and Computer Games also state that, as a general
rule: "Material that contains drug use and sexual
violence related to incentives and rewards is Refused Classification."
This part of the Classification Code forces any game that depicts this content to be refused
classification.
The report then explains that it was determined that Fallout 3's content met the prior description
and thus must be refused classification.
To quote: "The game contains the option to take a variety
of drugs known as "chems" using a device which is connected to the character's arm.
Upon selection of the device a menu select screen is displayed.
Upon this screen is a list of"chems" that the player's character can take.
These "chems" have positive effects and some negative effects (lowering of intelligence,
or the character may become addicted to the "chem").
The positive effects include increase in strength, stamina.
resistance to damage.
agility and hit points.
Corresponding with the list of various "chems" are small visual representation of the drugs,
these include syringes, tablets, pill bottles.
a crack-type pipe and blister packs.
In the Board's view these realistic visual representations of drugs and their delivery
method bring the "science-fiction" drugs in line with "real-world" drugs.
The Guidelines also state that "Material promoting or encouraging proscribed drug use" is Refused
Classification.
The player can also select and use "Morphine" (a proscribed drug) which has the positive
effect of enabling the character to ignore limb pain when the charater's extremities
are targeted by the enemy.
The Authorised Assessor's report also states that "chems are an essential part of Fallout
3, and the player will likely use a variety of them throughout the game".
In the Board's view the drug use in particular the use of a proscribed drug.
via means of selection from a menu, is related to incentives and rewards as the incentive
to take the drug is to progress through the game more easily and the reward is an increase
in the character's abilities and as such is Refused Classification."
A month later, in August 2008, the game was then resubmitted to the classification board
and it earned, what was for the time the highest rating possible, a 15+ restricted rating with
the consumer advice: "strong violence, drug references and coarse language".
This release of the game had been modified to rename the drug to "Med-X" and this was
enough to satisfy the Australian rating system.
The new classification report explained: " The drug references within the revised version
are justified by context and lend a strong playing impact to the game.
The drugs depicted are fictional; drugs are depicted as stylised icons on a menu with
the drug use itself not depicted.
Whilst navigating a post-apocalyptic futuristic landscape, players can invoke the use of a
variety of "chems" listed by fictitious names which include "Buff", "Rad-X", "Psycho" and
"Ultrajet".
Within the context of the game's narrative, the player may choose to make use of these
"chems" to alter the physiological characteristics of their character in the game.
The Board noted that the "Guidelines for the Classification of Films and Computer Games
2005" states that "as a general rule ... material that contains drug use ... related to incentives
or rewards is Refused Classification" and found that relationship [sic] between drug
use and the incentives and rewards is not such that it promotes or encourages the use
of proscribed drugs.
Therefore the game does not warrant to be Refused Classification and can be accommodated
at MA15+ with a consumer advisory of "strong drug references"."
However, as is now common knowledge, things didn't end there.
Right before the game's release, Bethesda decided to make the same change as the Australia
version worldwide.
Product Manager, Pete Hines explained: "We want to make sure folks understand that
the Australian version of Fallout 3 is identical to both the UK and North American versions
in every way, on every platform."
"An issue was raised concerning references to real world, proscribed drugs in the game,
and we subsequently removed those references and replaced them with fictional names."
"To avoid confusion among people in different territories, we decided to make those substitutions
in all versions of the game, in all territories."
And thus, with this not just Fallout 3 but all Fallout games that have followed, this
so far being Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4, have all renamed morphine to Med-X.
However, the debate doesn't end there, as only a few months following Fallout 3 being
refused a rating for morphine use, another game featuring morphine was allowed a release
with no issues.
The game was Velvet Assassin, a WW2 stealth title inspired by a real life secret agent.
Here the player could pick up morphine, which is explicitly called morphine, and then use
it to give them a bullet time-like special effect, which slows down time to either allow
the protagonist to kill enemies or run away.
The fact a real life drug was being used as a power up and yet passed in Australia was
seen a contradictory.
However, speaking about the matter, the Classification Board explained that they felt that there
were differences in Velvet Assassin's case which meant it didn't warrant a "drug use
related to incentives or rewards" ban.
To quote: "The board notes that the game (Velvet Assassin)
contains drug references that can be accommodated within a lower classification.
However, the presence of the drug references warrants the additional consumer advice of
drug references for the following reasons: 1) The drug references consist of references
to morphine and the presence of syringes that can be collected by the players within each
mission.
The syringes allow the player to have morphine implicitly administered to them a limited
number of times.
The morphine links back to the reality of Violette being administered the drug in hospital.
Although the use of morphine enables the player to better complete difficult parts of the
mission, this does not lead to killings being more violent, to the demise of more enemies
or a better outcome for the player or the character of Violette.
2) While the general rule in the Classification Guidelines state that "material that contains
drug use related to incentives or rewards is Refused Classification", the Board is
of the opinion that the incentives in the game are very nuanced and mitigated by the
historical and medical context of the references to the drug.
The drug references are no higher than moderate in playing impact.
They can therefore be accommodated within a lower classification, but warrant the additional
consumer advice of drug references."
What they say here, though, is contradictory to what is actually found in the game.
As the drug use *does* allow her to kill more enemies and to get a better outcome.
The drugs give her a huge power up that slows time to a crawl and will allow her to kill
all of the enemies.
However, what they also say is that due to 1) its historical setting and 2) the real
life medical use of the drug, whereby morphine will be administered to patients, these factors
allowed them to see it as less of an issue.
These points are very true as within the game you play a solider who's currently in a coma
in a hospital.
The events depicted in the game are flashbacks to the past, whilst she's in a coma, and,
when the morphine is used, she will be shown in her hospital gown - linking back to the
fact that she's in hospital in a coma.
Furthermore, whilst Velvet Assassin's was allowed a release, numerous games following
Fallout 3 have also been banned due to "drug use related to incentives and rewards".
One of the biggest of these was 2013's Saints Row IV, which had a whole mission removed
in the Australian version which saw you get high and then gain super powers.
The latest game banned for this reason was 2016's The Bug Butcher, an action shooter
for PC and consoles.
Here the Classification Board objected to a power up called "Speed Injection", which
had the character injecting themself with a syringe - and so the power-up was renamed
"Boot Juice" and the animation was altered worldwide.
As always, Censored Gaming will be here to keep you up to date on all further matters
relating to this and any other censorship info in the gaming industry.
If this is something that you are interested in learning about, then please make to subscribe
and, until next time, thank you for watching.
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