Topic: How does mature content play into your gaming experience?

Admittedly, I stay away from games that are heavy on the mature content more often than not. I make exceptions from time to time, however, usually because I can chose to avoid certain things (Dragon Age: Inquisition), I am familiar enough with the series (Batman: Arkham Knight) or the game is just so darn good (The Last of Us Remastered is the only game that fits the bill here for me). It's hard for me to define why certain types of mature content bother me in games, and others do not.

For example, violence, so long as it is not so brutal that it becomes too much, does not really effect my decision all that much. Cursing, on the other hand will ruin a game experience for me. Take The Last of Us Remastered for example. The violence can be pretty intense, but it doesn't really bother me because it is fake; I am not actually killing or hurting anyone. The swearing and constant use of the F word every five seconds is the reason I will never play through the game again (which is sad, because it is one of my favorite games ever made, if not my very favorite). Swearing, unlike violence, is always real, whether I use it, my friends use it, or a video game uses it. I do not use salty language in my personal life and I intentionally do not spend time with people who do (extensively). I just don't like it. I don't really care if it fits in with the setting of the game, or if the average person put in that situation would cuss under the circumstances. I want to connect with my characters. I can connect with Joel and Ellie in The Last of Us most of the time, because I can see myself doing many of the same things in a given situation in order to protect those I love, OR at the very least I can understand why they do what they do (see Ellie's treatment of David). As funny as it sounds, I would not start swearing suddenly if society came crashing down because I do not see a justification for me personally.

Sex in video games is a completely different topic. If you like it, more power to you. Admittedly, I am pretty conservative when it comes to sex in real life. My morals on sexuality probably more closely resemble Leave it to Beaver than they do Melrose Place (couldn't really think of a better example, haha). But every time I have seen the topic broached in a video game it either comes across as very shallow OR very degrading and objectifying.

I am not sure this made any sense whatsoever, but there you go. Hopefully, it explains my POV. I would be happy to learn more about and understand yours.

Writing this post actually helped me I think realize why I can tolerate mature content at times and why I can't at others (even with a single game, such as the Last of Us):

If I were in the person's shoes would I react similarly OR can I at least understand why the character is making the choices that they are? If the answer is yes, then I am okay with it. If the answer is no, then I probably pass.

i dont have any problem with "mature" content. as long as it is done well.

I care about gameplay...so...yeah. Only exception is with games that go overboard with blood and gore. Screw that.

Violence - Usually doesn't bother me unless it goes overboard.

Language - In most cases it doesn't bother me (a few d***, H***, etc. here & there can even make a plot seem more "real"), but I don't it when dialog consists of the F-bomb every 5 seconds. The only time I've ever heard it that much IRL was when I was 14 & my best friend thought it was cool to do so.

Nudity/Sex - Doesn't bother me in the slightest, unless they use racist stereotypes along with it (the whole "once you go black, you never go back" trope, is the most common one).

This goes for all media, & not just games.

Maturity is in the player, not in the game.

It depends on the genre of the MA game. If it's comedy like South Park :TSoT or Deadpool, I like, even if the humor is so far out there to the point I'm not allowed to mention it on this forum. If it's horror/drama/action like Resident Evil, The Last of Us, or others in that part, I'm less likely to get, unless the gameplay is good enough for me to brave through it. I have zero problems with blood, s̶e̶x̶ fan service, language, etc., I just prefer it a certain way.

I don't mind mature content if it adds to the game and not get in the way of gameplay. If done right, it can add an extra layer of depth to the game, but I don't like it so much if they add mature content just for the sake of it.

GTA is a game where I find maturity is done really well. The mature content really makes the characters more dynamic and makes the world come alive.

This is a hilarious comment.
I think the implication is supposed to be that the people like yourself who're upset by words, didn't actually survive for very long. After 20 years of a zombie apocalypse, you'd only find a certain kind of person left alive. People who're upset by swearing were in the first group, along with people who correct your spelling and people who judge you based on your clothing, who were turned on by everyone with any sense
Sorry!

When it comes to explicit content of any sort, I'm open to anything, critical towards everything. To me, the integration of explicit content into a games' atmosphere and context is the only important factor, not wether I like it or not. It has to fit in, otherwise it becomes the games' achilles heel, since shoehorned content always contradicts and drags down the rest of the game.
So, in short: if it's good, I don't care what kind of imagery or theme it is, I'll play it. But if it's bad or forced, screw the game and everyone behind it. Simple as that.

If it's good, it's good. But at the end of the day, more often than not, I prefer when a game (or most stories) don't rely or more importantly, over rely on such elements. Mature content can add a lot to a game or anything, but it's frequently used too much in series that use it. That being said, I feel video games have the advantage in that regard. They don't have to rely so much on every minute being filled with these elements, so you get a break before it's overdone.

I'm always one for variety though. Plenty of M rated games I enjoy. I pretty much had to to get the full Xbox 360 experience, that's for sure.

To me the big problem is that if a series is too dark or mean or serious. The amount of series I enjoy that go all out in any of those elements is INCREDIBLY small. Even stuff like the Walking Dead has SOME levity to it. Any less than that and I'd have no interest.

I'm not particularly bothered by anything that's not forced. Pulp Fiction and The Big Lebowski are a couple of my favorite movies, both of which use the F-word hundreds of times each. It never felt like it wasn't a natural part of the script though. But have ya'll played the DMC reboot? Good Lord.

I'd say the same for violence and sex. I love horror games, though typically games that rely more on atmosphere and use graphic violence sparingly. The Evil Within was way overdone to the point of negatively affecting my enjoyment of it. Other games like Tomb Raider reboot have also gone way over the top and featured a disturbing amount of violence.

And sex and nudity is fine, if the story calls for it. Excessive fanservice is not fine, unless that's the point of the game, like Senran Kagura.

Seeing as I almost exclusively play on Nintendo hardware, this generally isn't a problem for me. The vast majority of so-called "hardcore" games on rival systems do not interest me in the slightest, and those are generally chock full of objectionable content anyway. I adhere to the classifications where children are involved, however.

Violence - Generally no problem with it if it is justified by context and not gratuitous. I'm not a fan of excessive or brutal violence (especially the likes the recent Mortal Kombat games). Games with such explicit and gratuitous displays of disgusting violent acts simply shouldn't be depicted IMO.
Adult themes - Violence that is motivated by prejudice or a false sense of sexual superiority would also stir up feelings of frustration, though confronting themes are generally absent in games. It is very rare that I would avoid a game based on moral grounds, but I will not buy or play The Binding of Isaac due to its crude irreverence of the Abrahamic faiths. I would not however, mind the presence of religious buildings in free roam games so long as players are not given the option to desecrate or destroy them.
Sex - I would much rather do without unnecessary Hollywood-esque sex scenes, or sexual acts that are depicted to catch the audience off-guard. The only franchise that springs to mind where sexual acts are actually justified by context is The Sims. I don't mind fan service, but I do not want hear moaning and grunting in that manner, nor do I want to see it. Most sex scenes are quite repugnant anyway.
Nudity - Meh. I'd rather do without as I wouldn't want to be walked in on during a compromising scene. Most of the time, nudity is only present because they can get away with it. In terms of fan service, I don't mind the Dead or Alive approach as it is mildly sexualised but otherwise devoid of any sexual context whatsoever. Senran Kagura, however, is off-putting and quite unsexy, though I welcome the fact that it is filling a niche.
Language - I usually don't swear myself and would rather it stay out of my games. San Andreas was really off-putting for this reason (not a fan of trashy "hood" culture, sorry). Occasional, conversational profanity is fine though I do not care for any profanities used in a blasphemous manner (e.g. "OMFG"). As long as it's not frequent, I don't particularly mind profanity in games.
Drugs - Doesn't bother me as long as the work as a whole does not glamorise drug use and/or trafficking.

I have no idea why Mortal Kombat is not rated AO.

@SpookyMeths Probably for the same reason certain Gravity Falls episodes never got a higher rating, either: cartoon violence.

Well said.

I think one thing that hasn't been mentioned a lot yet, and a factor that often greatly influences my own feelings on explicit content, is tone. Personally, I'm a lot more apt to gravitate toward a game with explicit themes if it is satirical or tongue-in-cheek — to the point, if it is self-aware. No More Heroes, Bayonetta, MadWorld, the satirical Los Angeles of Grand Theft Auto V — these are all okay with me for that reason. They are smiling behind the curtain.

Games start to repel me when they play uber-violent with a straight face, because frankly, most of them can't pull it off. Someone used the Tomb Raider reboot as an example, and I would absolutely agree. The fact that the audience is supposed to take the extreme violence seriously when it's paired with a sub-Michael-Bay narrative and performed by awkward digital puppets is a hard pill for me to swallow. I find most games that we (maddeningly) label "AAA" to fall into this category — very little self-awareness.

Sex falls victim to the lack of self-awareness even more so. Without opening up the can of worms that is sexual exploitation in video games, I'll say that I can enjoy the cheesecake burlesque show that is Bayonetta or the intentionally ridiculous masturbation jokes in No More Heroes, but I've never seen a straight-faced video game sex scene that doesn't make me cringe. The Witcher 3 is likely the most high-profile example, and watching any sex in that game makes me embarrassed to be alive. The narrative is no worse than a mediocre movie with mediocre sex scenes, but — if I can digress a bit — the technology just isn't there yet. It's still just plain laughable to watch, and that really heightens its lack of necessity.

The same as anything else that can be criticised in a game. If it's bad A.K.A forced and detrimental to the plot or its characters such as Quiet's objectification in MGSV then it deserves it be criticised and hiders my opinion of the game. If it's good then it will do the opposite, a good example is the extreme gore in Dead Space which deserves to be praised, Dead Space would be half as good and satisfying as it ultimately is if the gore was toned-down or the design of the enemies softened. The handling of mature content is undoubtably something that warrants critique, though thank God I'm not one of those people that demands a game to be mature in order for me to enjoy it.

The same reason why movies are never rated NC-17. Stores won't stock them. Theatres won't screen them. It's an incredibly stupid system that defeats the purpose of these ratings existing in the first place. There's a stigma against these particular ratings, for who knows what reason, and so they are almost never used, and in the rare case that they are, you'd bet that the rating will either be appealed, or the film/game will be censored to bring it down one classification level (which usually involves, and rather stupidly, trimming a couple of frames of content, which makes the whole process seem arbitrary and inconsequential to the best interests of the audience). Issuing M and R ratings for extreme content is simply a business decision, because the market is too stupid to embrace additional rating categories that may actually prevent minors from accessing explicit content.

Games such as Mortal Kombat, Grand Theft Auto V and the like SHOULD be rated AO, but they just aren't.

Gameplay first, mature second. Mario doesn't need to go 18+/R with Bowser/Peach relation and Twilight/Witcher triangle with Luigi, or how Wario is darker side of Mario that he doesn't want to admit to or f-bombs (that's up to the player with harder levels), bob-ombs are enough, or reflect on all the voilent kills and massive, vile teabagging on goombas, koopa troopas, para troopas, everybody for his good buddy Yoshi who sacrificed for Mario to jump higher, or toad recraiting that cult fan-favorite classic Otacon scene when he sees bowser and when seeing Mario he says "Princess is another castle"... afterwards going for that controversial gameplay element from GTAV, with Mario being the main goy.
I don't get why people actually want Mario to have "mature" "content", it could end up like a really bad fanfic.

Sometimes, however, violence can add to the gameplay and game, like good ol' Soldier of Fortune, which was pretty avrage shooter, but man that made that game actually stand out as "good". Sometimes violence makes the good game that much better (No More Heroes, while good, censored sucked hard, 2 felt suprerior in every single way), like MGSV. It can get graphic, but also it adds to the story/stakes and it's not for shock value only. I love games with over the top violence, but that violence must have right game and time. To me sometimes makes good game even better or sorta satisfying, like Witcher 3 cutting, Metal Gear Rising crazy slicing with no breaks at all (which is awesome and makes the game all that much greater), GoW3 or especially Ascension (that was brutal) or even Fallouts from Bethesda, when you shoot enemy - it makes you feel powerful.

Point is, when the game is meh, no amount of maturity and F bombs will save it.

I think it's odd that violence and gore is a-okay, but too many f-bombs is a turn off. Seems backwards to me.

I've noticed that religious people have that stance. I grew up in a very religious family, and I was basically allowed to watch violent shows and movies, but if someone swore I had to cover my ears. LOL, so weird. Exposure to violence is far more damaging to one's psyche than some words.