Looking for Love on All the Wrong Continents

Julian Sanchez | October 7, 2004

Apparently the Land Down Under isn't taking visitors from the Land of the Lounge Lizards: Australia's refusing importation of Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, the latest installment in the classic game series about a clueless-but-affable schmuck looking to score. The reason given is the game's sexual content, which is odd, because unless they've departed dramatically from the level of previous games, it's no more risqé than what you'd expect to find on, say, late night Cinemax. And, oh yeah, it's all CGI. Since I'm pretty sure Aussies haven't embargoed Jenna Jameson yet, that's a weird double standard. Can censors there possibly still, at this late date, be operating under the illusion that computer games are exclusively for (or, at any rate, should always be appropriate for) children?

Comments

|10.7.04 @ 4:54PM|#

An overused but appropriate explanation:

Games are for children ...

|10.7.04 @ 4:56PM|#

Oops. Didn't read Julian's last sentence. Presto chango! My last post never happened ...

|10.7.04 @ 5:04PM|#

Julian, your post was kind of provocative until you threw in that horrid combination of English words: for children.

Why should John Howard's government be any less prone to normative conservatism than its mentor government in the U.S.?

These days, if you want to be a big-budget western democracy like the good ol' USofA, then a high-tolerance for moral despotism is a given. I prefer indie democracies like New Zealand, where economic vitality and quality of life are far more central to public discourse than CGI tits in a stupid computer game.

|10.7.04 @ 5:20PM|#

More importantly, do they erally think they'll be able to keep it out? (see story above this one)

|10.7.04 @ 5:26PM|#

actually, from what i've read it is certainly a lot more risque than the earlier games.

Ken Layne|10.7.04 @ 5:46PM|#

If you loved those '80s Sierra games -- Leisure Suit Larry, King's Quest, Police Quest, etc. -- the Brothers Chap recently put out this incredible homage:

http://www.homestarrunner.com/disk4of12.html

It's called "Peasant's Quest," and it's a real game. I think it goes to 150 points.

|10.7.04 @ 5:49PM|#

Cue discussion of CG porn v. "live-action" porn.
Does a ban on perverse and exploitive content still hold when it's only perverse, not exploitive?

Specifically: is it still "kiddy porn" if no actual kids were involved?

|10.7.04 @ 6:11PM|#

CMS,

For the moment, that's settled case law.

The answer is 'No.'

|10.7.04 @ 8:17PM|#

I like how Andrew managed to make it America's fault that Australia is too uptight to import a Leisure Suit Larry game. Are Canadian Customs officials our fault too?

is it still "kiddy porn" if no actual kids were involved?

It's not considered "kiddy porn", no, but it is generally considered obscene, and therefore illegal, in most areas. So the real kids/fake kids distinction doesn't prevent the producer from doing jail time, it just affects how much jail time he does.

|10.8.04 @ 10:48AM|#

Smells like puppet sex. Guess the pohmmies will just have to download it off a P2P network. Since it's illegal, there won't be any copyright to worry about.

|10.8.04 @ 12:59PM|#

I'll try to remember this the next time someone tries to tell me how uniquely puritanical Americans are. Australians seem to particularly like doing this.

jc

You won't make any friends calling Australians "pohmmies"(sic).

|10.8.04 @ 7:12PM|#

I'll try to remember this the next time someone tries to tell me how uniquely puritanical Americans are. Australians seem to particularly like doing this.

The whole Anglosphere has a puritan streak, really. It just manifests in different ways.

The USA's laws regarding prostitution are stricter than those of Australia or the UK. On the other hand, our laws regarding porn seem to be a lot more relaxed than those of Australia, the UK, or Canada.

I don't know about New Zealand -- all I know about Kiwi sexual habits, I learned from Australians telling sheep jokes.