A Question For Americans - What Is Your Perception Of "Adults Only" Games?

[tthor]

i dont no much about AO games,(since ive nvr even seen a game rated AO before in my life) i guess id consider a game that was bad enough to be rated AO to probably contain a lot of nudity, sex, or such a large amount of blood, gore and violence, that even a serial killer might be disgusted by the game

tho i dont no much about adult games, i do no a little bout Mature rating.
Mature is meant to say that a game:
"may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language."
and that they are not suitable for ppl under the age of 17
(this isn't a law or anything, but still some game stores advertise that they will not sell M games to some1 under 17 without an adult)
even tho these games are 'supposedly' meant for ppl older than 17, practically all teenagers play these games often (perfect example: Grand Theft Auto)

 

[tthor]

I think any ESRB ratings are ludicrous and pointless for two reasons (both of which have already been brought up):

1. Nobody abides by them. I regularly see 8 year old kids playing M rated games and watching R rated movies. Many of them get the game as a present from their parents and their parents don't even know what the game is about. It's amazing to see the first time a parent sees their young child playing GTA. "Wow, that's really violent. And hookers? That's awful. Why do you play that game?" And yet, they bought the damn game for them and they continue to let them play it!

2. They are completely arbitrary. Pretending to be an American soldier shooting Iraqis, with spurting blood and flying body parts and agonizing death throws is okay, but hinting at sex isn't? The worst violence imaginable earns you an M rating but even mild nudity gives you an AO?

Ratings aren't there to keep content of "questionable morality" away from kids -- they are there to inform parents so that they don't unwittingly give or allow their children to see/hear things that they don't feel are appropriate. If nobody pays attention to them and they are assigned arbitrarily, then they aren't even useful for their sole purpose.

you are exactly right, i dont think you could say it any better.

 

[greygelgoog]

On the topic of why Americans view sex as evil but violence is great, I should point you to the concept of "the myth of redemptive violence." This claims that societies tends towards the violent because our mythology and entertainment is generally dominated by the idea that the best way to solve a problem is to kill the problematic person. I don't wholly subscribe to this idea because our friends in Europe seem to be moving in the right direction, but we Americans view them as a bunch of pansies who would rather do wicked things like have sex with girls than engage in some wholesome head-stomping. I haven't done any authoritative study, but I can't think of of any culturally pervasive story about redemptive sexuality (actually, I can, but they mostly involve rape and that's just more violence. And they're not that culturally pervasive).

 

[Sylocat]

The problem is that there are no Adult Only games that I know of that aren't sexually pornographic.

That's because sexual content is the only thing that ever gets rated AO (or the equivalent) in this uptight country. Ever see This Film is Not Yet Rated? One of the greatest movies ever made, and it deals excellently with this exact issue.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

To be honest I think video game ratings are pointless.

...

I think that parents should take a more active role in what their children do for fun and if the media would pull their heads out of their arces and take an informed stand on whats going on there would be less need for ratings. If Jimmy the impressionable 7 year old farts for brains wants to get Bloody Manslaughter: Return of the Hatchet Killer thats fine by me, chances are he'll just have a few nightmares and that'll be his lesson learned. And if his idiot parents didn't check the content of the game thats their own stupid fault.

If more parents took the same approach to raising their kids as mine raised me, as in letting me do whatever the fuck I wanted as long as I didn't permanently injure myself or hurt/harm anyone else or other peoples stuff, the world would be a generally better place.

this is true but when you have parents that are shocked a game called GRAND THEFT AUTO or DOOM has lots of violence in them means you need ratings

and what's worse is the excuse they use of "i don't know video games" it's like telling a cop "i can't be blamed for running over that kid cause i don't know cars" it's a lack of personal responsibility.

With regards to the ratings system for Canada and the USA, us Canadians really get boned on games.

For MOVIES, what the US calls "R" is often only 14A up here. For Canadian 18A, a movie has to be pretty high on the US "R" end of things. And Canadian "R" rating is when a movie is typically censored for US audiences. We get some pretty wicked shit for movies. Now GAMES, we just follow along with the US system, meaning games that wouldn't even rate as "14A" as a movie in Canada tend to be "AO".

yeah we're a bit more liberal up here, we know that flashing a set of boobies won't bring down civilization and that violence is a bit worse

Supposedly the X rating was retired because it had built up a mystique, and was also assigned to films that weren't inclined to show nudity so much as adult (thought provoking).
You might find This Film Is Not Yet Rated fun to watch.

actually i have watched it, it's very good. i love the part where they compare films showing ones that got a nc-17 and ones that are r rated and usually it involves male vs females, such as american beauty with kevin spacey masturbating in the shower, r rated, forget the film name but it has a female rubbing herself over her clothing and it got a nc-17 rating

the x rating was retired/disused because of a lack of trademark, that why you see porn films with XXX "raitings" on the box. here's the wikipedia link on it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_ratings#Others

 

[000Ronald]

What do I think of "Adult Only" Games?

Hmm...

What is there to think?

I think that if sexual or violent content fit into the context of the game, then it shouldn't be chastised for including that.

I think that if a game has anything that doesn't fit into it's content, then it should be chastised for that.

I think that too many people make too big a deal about it, and some companies advertise it too heavily (I'm lookin' at you, Rockstar).

I think that if a game is fun and I like it, then I don't care what it's rated.

I think that everything I just said has been said much better by much more intelligent people than myself, and apologize for adding nothing to the conversation.

 

[drumboi88]

Ratings are pointless, to no end. The MPAA ratings have been out since movies were actually long enough to be considered a form of "art". I don't remember the exact date the MPAA formed, but it's undoubtedly on wiki. Apparently though, the MPAA standards have been revised on several occasions, due to the "change in society morals", in which kids have been more accustomed to seeing another kid get his ass kicked or something of the sort ("Superbad" and "Drillbit Taylor" to name a few). Even worse for the MPAA is, they can rate a movie all they want, but it isn't going to prevent a kid under 13 to be able to see an R film, or even an NC-17. Most movie theatres possibly won't care.

The video game ratings are just as pointless. A store can post up signage about ratings for games at every glass window and cover up almost every square inch of the display, but that isn't going to prevent 8 y/o Jimmy from getting GTA:IV on his birthday from his parents. Parents don't care about the rating, all they care is "My kid wants it, and I have to satisfy them." I worked at Target during christmas in the video game section, and never did I get the question of "is this game 'ok' for my kid?" There was about 4 or 5 signs hanging near the display cases that explained it all, and no one payed mind to it. A 12 y/o actually came in to by Call of Duty 4, and before I opened the case, I asked him for his driver's license (knowing full well he doesn't even carry one). The kid gave me a blank stare like I was asking him in another language, and I pointed to the ratings board.

Two news stories I have heard recently about parental "control" made me laugh about the whole parenting subject. One was about a 7 y/o carjacking his grandmas SUV and joyriding it to Wal-Mart and Costco, only because he was mad at his mom for some reason or other. The kid never said he saw it somewhere, but the media immediately inferred that this kid saw it in a video game (he said that for punishment, it should have been a weekend without video games). The second was about a mother who was angry at Apple for selling a product that did not fully describe it's capabilities. Apparently, she wanted to buy her 11 y/o son an iPod Touch for christmas, and after the purchase she realized the thing didn't "come with a parental control feature for the internet." Angry that Apple could inevitably be selling porn to kids, she attempted to sue Apple. The file was turned down, because Apple was not forced to write down EVERY incapability about the product, but if there was the capability of parental block, it would have been listed as a feature.

Although that was a bit off topic, point was: Ratings = NI (Not Important).

Read the back of the box if you care so badly.

 

[Tigerzed]

I know that here in my home state (where strip clubs allow full nudity, and you can be .0001 inch from the stage) that "adult" content in video games refers to sexual content. My 9 year old nephew can go to the store and buy GTA:4 but he oh my god he may see a breast, we can't sell that here. It seems slightly silly that in a state where we have a city with alledgedly more strip clubs per capita than any city in the US (Portland, OR here's a link to some http://www.barflymag.com/features/SZ.htm) and have a porn shop every 25 blocks, that people assume kids aren't already seeing nudity on a fairly regular basis. But because video games are "for children" it's wrong to have nudity.

 

[sma_warrior]

When someone says "Adults Only" to you in a video game context, what do you think of?

Grand Theft Auto 4 lol

Yesterday as I was picking up my copy woman came into the store with 4 kids, 3 boys all under 8 and a daughter around the same age and she had to check with the KIDS to find out what Grand Theft Auto 4 was called.... I mean, come on, 8!!! year olds should not be playing this game. (Coincidently, this is a major reason why an R18+ rating here in Aus would go well - it would help stop this whole anger thing about young kids playing excessively violent/sex/drug type games - NO WAY would that mum but GTA4 if it had a black R18+ sticker on it instead of red MA15+)

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Maddox says it better than I do [http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=ticket_to_hell]

 

[stompy]

I think that parents should take a more active role in what their children do for fun and if the media would pull their heads out of their arces and take an informed stand on whats going on there would be less need for ratings. If Jimmy the impressionable 7 year old farts for brains wants to get Bloody Manslaughter: Return of the Hatchet Killer thats fine by me, chances are he'll just have a few nightmares and that'll be his lesson learned. And if his idiot parents didn't check the content of the game thats their own stupid fault.

Unfortunately, regardless of Jimmy's parents, even if they are the worst parents in the world, if Jimmy commits an illegal act, the parents will cry foul on video games, even if Jimmy was a retard. And the media will further perpetrate it. Regardless of how bad the parents are, video games will always get the blame by the media. 'Cept in Australia, where they seem to get the idea Mature=For 15+.

As for AO, it's got content not suitable for children, and teenagers. Most likely sex.

 

[iamnotincompliance]

OK, here comes a train wreck of knowledge for everyone outside the US (and in)...

...Video games are this ages rock and roll and the media will keep blowing AO and M rated games out of proportion just as they blew up Elvis Presley waggling his hips. I think it's a shame but until people get their heads out of their bums we will have to deal with it here in America and fight for our right to game.

Well, that saves me from having to rant. America, in general, needs to relax. It seems Canada, Australia, and most of Europe need to relax too, but I'm invested in loosening up America since I live there. The world will be a better place when everyone learns to chill the fuck out.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Why should someone have to be 18 to see sexual content?

that's a tough one but i'll say cause more depictions of sex in the media are less than safe.

Now I took sex ed in school, they began with it in grade 5... So what, around 10 or 11 years old... If at 11 years old, most children are assumed to be mature enough to learn about sex, then WHY in the seventh layer of VG Hell do we expect kids to wait until 18 to see anything sexual?

actually it's more of a thing that your mind is becoming wired for sex around that age, before 10-12 you can look at a woman's boobs and go "yeah so" but around that age and a bit older you're more along the lines of "ooooh boobies me want"

also before that age most ppl think members of the opposite sex are icky

 

[Anarchemitis]

I'm not really sure why we're focusing on a rating that out of a multi-thousand game industry, only 25 games have.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Because we'd like to see some AO titles of decent quality and not simply smut content
Because we have nothing else to do while we wait for work to end
and Because its always time to talk about boobies.

i second that motion

i wouldn't mind seeing some decently AO games, not porn but just some good games aimed specifically at adults

the issue is stores like gamestop/ebgames, walmart, bestbuy/futureshop and such won't stock AO games mostly because of parents complaining their kid is playing a game they shouldn't but come on you bought them a game called "GRAND THEFT AUTO" what do you think they'd do in it walk old ladies across the street while farting rainbows and sneezing pixie dust?

maybe if obama gets into power he'll fix it a bit, ppl attack him for his "stance" on video games but he's not blaming them, he's saying parents aren't doing the job they should, it's just video games is in the sentence he's saying.