Topic: Why overly gruesome, sexual, or profane aspects of games aren't needed.

To all the people that say there is no place for sex, violence or bad language in games, do you feel the same about films and books? One thing I've never understood is the stigma of an AO rating in the US. Here in the UK, we have a number of age ratings for media, and they are all intended to be used. 18 is the highest and gets used a lot, but if something gets the highest rating in the US, it's not carried by big name stores. Why is that? Why has a whole culture decided that something only for adults is something bad?

@Peach64 Well Ao games are usually bad as in... not well made. I've seen a list of every single Ao game in existence (it's a rather short list; only 30 or so), and most, if not all, were really badly made, not worth playing by any standards.

@Gioku but wait..... you're under 18 aren't you? ¬¬

@GuSilverFlame I didn't say I played any of them, I've just seen a list of them.

@Gioku: Don't ditched it until you play it.

To be honest, I having fun playing Grand Theft Auto 3 since I love driving taxi to make money.

I think the matter is how the sex/violence/mature themes/etc. are addressed. Take an Alfred Hitchcock movie, obviously back in the 1960's society, & overall culture here in the States was starting to lose that reserved nature, but tv was still under stricter guidelines, than today. Anyway, in a Hitchcock film, generally there would be no actual gore due to this. However, it was always implied through the other atmosphere elements of the program(tense music, dialog, ominous shadows/etc.). More, or less, today sex, gore, & all the rest are mostly thrown in people's faces. Back then, the audiences were accustomed to actually knowing what was going on from atmosphere/environment elements, & also the scenes, themselves.

My whole point is, there are mature ways to handle most subject matter, like sex, violence, & so on. I think the problem is modern presentation throws it right in the face of the audience, to the point it can get over the top. Modern audiences today, do not need to think, b/c it is thrown right at us.

Edit: Mature themes do not need to be gratuitously thrown in the face of the audience, b/c the audience should be intelligent enough to be able to comprehend what is going on. I will say, however, sometimes such themes will have to be shown, but mostly I feel modern media gratuitously throws it in the face of the audience.

These are my opinions, at least, so please understand that I am not trying to push them on anyone.

@Peach64 I hold books and movies to the same standards. The only way books are different is that the level of graphicness is different when you just say, blow someone's head open, versus actually seeing. Though that still is holding books to the same standards. I'll give an example to explain what I mean. In Arkham City, they might talk about how they killed someone by putting them in a meat grinder or something like that (not sure if they actually said that, but it's just an example off the top of my head to get the point across), but it's not as bad since they didn't actually show it.

@Gioku That's a good point. I've not seen the games so can't comment, but don't you think the idea that the ratings board has a certification for adults only, and it's generally accepted nobody will use it? I know GTA: San Andreas had to get taken off the shelves over there because it still contained a sex scene (even though you couldn't actually access it). Movies and books feature sex all the time, and it really bugs me that if it's in a game then it's deemed unacceptable. I can sort of see why people think this way, as games took off being made for kids, so people still have this idea in their head that every game has to be something that can be seen by a kid.

I'm going quite off-topic here, but the difference in the ratings systems between countries also leads to other kinds of issues. In the US, companies make their games and their movies to either fit the PG-13, or 17, I think? I know there are others, but I'm just gonna focus on those two. In the UK, we use 12, 15 and 18. So something gets made in the US to pass for the 17 rating, and then it comes over here and the ratings board take and look say, well, this isn't suitable for 15 year olds, so we'll give it an 18 rating. Those US companies see 18 as the same as your AO rating, and don't want it getting that, because they think it will hurt sales, so instead they cut their game/film to fit the 15 rating. We in the UK end up with something then being cut/censored, not because our ratings board are more strict, but just because the two rating systems are out of alignment (they'd almost surely agree it's fine for 17 year olds too, but we just don't have that rating). I really wish in this age when media is so global, that people could get together and decide to adopt the same kind of scale to cut out these kind of situations.

@Peach64: Trying using this to support or debunk your idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_picture_rating_system

Canadian rating are not that strict at all.

@Peach64 yes, I agree fully. What I'm saying is that everything in the Ao rating is crap anyway, so not much to get worried about there. If we were somehow missing out on something, I might not be as happy about it, but as is I don't care too much.

But the movies thing, yes, I agree fully.

@Peach64 100% agree on the movie comment I still remember the Spiderman debacle well.

So should porn not exist in video form? Or adults can watch it, they just can't take part in an interactive process?

I agree about the rape part

Porn shouldn't exist period. It serves no good purpose.

As for my 2 cents, ultra-violent/sexualized style over substance annoys me. When they explore the topics (The walking dead game, zero escape, Catherine, persona 4, TLOU etc) , and don't just show them off to get sales and cause controversy like 90% of the market, it can be very interesting. Banning all the violent games, or censoring them, does nothing.
Oh, and Spec Ops the Line is a must for anyone interested realistic portrayal of violence in games. It is very confronting, but so powerful and meaningful.

Come on people. These things exist. You shouldn't feel judged for enjoying something. You shouldn't stop others from enjoying things they like. If you don't like something then don't watch/play/participant in it. If you want to ban something others enjoy then think about if something you enjoy was banned. If you don't like Anime then don't watch it. You don't have to ban others from enjoying it.

Overly sensitive people just need avoid mature rated games.

Maybe it shouldn't exist, but it will exist. You can stop it, it's just going to happen. At least it's more natural than violence. Of course 'natural' is maybe not the right word; but more along the lines of you are built to have sex, maybe not built to be violent.

While on that topic, I strongly feel that if a man exposes himself long enough to enough of porn, it will negatively affect a man's view of women.

Edit: I am not banning anything from anyone, though. If people like porn, don't let me stop you from watching it. Again, I'm not a judge. I'm just making a statement about my opinion. Again though, please be aware I am not judging anyone. You like something, fine. You don't. That's fine, too. I am not a judge.

I think it should also be noted that there is science to back up why it's a bad idea. And that also includes that it can be a very addictive substance.