BabyHeadCrab
The Freeman
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2003
- Messages
- 23
- Reaction score
- 602
Some prefer just a puff of smoke, others full realism, while some people relish in the idea of minor wounds producing copious amounts of blood, sinew, pain animations and bone fragments. Do you prefer hyperbolic violence (SoF II, Manhunt), mild violence indicators (Allied Assault, MW2), silly violence (tf2/Unreal Tournament, etc) or real life simulation style violence? (Rainbow 6: Raven Shield, Ghost Recon, Full Spectrum Warrior).
Consider:
- Modern Warfare 2 is Mature and features very little in terms of blood/violence, it is one of the few games with enough situational criteria to garner an M rating, not to mention the gimmicky play-as-a-terrorist level. Violence and controversy sells--even if it's stupid, tasteless and arbitrary.
- Nudity is hasty to garner M ratings from PEGI/ESRB, while killing/violence, dismemberment and gore is often used as a selling point in games rated 13+ by various ratings boards, (after a while, however, violence produces diminishing sales ala Manhunt 2 / Postal series)... bans and ratings cock-block and cost publishers and developers money as landmark titles miss fiscal years and holiday seasons. AO (ESRB) and 18+ (PEGI) are across the board banned by major publishers, retail outlets and console manufacturers (Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft will not greenlight these games).
- Soldier of Fortune I/II, Jedi Academy/Outcast and Singularity feature entire gore "engines"--a first, thanks to Raven Software
- Video games are seen as one of the most tolerant media outlets when it comes to violence--and one of the least tolerant when it comes to sexuality and nudity.
- Australia, Germany, Brazil and several East Asian nations are particularly cautious about racy games, often banning/censoring or legislating against specific types of games, but lacking the contemporary sense to keep up with newer games. (see my final point)
- In order to publish on the major consoles you must attain the approval of: governing bodies, publishers, the respective console manufacturer (Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Apple, etc), and in many cases PEGI/ESRB (if you want the game to actually sell), this obviously makes it easier to produce violent or highly sexual games for PC, with the openness of versatile digital distribution platforms.
- There's no fully and legally binding U.S. terms of censorship or ratings-criteria by the FCC or any other governing agency, they (the FCC) claim that the ESRB (a privately funded organization, much liked the MPAA is for movies) has performed above average in monitoring what is appropriate for North American consumers.
- Along those lines, none of the media ratings systems are systematically reinforced in the U.S., but rather firmly suggested. It is up to the respective business owners to decide how to reinforce or utilize the ratings systems for any distributable media outlet (state laws are the ones putting employees in jail, or dictating what consumers have access to)--the exceptions here are pornography, libel, slander, extreme gratuitousness and treasonous content.
- Perhaps most importantly; video games are a relatively young industry while the FCC (and it's international equivalents) consist mostly of aging constituents. A new era will produce newer, perhaps harsher regulations for video games.
Consider:
- Modern Warfare 2 is Mature and features very little in terms of blood/violence, it is one of the few games with enough situational criteria to garner an M rating, not to mention the gimmicky play-as-a-terrorist level. Violence and controversy sells--even if it's stupid, tasteless and arbitrary.
- Nudity is hasty to garner M ratings from PEGI/ESRB, while killing/violence, dismemberment and gore is often used as a selling point in games rated 13+ by various ratings boards, (after a while, however, violence produces diminishing sales ala Manhunt 2 / Postal series)... bans and ratings cock-block and cost publishers and developers money as landmark titles miss fiscal years and holiday seasons. AO (ESRB) and 18+ (PEGI) are across the board banned by major publishers, retail outlets and console manufacturers (Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft will not greenlight these games).
- Soldier of Fortune I/II, Jedi Academy/Outcast and Singularity feature entire gore "engines"--a first, thanks to Raven Software
- Video games are seen as one of the most tolerant media outlets when it comes to violence--and one of the least tolerant when it comes to sexuality and nudity.
- Australia, Germany, Brazil and several East Asian nations are particularly cautious about racy games, often banning/censoring or legislating against specific types of games, but lacking the contemporary sense to keep up with newer games. (see my final point)
- In order to publish on the major consoles you must attain the approval of: governing bodies, publishers, the respective console manufacturer (Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Apple, etc), and in many cases PEGI/ESRB (if you want the game to actually sell), this obviously makes it easier to produce violent or highly sexual games for PC, with the openness of versatile digital distribution platforms.
- There's no fully and legally binding U.S. terms of censorship or ratings-criteria by the FCC or any other governing agency, they (the FCC) claim that the ESRB (a privately funded organization, much liked the MPAA is for movies) has performed above average in monitoring what is appropriate for North American consumers.
- Along those lines, none of the media ratings systems are systematically reinforced in the U.S., but rather firmly suggested. It is up to the respective business owners to decide how to reinforce or utilize the ratings systems for any distributable media outlet (state laws are the ones putting employees in jail, or dictating what consumers have access to)--the exceptions here are pornography, libel, slander, extreme gratuitousness and treasonous content.
- Perhaps most importantly; video games are a relatively young industry while the FCC (and it's international equivalents) consist mostly of aging constituents. A new era will produce newer, perhaps harsher regulations for video games.
