gaming: where should the line be drawn

[veloper]

Aslong as it isn't publicly displayed where you cannot avoid it and the ratings on the box are clear, everything goes in games.

 

[milkkart]

Bah, hemp doesn't count. You can do many things with cannabis besides getting high. =P



*I do not encourage in any way that people try to grow their own cannabis. In some nations it is illegal.

no this is definitely cannabis of the get you high variety, complete with virtual seed banks with many different strains and it has 5 very explicit guides on growing the non-virtual variety included in the help documents.

in all nations actually

actually spain for one decriminalised growing for personal use and im fairly sure there are others though i can't think of them off the top of my head (holland you would think but im not sure how the law regards growing there, decriminalisation leads to odd legeislation).

i do encourage everyone, everywhere to grow their own cannabis!
ROW ROW FIGHT THA POWAH!

you're telling people to break the law, and decriminilized isnt the same as legal. sorry to burst your bubble

fine, even diregarding the many countries where it is decriminalised and therefore de facto legal, it is legal in peru and uraguay and legal to grow but not possess prepared for smoking in romania.
i know im telling people break the law, the illogical, harmful and utterly ridiculous law that's only still in place because politicians would feel silly admiting that the substance they've spent years going apeshit over the use of isn't actually that bad.

 

[Tron-tonian]

Well, seeing as great literature and films already cross this line, I see no reason it can't work in a game.

That being said, it's FAR more difficult to make compelling narrative out of these subjects without being seen as gratuitous than it is to just go for shock value (see also: Manhunt).

So, while I think the issue *could* be handled appropriately, I really think it'll take a ballsy indie developer to craft such a story in a way that isn't just "Kill! Rape! Molest!"

 

[Nieroshai]

The lines draw themselves based on what people do or do not actually want from a game. Also, while his staatistic may be a little too top-of-your-head, did you know that since the creation of DOOM, the male juvenile crime rate has dropped by 73%? It does influence us, but overall does not make us hateful sociopaths as a rule. Of course there are exceptions, like when Superman first came out, one of my grandmother's friends tried to fly from the top of his dad's barn. not a pretty sight.

 

[likalaruku]

I dunno. While I would never hurt an animal or even squish a spider in real life, I do so ad-nausium in games, albiet with inner guilt, though I feel no remorse at all if the apponent is human. It's like movies & books; I love those super taboo gay/stalker/incest/interpecies romaces, but I have no interest in being involved in one. It's the mystery & the tabboo & the alieneness & the fact that you'd never "do that shit" in the real world that makes games compelling. Games should "go there," & break all the rules & cross all the lines.

That's probably why GTA was so popular, & the people who really would do that kind of stuff in the real world would likely find doing same things in a game boring & unthrilling.

 

[blankedboy]

Oh and what games do you think have crossed this line?

One of the FEAR games, forgot which one, with the necrophilia scene at the end.