The use of drugs by characters in Bethesda’s upcoming RPG Fallout 3 has been deemed too realistic, resulting in a ban on sales of the game in that country.

The gameplay of Bethesda’s upcoming installment in the Fallout series relies on the use of “chems”, chemical enhancements that affect the player.  The chems are essentially drugs that affect player’s stats, with both positive and negative effects.

The use of the chemicals is represented through pills, syringes and a pipe.  Morphine can also be heavily used by the player to ignore pain.  The representation of the drugs in the game is far too realistic, according to a statement released by Australian officials:

“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 board also describes its discomfort with the incentives provided for players who use the in-game drugs.

Australia bans a small handfull of video games every year.  The highest rating available is “MA15+”, meaning that some games that would be rated “M (17+)” or “AO (18+)” in North America are simply banned down under.

Many Australian gamers are calling for a similar 18+ rating to be introduced in Australia to allow the sale of high-profile titles, such as Fallout 3, to adults.  Critics of the ban also point out inconsistencies in the Australian censorship board, namely their willingness to rate Bioshock, which also featured injection of “plasmids” via a syringe.

Fallout 3 has not yet been rated by North American or European censors.

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