There are a lot of people with firm beliefs on mature/adult content in games. Thus far, there haven't been a lot of titles with such content for fear of losing sales because outlet stores won't put them on the shelves. In my opinion, the outlet store is going to become a minor player in gaming sales if digital distribution continues to increase in popularity. What could this mean for game developers who would like to target an older consumer?
I'm of a mind that there is a place for games with more mature content/themes. Being an RPG fan, I'd appreciate the opportunity to play such if well done by devs capable of producing quality products. This country (USA) isn't the worst, but I think it's still far to conservative when it comes to this type of thing. Especially in the video games industry.
I'd be curious to hear what other members of the Impulse community have to say on the issue. Pro or con, please post what you think about rated M and rated AO games, and whether you think digital distribution might do to change the number of titles with these ratings.
Firm try ignorant beliefs more like it.
Not sure what you're getting at unless by M and AO type content you're referring to sex and full nudity in the game. Because there are already plenty of M rated games on retail shelves. They are rated M for violence, blood, what have you. Can't think of one though that has sex and full nudity. So I can only assume that is what you're referring to.
Dragon Age: Origins is awash in blood. From the title screens to characters literally being bathed in it. There's plenty of skin in that game as well as other games. But there is no hardcore sex of course (again, I can only assume this is what you're referring to). And yet it's all over the stores as well as digital distribution. But there have been violent/bloody/horror/foul language games in stores since the beginning.
So, basically, I think business will continue as usual for retail and digital distribution. Some like to have the discs, others don't. Either way you'll probably always be able to get whatever you want in retail just like you can online.
Also, how is the USA more conservative in the video games industry than any other nation?
Well, then the next question is: Are they any good? Are they just porn games (which don't even sell on Steam or Impulse or Direct2Drive)?
Because if they are just porn games then your point is baseless.
If they are not porn games can you give us some names since you can think of plenty?
Sexuality was one of the major things I was thinking about, but not exclusively. There are a lot of themes we never or seldom see in video games such as killing children, highly graphic, realistic violence and gore. I'm sure I could think of a few others, but I'm split between typing this and work, so I'll keep it short. The movie industry seems to have a lot more freedom when it comes to ratings and content. I'd just like to see that level of creative license show up in gaming, and not just on the fringe but with high quality developers. We're seeing some moves that direction with the GTA series, Heavy Rain, God of War, even Dragon Age contains content you'd never see just a few years ago... especially in from main stream publishers.
As an older gamer, I'd like to see my preferred form on entertainment, that is video games, have the freedom to touch on some of the more adult themes that are common place in the main stream movie industry. I'm not talking about porn games, though I don't have any problem with those either. Strickly pornograqphic titles, be they movies or video games, will almost alway be in the fringe market. I'm talking about, for instance, a video game with the same type of adult themes and content as the film Antichrist. That's a pretty graphic film in all respects. Right now we'd never see a mainstream game with that level of graphic depiction.
I'm not going to lie and never say I haven't played one but most I have played were japanese made and they put worthwhile stories with just about everything thing they make. I asked my asian friend to let me borrow his hat and he went all into how the hat use to belong to an ancient sholin warrior who used it to cut people in half and threw it like a blade.
(ok ig no one can catch the reference here than I will lose all faith in the gaming community.)
Ok, I'm starting to see where you're coming from. You're wondering if we'll ever see even more violence and even more sadistic behavior in video games. I think that's certainly possible although video game companies want to make games that will sell so they can make money. And the more violent and sadistic you get the less population of people will buy it. I looked up the movie you mentioned on Wikipedia and saw at the bottom that they are planning on developing a video game based on the movie in which the story would pick up after the events of the Antichrist movie. Whether or not we would ever see that game in stores remains to be seen. But at the same time would we ever see it through Impulse or Steam or Direct2Drive?
The point of your post seems to be that retail stores are prudes and so it doesn't matter if a developer makes an incredibly sadistic game because they might be able to retain their sales goals by being digital download only. My guess is, however, that (again) the more sadistic and nihilistic the game becomes the less appealing it is to a wide audience; even if it has some truly great gameplay. If the developer is dedicated to the game and doesn't care about how much he makes then he could definitely still make the game but he may only be able to sell it through his own website. Impulse, Steam and others may turn it down just like retail stores would.
Finally, your point about the USA being too conservative for this kind of thing isn't really valid. There are many, many, many more countries that have far stricter obscenity and censorship laws than the USA. Especially in video games.
Ifa game gets an A rating it has literally commited suicide, stores won't hold and and commercials wont be shown.
This conservatism has come from a lot of sources, including politicians willing to exploit the controversies for their own gains. The main source, however, are conservative parents and media watchdog groups, like the "abstainance only" types. They are the ones that make a big deal about sex in games, and the media in general.
I never understood why so many parents are opposed to sex in the media. Hidden sex things are stupid, but these people make so much noise that they are helping control what is made. What's funny is that these same parents buy their kids games like Halo and COD:MW2. Apparently blowing people's heads off is okay, but showing a boob or extending kissing isn't. Hypocrits...
People need to accept sex for what it is. Sex is good. It's a whole lot more natural then violence, that's for sure.
As a conservative parent who used to be a 15 year old kid, I can be fair and understand your viewpoint. While I did not appreciate my parents filtering content for me when I was young I can now appreciate and understand why as an adult. We personally filter, as much as possible, all material viewed by our children and allow them to either view/play based on how we feel they will affected by the material. This varies by each kid as they all have different tollerances and understanding. That said I am not against releaseing M or AO games. There is a market for these and it is completely acceptable to release to that market. I also don't mind people who wish to protest these games as that is the foundation for our country. In this way I believe we get a respectable approach to video and game development that gives parents the tools and information to make well informed decisions.
In terms of sex we in the U.S. certainly are conservative, and I wish we weren't so uptight about it. The rest of the world however is far less laid back about blood and gore, so its a bit of a fair cop in my eyes. I shudder to think what happened to the Australian or German versions of Dragon Age with the censoring programs they have.
While I respect your parenting decisions, judging by what you've written, I think should be a little bit more liberal. Sheltering your kids and being overly controlling really isn't going to help them very much. Allowing your kids to view stuff such as sex and then having a discussion about it would help prepare them for it, and when other kids start talking about it, your kids would be more mature in approaching the subjects.
Again, these are simply my opinions. I'm not trying to tell you what to do.
Germans are aversive to blood and violence, just as we are to sex. Countries have different cultures. Austrailia, however, is freaking ridiculous.
But obviously, because we backwards Americans don't share European culture, means that they must conform to the morally superior European standards, correct?
Also, I think games will probably become more violent and 'mature' as digital distribution increases, if only because smaller groups that might make these types of games will be able to better release their games.
Yes, Germans are adverse to blood and violence. However the German government shouldn't be restricting video games so much, as government has no place doing something like that. There's a difference between a culture not liking blood and violence and the government legislating it out of video games, restricting the freedom of expression of the developers. Also of concern to me, and should be to you, is their banning of WWII games simply because they have Nazi symbols. Yes, Nazism shouldn't be condoned and must be countered, but the German government is being authoritarian in their own way by banning games that have you kill swastika-wearing Nazis.
The australian version of dragon age is the same as everyone else's.
just to clear up common misconceptions- australia doesn't ban games. it simply lacks the classification to classify games rated higher than MA15+. therefore anything that is unable to receive an MA15+ rating, is effectively banned. because of the way our federalist system works, an adult classification for games is essentially being prevented by just one minister from one state. he won't be in office forever
Yeah, I know they aren't "banned" just "not classified". However, government shouldn't be in the business of classfying the content of video games and regulating their sale based on their classification.
And I'm surprised its the same version as everyone's else's. My U.S. version of Dragon Age is rated "M" for Blood, Intense Violence, Language, Partial Nudity, and Sexual Content. I'm surprised that it managed to be rated 15+. Personally, I haven't seen any of the nudity or sexual content, but the closest I got to a romantic subplot was boffing the female elf in the human noble origin story, and that didn't show anything.
Eh, there already are games with heavy sex content. They just aren't distributed through Steam or similar services and never will. I'm not going to mention any sites here, but I've been using several websites that specialize in these things for years and they continue to do well.
No big name publisher is EVER going to put heavy sexual content into a game, because the backlash they get from parents with 1950's mindsets isn't worth it. Even with retailers being slowly being removed from the equation, the console market is more lucrative than PC and people tend to get outraged over questionable console titles far more than PC exclusives.
While I'm not going to go into the stupidity of people getting outraged over tits, while okaying games where you can mow down hundreds of innocent people in a airport, it's best to just leave this matter alone IMO. Unless there's a major change in attitudes in the near-future, just let it go and be happy the religious right doesn't know about the 'other' distribution sites.
Ya know, some of it is just generational trends. If you look up Generation X and Y you'll understand a little bit more about who's pushing for more acceptance and less censorship in America (I'm right at the tail end of X myself, but I share more in common with Y anyway from what I recall.)
On the other side of the same coin, if we ever ended up like Japan wrt adult materials, I'd be kind of disturbed. Seems like they went a leetle overboard.
It is difficult to comment without a common frame of reference. Those rating letters don't really mean much to me.
I have a few boxes at the side of me: Flight Sim X is 3+, AoE3 is 12+, Crysis, UT2004 and CoJ BiB are 16+, Fallout 3 and Far Cry 2 are 18. An equivalent would be helpful.
Everyone would be your 3+, Teen would be your 12+, Mature would be either of your 16+ or 18, AO ...I have no idea what that would correspond to over there
I don't know what's happened to us. We used to not have to have every bit of violence, language, and sex in our media lived out in every gory detail. Media could just give the idea that it was going on or had happened. Now we can't seem to live without it.
I am against censorship of the media, except in cases of pornography, language and violence. These I am all for censorship of, and more restrictive than it currently is. They desensitize us towards these things. Such content doesn't accomplish anything except cause us to care less and less when we see such things in real life. When we observe violence, sex, or language in real life we don't care much, because we see it all the time. I've never played a game rated higher than teen, and don't plan on it.
I honestly don't think we will see more AO and M games due to DDL. The same watchdog groups that prowl around Wal-Mart and other chains keeping AO games off the shelves will no doubt come to Steam soon, if not already. Steam already has an age verification system in place.In my opinion, I'm disgusted by the nearly-porno games and games with sex appeal in mind not because of the content, but because of what the developers and publishers had in mind when they made the game. When they made the game, they were thinking "Oh, these video gamers probably don't have a girlfriend, don't talk to girls, and are alone Saturday nights." I, for one, do not have a void to fill in terms of sexual satisfication and the developers making extremely sexualized games aimed at gamers like me is just insulting.
I guess I am in the state of mind where it is not my business to tell people what they are allowed or not allowed to watch or play or listen to. If parents aren't willing to police their own children, the answer is not to come into my home and tell me what is allowed and what isn't. I am a grown woman. It's my choice. I'd like to see more adult content (sexual and thought provoking stuff) and less violence in the games I, I repeat, I play. There are several series I don't touch because I don't care for the swearing or the excessive gore. But me not liking that sort of thing is 1) not me judging other people for liking it and 2) not me trying to police them against it. If playing a game makes someone want to do something malicious and hardens their heart to pain and suffering of other living creatures in reality, there is something already wrong with that person, and they need professional help yesterday. It's only a matter time before someone like that would have found some other trigger that sets off that kind of sadistic behavior.
As for businesses not carrying a title because of an AO or equivelant rating, that is also their choice, and hopefully digital distribution will become a more viable alternative so that sort of rejection won't be so important. E-tailers are not that different, by the way, from their BM counterparts. Amazon has pulled a few foreign games before because of objections about sexual content. I am not sure Steam, Stardock and company would be willing to take the heat either. It's pretty easy for a my belief's are right and yours are not group to start a campaign against any company.
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