Outspoken anti-games critic Michael Atkinson has said that he fears for the safety of his family thanks to ongoing threats from gamers due to his strict opposition of legislation that could legalise violent video games in Australia.
The South Australian Attorney-General claimed last month that: I’m unlikely I’ll change my stance anytime soon considering the last death threat I received was pushed under my door at 2am, presumably by someone who doesn’t like my stance on R18+.
It was like something out of a Hollywood film – letters cut from magazine headlines arranged together on a page.”
Now Atkinson has said in a new interview that he fears for the safety of his family.
I feel that my family and I are more at risk from gamers than we are from the outlaw motorcycle gangs who also hate me and are running a candidate against me,” he told ABC TV’s Good Game programmer, as reported by Spong.
The outlaw motorcycle gangs haven’t been hanging around my doorstop at 2am. A gamer has.”
Pressure has been mounting on multiple fronts for Australia to relax its laws on adult video games, with campaigners pushing for a new R18+ certificate. The highest video game rating currently available to regulators is M15.
Atkinson’s full interview can be found on Spong.