Another way to look at censorship

[hyperhammy]

I was just listening to some of Moviebob's older work on youtube, and I thought about something. We're all sick of all these brown military shooters right? Well, wouldn't a ban on extreme gore force developers to think in different directions, instead of better, bloodier, goorier. In my opinion games are toys (can be art) but most of all, they should be FUN! Opinions? Would a ban make developers think in new directions? In my opinion, any becomes better when you put it under restrictions.

 

[Cherry Cola]

... What?

How are the generic brown military shooters extremely gory? Or even slightly gory? And how would a ban of extreme gore change anything?

"Alright fellas, we're not allowed to have extreme gore anymore."

"Should we change everything about the game development business then!?"

"What? No you dumbass, we just take the gore out of our games."

And this theory of yours that restrictions make something better is what I call bullocks. Restrictions make games worse. Publisher's forcing developers to follow a narrow bath in game development, not letting them think outside the box, not letting them bring in unsafe ideas.

 

[HansGruber]

It could work, but a game should never be banned just because the content doesn't appeal to you.

 

[hyperhammy]

... What?

How are the generic brown military shooters extremely gory? Or even slightly gory? And how would a ban of extreme gore change anything?

"Alright fellas, we're not allowed to have extreme gore anymore."

"Should we change everything about the game development business then!?"

"What? No you dumbass, we just take the gore out of our games."

And this theory of yours that restrictions make something better is what I call bullocks. Restrictions make games worse. Publisher's forcing developers to follow a narrow bath in game development, not letting them think outside the box, not letting them bring in unsafe ideas.

Okay, point taken...
Maybe I used the wrong term.
For example Gears of War. It's an average game... only special because of extreme gore, which in my opinion, is total bullshit.

Edit: hey, you used my title suggestion... awesome! =)

 

[Cherry Cola]

... What?

How are the generic brown military shooters extremely gory? Or even slightly gory? And how would a ban of extreme gore change anything?

"Alright fellas, we're not allowed to have extreme gore anymore."

"Should we change everything about the game development business then!?"

"What? No you dumbass, we just take the gore out of our games."

And this theory of yours that restrictions make something better is what I call bullocks. Restrictions make games worse. Publisher's forcing developers to follow a narrow bath in game development, not letting them think outside the box, not letting them bring in unsafe ideas.

Okay, point taken...
Maybe I used the wrong term.
For example Gears of War. It's an average game... only special because of extreme gore, which in my opinion, is total bullshit.

I don't think Gears is so famous because of its gore (though it's probably helping it's fame), as much as it's famous for being a good exclusive third-person shooter that has been given a lot of marketing.

 

[Perhaps]

This is kind of a fail topic, I can't really think of a case that censorship could ever be good in the game industry.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

No. No, no no no.

If by think in new directions you mean go out of buisness and cause an industry crash, then yes, this would work wondefully. The people that make games pretty much stick to one style. They wouldn't say "Well damn, that was an interesting period of artistic freedom, lets completely shift gears and suddenly make wonderful games of genres completely foreign to us." They would either completely give up the profession, or make lots of shitty puzzle or racing games, thus flooding the market even worse.

Or, they'd just make less violent brown military shooters.

And besides, you don't have to play all the brown military shooters. You know that, right? You can completely ignore them. I don't like JRPGs, which there are a lot of. I don't care that there are JRPGs, because others like them and I fucking respect their taste.

 

[Sixties Spidey]

That's fucking retarded. I'm being as blunt as I can when I say this: Restrictions and impositions like censorship only serve to hamper gaming as an art form, and you would have to be fucking stupid to promote it in any other form of media.

Think about it this way: the people that enforce censorship are a bunch of hypocrites because of the things they prioritize trying to censor. Why is it that sexual overtones and even sex as a whole are censored to the fullest, yet KILLING IN COLD BLOOD isn't?

 

[Naheal]

Censorship is a control on information. No. Bad.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Nope, they would just make more.

 

[hyperhammy]

Way to try to justify censorship, or whatever it is you tried to do here.

Let's ban the one thing that this industry doesn't have enough of, that'll make developers more imaginative with their content!

Like I would justify censorship! Move to Germany and then talk to me again.

 

[Kollega]

Censorship might force developers to work in a new and intresting ways in order to sidestep the limitations. But this isn't exactly the best idea: we may get more games with arty graphics (good-looking), but the road for true games-as-an-artform (thought-provoking) would be closed. All in all, harsh or ideologically-loaded censorship is fundamentally bad, even if it has unintended upsides.

 

[Dancingman]

Personally I think people like the ESRB are well-intentioned and right in a few cases (whatever way you cut it I really don't think younger kids should be playing things like Manhunt) but are for the most part puritanical, the idea that true artists who don't fear a dreaded AO rating in the game community are pretty much censored from the rest of society because no store will carry AO games is a disturbing idea.

 

[Ascaryrobot]

Yes, and lose Mortal Kombat, no thanks mate. Censor your own stupid ideas.

 

[ConstantJoe]

I see what you mean, take away the gore gimmick and then gaming companies would be forced to try something new and innovative, but I think Ironic Pirate's right, they'll just go for another surefire selling genre, like racing games.

 

[Harlemura]

Well, we'd probably see more things like Mirror's Edge, but eventually those types of games will seem generic instead of the browny military shooters.
Solving one problem causes another, that kinda thing.

 

[hyperhammy]

snip

Sorry, sorry, I meant promote censorship, not justify it.

And what is this supposed to mean?

Go on youtube and look for: "saints row 2 censored german"
Germany has some of the dumbest censorship ever made.

 

[Baneat]

Mortal Kombat

/thread