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Socoder -> Question of the Day -> QOTD : Adult Only

Sat, 23 Jun 2007, 04:47
Jayenkai
Given all the hoopla going on in the press over Manhunt 2, and it's Adult Only rating, do you think game developers should be allowed to make games that are for Adults Only?

Personally, I think that if a rating is there, then it might as well be used. Allowing an Adult Only rating means you can get away with more realistic violence and all manner of blood and gore in your game. Carmageddon with Zombie Green blood sticks in my mind as a game that needed an AO rating.

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''Load, Next List!''
Sat, 23 Jun 2007, 05:09
power mousey

yes.

But with an option for less blood and gore
or none at all. Just like in the options menu
of games such as Fallout 1 and Fallout 2.

Look at a lot of these slasher horror
and sci-fi flicks. John Carpenters' remake of the Thing
and starring Kurt Russell. It had minimal blood and gore.
But the story and plot was so good it left me both pyschologically cold and scared.
Also, the low budget sci-fi thriller flick Wizard of Mars.
And starring John Carradine. A few deaths..but no blood and gore. Actually educational too. Told a lot about the planet Mars too.

But back onto games....how about some action shooters
and/or RPG's where you carry and use phasers and/or lasers and the Tesla death beams are so intense and extremely heated where bodies just dissolve digitally.
You hear screams and cries...but thats about it.

Or even, you see the person's or characters's skeleton and then dissolve. I think this will help with the blood and gore issue.


happy particle charged beams,

power mousey
Sat, 23 Jun 2007, 09:44
JL235
The problem with the rating system is that it is not kept to by the general public as strictly as with films. Many parents complain their kids play games which are too violent, when they themselves are the ones who have bought them. In many ways though, games are not as shocking as films due to the more unrealistic medium.

The shock value of Mortal Kombat's excessively bloody fatalities and the ability to kill a low polygon modal after receiving sex (GTA 3) does not compare to the accurate portrayal of the holocaust in Shindler's List or the removal of a few feet in Audition.

But it so much the content which gives shock value. The rape scene in Irreversible is arguably one of the most shocking scenes ever, yet in . However what makes it so shocking is not so much the content but how it is shot, with a single camera in one take in a real location. It is the fact it seems to realistic which makes it ever more shocking, but also the application of 'less is more'. As is so common in shocking films, the fact the scene is not perfectly seen through close-ups and cuts helps to add to the effect.

As second example; the autopsy of the little girl in Sympathy for Mr Vengeance isn't very nice to watch, yet we see nothing. Only the view on her fathers face as he watches and we only hear it commencing. Again less is more.

So how does this relate to games? I cannot think of a single game which applies the same level of cinematography with the visuals of it's gameplay, as found in films. With cut-scenes there are plenty of examples, but not in-game. That's the main reason games are almost entirely not scary or shocking (the only exception I can think of being Project Zero).

The real problem with Manhunt though isn't the violence, it's that its such a terrible game. If the media hadn't of given it such a large amount of coverage it would have been a flop.

Finally, Night Trap (which I believe was very controversial in the US) is pretty comical now, and a very fun game. Mortal Kombat is still really violent, but so unrealistic I see it now the same way I did back when I playing it on the Mega Drive. Bloody and fun yes, but not shocking at all.
Sat, 23 Jun 2007, 12:49
magicman
Yes, of course developers should be allowed to make AO games! I really would prefer if the AO rating didn't exist though, it dosent really need to seeing as how we already have M and the only difference between the two is that M you have to be 17 and AO you have to be 18. and i think anyone should be able to go into a store and buy an AO game, even kids! I think it should be up to the parents to judge weather a game is ok for their child, not a bunch of angry people in a room. of course kids would just hide the offinsive games from their parents so they dont know they have them, but that happens anyways. to much bloody censorship.

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Stuff... Yeah...
Sat, 23 Jun 2007, 13:45
power mousey
scary!? Diablo.

ever seen or played Sanitarium?

www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/sanitarium/index.html

and also Planescape Torment by Interplay too.
now that was truly scary and bizzare.

But, with an added note that a game is usually made
to be played for more than an hour or two...days,weeks, months, and over time with your handy dandy menu options and save and load games too.
So, eventually you will get used to the initial shock and scare factor of the game. Still be surpised and shocked at times. Yet, you will get used to it as you continue the play of the game.

But here is a scary end to this.

The Hauntening!



View on YouTube




Fri, 13 Jul 2007, 16:15
dna
What does the 'Rug Burn' imply?
Fri, 13 Jul 2007, 16:21
Jayenkai
That someone has been given a rug as a gift from a loved one, but doesn't like it. They'd be willing to set the house on fire and destroy the rug, rather than either leave the rug on display, or have to explain to the loved one that they don't like it..

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Fri, 13 Jul 2007, 16:26
HoboBen
As far as independent or small developers are concerned, you don't need an official rating for your game as far as age restriction goes. Because of the lack of realism, "90% of all titles released on to the market are exempt from legal classification." Source

Though, with the PS3/Xbox360/1 GB graphics cards out, that may change.

Still though, you'd have to be quite explicit to deserve a rating. To stay-safe, you could just warn on the packaging something like "A few swear words. References to alcohol or drugs" if you needed to. TIGRS rating system is a cool do-it-yourself easy way to generate something like that.

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