In reply to a question about whether South Africans who purchase Steam games are in violation of South African law . . .
The distributors are held liable for unlawful distribution in the strict sense but South Africans who purchase games in this way are liable to have it seized by Customs upon importation into the country.
And these are the people telling us what we can or can't watch/play or what ever
"I hear voices in my head but they are my own this time" "Except for a battle lost, there is nothing so terrible as a battle won." "Sanity is for the weak!!"
[quote]International rating systems are not valid in South Africa. Our rating system conforms with our local social norms and values and the constitutional requirements of an open and democratic society[/quote]
Not sure whether I should laugh or just cry!
If I use my salary, which has already been taxed, to purchase content from Steam or any other site, what are they on about?
Well effectively your making that we arent allowed to buy any games that require a international connection. So in other words, no more games.
Our rating system conforms with our local social norms and values ...
Our social norms and values or SA social norms and values. If the later then stealing, piracy and digital raping is accepted. Now it changes it to we are allowed to game at any cost
i would love to know how they are going to find out if i download games from steam. hahaha. let alone get access to my pc. Drives are true-crypted and like hell i will give them my login details.
They can get the authority to ask ISPs what content has been transfered. The problem then is that steam will have to be blocked in its entirety killing all legal trade. They wont be able to block torrents and that will be the 2nd thing people will resort to and only boost the countries piracy listing.
That is if they figure out that customs does not check data going across the border
"I hear voices in my head but they are my own this time" "Except for a battle lost, there is nothing so terrible as a battle won." "Sanity is for the weak!!"
Like I told jee, most of the games on Steam has already been rated. If it's on the shelves then it's rated. The person who they interviewd, Phumelele Faba, obviously doesnt know what steam is. Also if it really is illegal then all that songs that you've been paying for on iTunes are also illegal.
"Friends are a lot like potatoes. If you eat them they die." - Stuart
StarBound wrote:They can get the authority to ask ISPs what content has been transfered. The problem then is that steam will have to be blocked in its entirety killing all legal trade. They wont be able to block torrents and that will be the 2nd thing people will resort to and only boost the countries piracy listing.
If they block steam then you can kiss the best pc gaming moments of your life goodbye. The ISPs will know better then that.
"Friends are a lot like potatoes. If you eat them they die." - Stuart
Well either or. The rating is to make sure the items are shop safe, at least that is what I hope the idea behind it is. As a citizan and over 18 I feel I can import anything and everything I want that is legal (doesnt harm or go against our social responsibility of hurting others). If I want to import a game that isnt on our shelves or cant be on our shelves I will import. I did purchase 4 games this month over steam at full retail ($60 USD) which worked out much more than going into a shop and buying and also the data costs of having it digitally downloaded is murder so I probably wont do it again.
By law there is no rating that can prevent me from buying anything gaming related anymore. If there is something preventing me then somewhere someone is stealing money.
jamin_za wrote:At least your lot don't just ban any game that they cant rate MA15 or lower....
"Our lot" also don't do morally questionable things to sheep
A simple Google image search followed by some time in Paint.net will show a South African forum moderator caught in a series of very embarrassing poses with a goat...
StarBound wrote: As a citizan and over 18 I feel I can import anything and everything I want that is legal (doesnt harm or go against our social responsibility of hurting others).
Here-in lies the quandary - You might think that mindlessly driving your fictional car over as many possible people might be fun, but your neighbour can see it as a propensity to murder and therefore, if his child walked into your living room that you have caused hurt to his psyche. It is unfortunately not an exact science - who it will influence or not. Not necessarily turning the young tyke into a murderer, but giving him nightmares and fill him with fear for cars.
"Integrity" and "integer" both contain a Latin root meaning "whole; complete." The root sense, then, is that people may be said to be acting with integrity when their beliefs, words, and actions have a sense of unity or wholeness.
StarBound wrote: As a citizan and over 18 I feel I can import anything and everything I want that is legal (doesnt harm or go against our social responsibility of hurting others).
Here-in lies the quandary - You might think that mindlessly driving your fictional car over as many possible people might be fun, but your neighbour can see it as a propensity to murder and therefore, if his child walked into your living room that you have caused hurt to his psyche. It is unfortunately not an exact science - who it will influence or not. Not necessarily turning the young tyke into a murderer, but giving him nightmares and fill him with fear for cars.
Just let him drive with mommy and it will give him all the fear of cars he will ever need, woman do drive far worse than men...
On to the topic at hand...
Stupid spokesperson is just stupid. Methinks he needs to learn the Internet before he opens his mouth to vent the hot air trapped in the waste of space that is his skull...
JUSTICE, n A commodity which is a more or less adulterated condition the State sells to the citizen as a reward for his allegiance, taxes and personal service.
Steam will tow the line with the government, whatever they decide.
Here in Aus when they ban a game, you cant buy it on Steam if you sign in from an Aus IP.
You lot could face the same fate.
That being said, importing the game from the UK or elsewhere will be easy for you, here when they ban a game, they instruct customs to search all incoming parcels for copies of the game during the first few weeks of it's release, just to prevent enterprising gamers from pulling one over on the government and the stupid rating system.
You could cop up to a $40000 fine for your troubles as well...
jamin_za wrote:Steam will tow the line with the government, whatever they decide.
Here in Aus when they ban a game, you cant buy it on Steam if you sign in from an Aus IP.
You lot could face the same fate.
That being said, importing the game from the UK or elsewhere will be easy for you, here when they ban a game, they instruct customs to search all incoming parcels for copies of the game during the first few weeks of it's release, just to prevent enterprising gamers from pulling one over on the government and the stupid rating system.
You could cop up to a $40000 fine for your troubles as well...
But in Aus it is in the perspective of not giving overly violent games to its citizans. In SA it is to squeeze more money out of paying consumers.
StarBound wrote:But in Aus it is in the perspective of not giving overly violent games to its citizans. In SA it is to squeeze more money out of paying consumers.
I don't think you read the article...
It's got little to do with money, it's all about SA not having a rating system in place yet.
What they are basically saying is that because they don't have a system in place to adequately rate games before they reach our shores physically, all games being sold digitally are illegal.
It's that old divide by zero logic that the SA government is famous for.
The answers from the FPB to MyBB questions shows that the FPB has little or no understanding with regards to international digital distribution systems. Its laughable and also sad that these uneducated people have the responsibility of regulating the classification of games.
What I type has nothing to do with the people that employ me.
