However, Jeffery Brand, Associate Professor of Communication and Media at Bond University and another participant in the discussion, noted that in 2001 when he reviewed submissions for the classifications guidelines review for the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC; now the Classification Board), "there was some recognition in those submissions that adults play games and there was a need for accommodating adults... and there was also a need to protect children from that content." The submissions at the time "favoured an R18+ classification, although -- and this is the interesting point -- there was a lot of sentiment there and yet that wasn't the question under review".

Although there were different opinions on what form a classification scheme should take, there was general agreement that, particularly in regards to computer games, the current system is fatally flawed. "It seems very odd to me to see games being refused classification alongside the other material refused classification," Flew said. "Believe me it looks very different."

One of the key aims of the ALRC's proposals is to eliminate the disparity between the treatment of different platforms, such as films and games; a "technological neutral position", as Dr Peter Chen from the University of Sydney put it.

Chen raised concerns over increased reliance on the industry conducting its own classifications, particularly with companies, such as Apple, having their own private classification systems that can be at odds with and less transparent than public schemes. Apple "has been subject to considerable criticism for the way they classify their content online. And they base their classification decisions on a strange mixture of corporate randomness, the rather socially conservative morals of the United States that we don't share in Australia and the business acumen of Steve Jobs.

"And because of that they've censored material that has been political in nature... they've treated homosexual and straight sexual material of a similar type differently..."