I found this quote online, and thought it would be a good idea to get the discussion going:

"Am I the only one who thinks it's strange that murdering people with chainsaws, guns, knives and committing mass murder gets a lower rating then something where people are having six? I mean what's up with that? No offense to anyone but don't you have six before you're even allowed to buy a AO rated game or movie? I think most people do. Yet, committing mass murder is seen as less harmful. Weird."

We were far more tolerant of this (In America at least) through the 1970's, and to some extent the early 1980's. What really surprises me in some of those movies, not all of the characters showing nudity were over the age of eighteen, which really shows how much people have changed on this topic. We'd be better off with a happy medium I think, something between what we have now, and what we had then. At the very least, things like physical violence should warrant a higher rating than showing someone's boob. (I'd prefer the actors are all over 18 though.)

Personally I think game-six is a bit weird due to it being pixels and stuff, but it is pretty dumb that [censored] are seen as being oh-so-damaging (see the Mass Effect side boob outrage) compared to people getting their legs blown off and [censored].

AO rating for games? As far as I was aware video games could only have happy bunnies collecting flowers or Mr Huggytime giving everyone cuddles.

While slicing their head off too. Just no bunny boobs, because that's really bad. Slicing heads off is fine though.

Technically, game nudity is no more pixels then porm. Pixels are only a result of the screen, not the game.

I agree in that I wish American had a more European view of six in media, but at the same time I wouldn't buy an AO game simply because owning one is slightly embarrassing with all of its current connotations. Meanwhile murder in games is simply more mainstream.

Yeah but those boobs actually exist. Game ones don't.




This I agree with. You'll get the furries out otherwise.

What I don't understand is why six is vilified at all, in media, let alone more than violence. Seriously, what's up with that? What's wrong with violence, as well? It's somehow bad when someone is below a certain age, then it's fine? Are there are any rational reasons behind such censorship. Is the human mind that easily corrupted and damaged that the world's natural events (such as six and violence) ruin children, or something like that?

I could explain at least somewhat why violence is probably considered less harmful to be exposed to than six, but it's not really something that can be discussed on the forums.

As for the whole idea that six gets AO ratings while violence doesn't, Manhunt 2 proved otherwise.

Could you explain it then? No one has ever came up with a good argument.

You can stray away from politics and religion since they have nothing to do with this, lol.

I'm not entirely sure what an AO rating is (15, maybe?) but I'll agree that it seems a little strange that depictions of violence, killing and so on is acceptable but nudity and swearing aren't. It seems rather inconsistent at best...

Well it's higher than a 18 rating. It basically makes sure games aren't actually sold on shelves and basically "respectable" companies aren't going to stock it all (i.e Walmart)

For starters, I feel that the problem is not that six is over-vilified, but excessive violence is given too much leniency.

Killing and injuring others, as far as I know, isn't a basic human need. It's used to get those needs, but it's a means, not an end. In games and movies, it is used to excite. Sure such excitement can be addictive, but but it doesn't carry the social stigma that sixual stimulation receives. six, on the other hand, tends to arouse, and it's a basic human instinct, so unlike violence, the body naturally desires it. So depictions of six tempts the body more than depiction of violence. And aside from the whole "exposing youth to things they're not ready for" thing that I honestly would rather just avoid, some believe that artificial sixual depictions, as well as artificial sixual stimulations, are morally wrong.

Again, I feel the problem is with going too easy on the violence aspects, rather than going too hard on the six aspects. Violence can arouse some people, it is more much easily imitated by youngsters even if they do understand six, and in reality, it's not nearly as frequently considered acceptable to engage in as six is, even if we go by the most rigid definitions of "acceptable" in our society.

Blimey: I would never have guessed. That does seem rather ludicrous.

Nothing kills a game like an AO rating.

I see. (nothing else I can say)

I think the AO rating is stupid. Plain and simple. I played violent video games, watched violent movies growing up and I haven't killed or hurt anyone. What the hell changed? Everybody is a bunch of [censored]s now. That's what changed.

I bought Red Dead Redemption (the zombie one) for my step-son a month ago. He was with me. The guy behind the counter started telling me that my son wasn't allowed to play it because of the rating. His lecturing me immediately angered me and I began to yell at him.

I DO NOT NEED ANYONE TO TELL ME WHAT I CAN OR CANNOT PLAY OR WHAT MY CHILDREN CAN OR CANNOT PLAY!! THIS SYSTEM NEEDS TO GO AWAY!!

I think everyone understand why violence and six are treated very different in regards to entertainment, even if they refuse to admit it. Anyway, Im all for pormographic games. Wrestling games would be much more entertaining if they featured naked ladies.

It's pretty simple.

The idiots will sort themselves out through trying stupid things from violent games.

Doing the same for sixual content means their genes spread.

As you can see, they're actually looking out for the future of mankind!
:disguise:

At the moment we are more sensitive to sixual acts within games then we are violence due to what we have witnessed. With the advent of film, television, new papers, etc... we have seen horrors of not just war, but gang violence, domestic disputes, and other similarly horrifying events. Right now i'm a very sorry state of a human being because I shudder at the fact of a person hurting a dog/cat or a baby human. However I can watch the news seeing an advlt person (male or female no difference) being decapitated, disemboweled, and whatever horrors you can think of without even shuttering at the fact it happened.

Concerning sixual acts it's still a bit of a taboo with nudity just now being somewhat acceptable in video games. This is mostly due to movies where T&A material will get a PG-13 rating yet full frontal nudity deserves a strict R rating. Over time I think stuff that happened in that Hot Coffee mod scandal will become the norm in games.

If Witcher 2 (For its six) isn't AO, and God of War and Dead Space are not AO (For their extreme violence), then I have to wonder why the AO rating even exists. It seems just about any level of violence and sixual content as explicit as softcoe porm is okay, so why not just have a separate rating for hardcoe porm games (S for six..Or UB for Ugly Bumping)? :shrug:

I mean, when you take the phrase itself, advlt Oriented, it's a rather broad term that should cover far more than it does, but Mature is much more common by a landslide, even though it's got roughly the same general meaning behind it: Made for advlts. Besides, what's one year difference gonna make? Most teenagers of 17 years not only have extensive sixual knowledge, but a lot have first-hand experience as well.

I too yell at people in shops for following company policy by warning people about age ratings.

All very good points. There is also the psychological factor how a person perceives their own sixuality. The classic example of the person who has their first experience while near a pile of garbage, if their subsequent experiences are also in close proximity to garbage than you might end up with a person who is only aroused by garbage. This could cause major problems later in life. This is why pormography is restricted from children, because it takes six out of its natural context and replaces it with another. The younger the mind that is exposed the more damaging it can be. Violence on the other hand can be contained in media as a catharsis. You learn that it is acceptable only within certain settings, be it a movie, a game or a boxing ring. You may safely go to these place to express feelings of hostility, so long as it stays there.

I think it was more the "Your son isn't allowed to play this" than "The ESRB recommends you do not allow your son to play this".