OFLC: Fallout 3 banned in Australia because of drugs

Long-time Fallout players are well aware of the effects of in-game chems like Mentats, Buffouts, and Jet. What a lot of people didn’t count on was that these same chems were going to be the reason for the Fallout 3 (or, as some people insist on calling it, “Oblivion with guns”) ban in Australia. More in the full article.

As it turns out, it wasn’t the guns and the violence that caused Fallout 3 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC) to be banned in Australia. Instead, it was the drugs. The heaps and heaps of drugs like Mentats, Jet, Buffout, and even morphine.

If you’ve ever played a Fallout game before, you’ll be pretty familiar with Mentats and the like. These items, more commonly referred to as chems, can buff players up while offering some adverse effects at the same time.

Apparently, the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) felt that the in-game representation of these drugs crossed the line. Here’s an excerpt off the OFLC board report:

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 use of morphine in Fallout 3 also became a point of contention for the ratings board, and, in conjunction with the usage of fictional drugs outlined above, is quite possibly what pushed the game over into banned territory:

In the Board’s view the drug use in particular the use of a prescribed 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.

It’s weird English, but there it is. Any edits from Bethesda to make the game more palatable for the OFLC look to be impossible too, since the use of these items are an integral part of the gameplay. The game’s set in a radioactive wasteland so if you come across some irradiated ground it’s only normal that you turn to some Rad-X to avoid turning green, right?

Well, at least there’s still the option of importing.

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Via Australian Gamer