If I understood the new EU VAT rules correctly, it is not an option to just not track which countries you are selling to.

That's a damn shame, because I believe Lifthrasil has suggested a good course otherwise. After all, EULAs apparently come straight from God, the way companies use them, so one more EULA saying "Yes, I totally promise not to buy stuff I shouldn't" would be just as effective as IP-blocking, in principle. The fact that they don't allow that route shows that they know EULAs really do fuck-all when it comes to human behaviour.

Yet they're still selling Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, Postal 1 & 2, Phantasmagoria, and Risen to Australians. All of these are still banned in Australia. I call major bullshit. I also blame fucking Playstation for this hot mess because that's the reason they bothered to get the game classified in the first place.

There are plenty of indie games that probably would get banned in Australia if it wasn't for the fact that digital-only games on PC don't actually need classification ratings.

Which is great, except that resisting such laws can be very expensive. Losing the ability to do business at all because you were sued into bankruptcy just isn't worth it in the long run.

That's a very good point!
Can anyone explain this?

None of these is what I would call brand-new games. After all, new stuff tends to get more exposure/heat. Also, all of them (with the exception of Risen) were released before GOG started toying with regional pricing. Once regional pricing was properly established and pricing matters were handed over to the publisher, it was only a matter of time before regional locking would eventually rear its ugly head.
Extra note: It wouldn't surprise me if we get retroactive regional locking, since we did get retroactive regional pricing.

Just a guess, but I suspect it's working the same way as flat-prices did for some publishers before GOG added extra currencies. Namely, everything was okay because "nobody noticed".

Why the fuck is Risen banned in that old prison colony?

On Topic: I would really like to know what the legal consequences would be. I know what they would be in Germany: "There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth.." and blocking GOG out of the Google search results - and this would be the real harm.

Due diligence.

Time to get those evil games with evil symbols (like MoHAA) then for Germans?

The main reason is that GoG has an actual legal defense if they were sued over these older games. See, the R18 rating did not exist until 2011. These games would likely get that rating if they were reclassified today. If GoG were sued they could request reclassification and likely get these games unbanned under the R18 rating.

Hookers and blow, yo! Or something to that effect. The high brow Aussies seem to be very easily offended when it comes to sex and drugs in games. Man, if only movies had that kind of classification system. Might as well ban half of the ones coming out these days. =P

From the wikipedia entry of banned games:

Cripes. Maybe you should, mate.

Is there a GOGmix with all the games on GOG that are at least "supposed" to be banned somewhere?

All this talk about Australia remindet me of a joke:

A man wants to move to Australia and is asked in the immigration office:
"Do you have any criminal record?"

He answers: "Oh, I didn't know, that that is STILL a requirement!"

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2009/08/rpg-banned-in-australia-sex-and-drugs-to-blame/#_ga=1.141165492.708934601.1424894987

[i]During the course of the game, players can interact with prostitutes (referred to as “whores” in the game) at a local brothel. Players can trigger a lengthy dialogue to engage in their services; sexual activity is strongly implied, but never depicted on screen. Many of the characters in the game smoke a fictional drug called “brugleweed.” The “wood reefer” plant is described as having a mild relaxing effect on users, and can be bought, sold, and used by players. Some profanity (e.g., “f*ck” and “sh*t”) can be heard in the dialogue.

UPDATE#2: A spokesperson for Risen’s Australian distributor Madman Interactive has told us that the Classification Board felt that the game contained “sexual activity and drug use related to incentives or rewards.” That’s an instant ban right there. Madman are considering all their options but have yet to decide whether they will appeal the decision or seek to edit the game to suit an MA15+ rating.[/i]

TL:DR - Essentially even though we have an R18+ rating it goes like this -

Violence - no problems
Sex - no problems unless explicit or sexualised violence - implied on screen / offscreen doesn't seem to matter - and what got HM2 banned - even though if looked at IN CONTEXT the scene was the filming of a movie in the game
Drugs - drug use related to an incentive - doesn't matter if drug is real or fictional - this is one of the things that saw Saints Row 4 banned with the Shaundi mission - forget the fact that the player character is HINDERED by the drug use and the powers that the Shaundi's get the player has already received... but whatever (the other reason what the penetrator weapon - even though this had already also been done in an older game... also in a more graphic/less comedic fashion than SR4...)

TL:DR TL:DR - flip a coin on any aspect of anything other than violence