Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has listed Among Us as a game only suitable for ages 18+, putting it above Call of Duty and on the same level as Grand Theft Auto V.
In the latest batch of listings on the Australian eSafety Commissioner’s website, social cartoon game Among Us has been listed as R18+. Though the game has had considerable popularity outside of its intended medium (read: Pornhub), this news comes as extremely surprising, especially when compared to other listings.
The rather harsh listing has been made due to the unmoderated nature of the game’s communication functions and the associated “risks of adult strangers interacting with children online”. Nonetheless, there are genuine concerns of how the game can breed toxic behaviours through its unmoderated communication and themes of betrayal.
For comparison, horror game (sorry for the spoilers) Doki Doki Literature Club has a 15+ rating for its potentially disturbing content. While it’s extremely surprising that Doki Doki Literature Club has a listing out of all games, it’s important to note that the eSafety Commissioner is separate from the Australian Classification Board.
The eSafety Commissioner is advertising Among Us as an R18+ game https://t.co/mk0PRXUwgF #AmongUs #AmongUsGame
— Alex Walker (@dippizuka) October 28, 2020
Besides games, the eSafety Commissioner also rates apps and social media platforms. OnlyFans, known for its abundance of sexually explicit content, shares an R18+ rating with Among Us. It appears that the Among Us listing does have some misinformation (as of this time of writing), with the referenced website linking to a pirate vendor as opposed to developer InnerSloth’s website.
Australia has had its fair share of video game classification controversies, dating back well before Among Us. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was withdrawn from sale in 2005 after modders accessed a cut interactive sex minigame still in the game’s content files, and Rockstar Games released a modified version of the game with the minigame files removed from the disc.
