It’s been a hell of an year for the gaming industry, and specially for us, gamers, since this year has been full of really amazing titles (Braid rocks!). But this post is not to make a retrospective about this year (we will do that, eventually) but to talk about one of the favorite traits of every game censoring institution: Stupidity Incoherence.
Have you ever thought about what it takes for a game to be considered Mature or Adults Only? If one given game has violence, killing, beating, drug use, strong language, drunk driving and everything else that is bad for people, this game is considered “Mature”. Ok, I have nothing against that, children shouldn’t be playing these games (or should they?). But if you get a game that contains sex (which is very good to people) scenes, it will no doubtly be given an “Adults Only” label. Even if it’s not explicit sex, if it’s just some soft “sexy” scenes like Mass Effect, people will be talking about it for months!
Come on! What’s so wrong with sex? This is the 21st century! We don’t have to listen to the church people telling us that sex before marriage is bad! That’s okay if for whatever reason you don’t want your son to watch porn (although he does it anyways, welcome to the Internet), but sensuality and romance go way beyond looks and kisses, and sometimes they are necessary to tell a story or to give the game the proper impact.
I’m not writing this to stand for porn games as much as I’m not standing for gratuitous violence in games. It’s that game ratings should be more coherent while trying to avoid children to play video games. Separate what is bad for them and what is not.
What’s wrong with nipples anyways?!
The internet is for porn! =D
Great post, Raf, and on a very interesting subject.
In my opinion, there is a general misunderstanding about ratings in games that contribute a lot to the problems you discuss: ratings are NOT meant to deprive this group of people from playing that group of games; of all purposes, ratings intend to inform players better, so they can play MORE of the games that DO appeal to them. Under this definition, a “Mature” rating does not seem to reproach the game at all; I bet that most mature players prefer mature games. I do.
The more restrictive ratings, such as the “Mature” and “Adults Only” nominations, also intend to help parents by informing them about the content of the game, so they can decide what to purchase for their children. In some states, there is law enforcement that prohibits that these games are sold to minors. In any case, no ratings system (or legal system) should be considered a sufficient substitute to proper parent care and interest on what their children are playing.
> “That’s okay if for whatever reason you don’t want your son to watch porn (although he does it anyways, welcome to the Internet)”
Priceless!
> “What’s wrong with nipples anyways?!”
Priceless x 2!
“What’s wrong with nipples anyways?!”
Of course there’s nothing wrong with nipples. I have two and I’ve never heard anyone complain about them. u.u
Gilliard,
Obrigada pelo carinho de seu comentário lá na minha fotinha, amei!!!
Amo vc tb!
Bjs..
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