This past week, the zombie survival game DayZ was banned in Australia both at retail stores and then later from digital stores. The game was refused classification because it would "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."
The game has characters using morphine to help treat injuries. They player can also restore some health by smoking a marijuana joint that is labeled as "cannabis" in game. Australia hates drugs and as a result the game was banned from the country as a result.
So, instead of making a special version of the game just for Australia, Bohemia Interactive is instead just going to edit the game a bit for every version around the globe. In statements made to Kotaku Australia, this will ensure that everyone is on an even playing field as there will be cross-region play for DayZ.
"We don’t want to separate Australian players from the rest of the world, since many people play cross-region," the studio said. "We love that DayZ is the place to meet with friends and experience the game without dramatic regional lag. We don’t want to change that."
"At the moment, we are editing the global version of DayZ so it will fit into the Board’s requirements. The key objective is to keep the gameplay as authentic as it was, so players are not affected by this change."
"At the moment, we are editing the global version of DayZ so it will fit into the Board’s requirements. The key objective is to keep the gameplay as authentic as it was, so players are not affected by this change."
