Poll: Maturity Filter?

[Gigano]

...
Well you don't have to exclude stuff like that completely. That would obviously not work.

As ChildofGallifrey put it so well: "What if I'm interested in a M/Pegi 18/R 18+ game, but would rather do away with the excess"

A goo example in that is DA:O it not only has a violence filter it also has a good one. Namely it lets you regulate the amount of blood you would like to see. No gameplay effect and no impact on the general feel and style of the game.

Well, I'm pretty sure that has some impact on how battles are viewed; are you a bruised and bloody warrior who've just violently taken the lives of your enemies, or are you a pristine hero who've just felled a few fleshless foes with your unblemished sword?

But yeah, it's probably pretty minor in regard to all the other elements.

And on the whole sex in games aspect I have to say that while I can sometimes have fun in playing out the prefixed romances in games like Mass Effec or Dragonage I am always alinated if I have to watch the act itself. On the one hand it is, in my opinon at least, a mood spoling profanity to have to watch two lumps of pixes hump up and down. On the other hand it evokes no passion or emotion whatsoever. That would have to come from the depth of character anyway.

Or can you seriously give me an example game/scene that deals with sexuality and would loose it's storytelling or charactershaping value if the sexuality where not shown?

Right here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.135672-Neutral-Drow-reviews-A-Drug-That-Makes-You-Dream].

Sex - and how it's gone about - is used to great effect in establishing character dynamics and personality in that one. Well, most of the time anyway. An all-ages version would essentially be meaningless with that one, as it would butcher this key element in character interaction (as well as making a few plot points considerably harder to explain, and precluding the often less forced "show; don't tell" way of going about doing so).

To make this clear with my DA:O example, would the character romance(es) become less believable if they showed you the characters steping up to each other (or the bed) with clear intent and then, instead of showing you the act or a semblance of it just blend and jump to the pillow talk afterwards?

This is what such a filter should be about. Not censorship, but adjusting the content to your personal taste.

Implied sexuality or violence can be just as effective at storytelling than directly voyeuristic acts, if not more so.

Apart from this not always being possible to implement in all plots and character dynamics - though obviously people who for some strange reason have a problem with sex, sexuality, and the dynamics linked to them wouldn't be likely to seek out stories where such are key elements anyway - there'd always be the lingering fear that some other aspects of the game world were tweaked as well. Either to cater to this newfound puritanical customer segment, or to make them more neutral (i.e. bland) in regard to fitting in with the different tones of the game depending on the level of brutality and consequence one's actions are shown to have.

Hence I prefer more specialized offering for each group rather than an attempt to cater to as far and wide an audience as possible, with the playing-it-safe blandness that tend to entail; God of War and Barbie's Horse Adventure works fine as seperate products extremely different in tone and target demographic, whereas God of Barbie's Warhorse just ain't doing it for anyone.

So give the people what they want; But give it to them in smaller, more specialized packages rather than painting with broad strokes, ultimately facilitating either a piece with some severe tonal disharmony, or quite a monotone melody.

 

[Seishiroa]

Right here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.135672-Neutral-Drow-reviews-A-Drug-That-Makes-You-Dream].

Sex - and how it's gone about - is used to great effect in establishing character dynamics and personality in that one. Well, most of the time anyway. An all-ages version would essentially be meaningless with that one, as it would butcher this key element in character interaction (as well as making a few plot points considerably harder to explain, and precluding the often less forced "show; don't tell" way of going about doing so).

Oh, well. You got me with that one.
Still I don't know if this is really the kind of game I would bog down with a maturity yes/no filter. Much better to have a futunari yes/no filter on that one, would it not?
(no I did not play through it to see if there is any)

(...)

Hence I prefer more specialized offering for each group rather than an attempt to cater to as far and wide an audience as possible, with the playing-it-safe blandness that tend to entail; God of War and Barbie's Horse Adventure works fine as seperate products extremely different in tone and target demographic, whereas God of Barbie's Warhorse just ain't doing it for anyone.

So give the people what they want; But give it to them in smaller, more specialized packages rather than painting with broad strokes, ultimately facilitating either a piece with some severe tonal disharmony, or quite a monotone melody.

While I think it would be quiet a hillarious experiment to have a "God of Barbie's Warhorse" I have to agree it is not a good idea.

And while I would imideately sign up to have more specialized packages we sadly have to realise that is not where the money is. At least not if we expect a semblance of quality.
Sadly the big money is made with the big bland mainstream stuff that appeals to millions and this is the stuff I would like to come with such a filter.

And to set this straight: I do not belive it possible, or sane for that matter, to filter some essential part of a game. Such a filter should be used to make minor aspects of a game customizable.

Neither am I advocating all age versions of anything. Some topics just shouldn't be trusted to minors to handle responsible. Say for example a game that deals with genocide or racism. While it does not neccesarily have to show the acts to the mature player, it is inherently unsiutable for children.

 

[JWRosser]

No.


I love gore in games - to an extent. If it goes with the game, like Gears or Mortal Kombat or something, then keep it! If a game is going to be semi realistic, when someone is shot, blood must appear!

Just give games a semi-filter like Serious Sam does, and change all the blood to rainbows or candy or flowers.

As for sex, if it's necessary then leave it in. Come on, it's 2011 - I'm sure people nowadays don't just see sex in games (or any other form of media) and go "gosh, how vile! What perverts!" No, sex is part of life and it happens. Deal with it. As long as it's handled maturely (unless you're playing a game like Saints Row, but that's a different kettle of fish all together).

If you begin to filter stuff out of the game it loses part of it's uniqueness and just becomes another hollowed shell of something that could have been.

 

[John the Gamer]

Well the first game I played that had this was the origional Soldier of Fortune. The parental controls allowed you to take all gore out of it(no blood, wounds, decapitations etc) Whilst soldier of fortune is an hugely gory game, with intestines and brains flying all over the place with everything off.

Spoiler: This is the normal game(warning, gore)

I couldn't find an image with gore turned off, but imagine that picture without blood, and all wounds are white dents on the body - as if you bended transparant plastic? It tends to get white around the bend? - Well it would look somewhat like that.

 

[Shymer]

I think Brutal Legend did this brilliantly. During the opening cutscene, the game pauses to check whether you're OK with bad language and, separately, gore. I was playing, but my boys were in the same room as me - and so it was a relief for me to be able to toggle them.

When they were in bed, asleep, I could release the filters and experience the game 'as nature intended'. Certificates on games don't offer that flexibility. I simply have to stop playing the game I want to when my boys are at home - and that's just a wee bit irritating.

 

[therandombear]

*reads previous posts*

Gears of War 2 had filter?....Where? I can't seem to find that option..out of curiosity.

OT: Nope...the age limit on the cover of the box should be filter enough for people.

 

[Gigano]

...

Oh, well. You got me with that one.
Still I don't know if this is really the kind of game I would bog down with a maturity yes/no filter. Much better to have a futunari yes/no filter on that one, would it not?
(no I did not play through it to see if there is any)

There isn't.

...though I doubt such filter would be of much use anyway, as that kind of strange niche porn wouldn't be too likely to appear in anything that had serious artistic merit to it, and was thus worth playing regardless for those who didn't actively seek the stuff out. Though I suppose there will always be exceptions.

While I think it would be quiet a hillarious experiment to have a "God of Barbie's Warhorse" I have to agree it is not a good idea.

And while I would imideately sign up to have more specialized packages we sadly have to realise that is not where the money is. At least not if we expect a semblance of quality.
Sadly the big money is made with the big bland mainstream stuff that appeals to millions and this is the stuff I would like to come with such a filter.

...so it can be made even more inoffensively bland?

And to set this straight: I do not belive it possible, or sane for that matter, to filter some essential part of a game. Such a filter should be used to make minor aspects of a game customizable.

But what is essential to a gaming experience isn't really set in stone. It's quite subjective, and it's bound to target something somebody will find to be key element. To a very committed RPG player a blood filter determining whether his character is covered in blood and grime through his adventure or remain entirely and unnaturally pristine - and whether or not other characters react differently to this, or if the game world fits with a grimy or pristine character - might well be quite significant.

It's hard to start chipping into an artistic vision and know whether you're altering something essential or not. Marketing guys shouldn't do brain surgery, and they shouldn't alter the artistic expression of a game, because they don't know jack shit about either.

Neither am I advocating all age versions of anything. Some topics just shouldn't be trusted to minors to handle responsible. Say for example a game that deals with genocide or racism. While it does not neccesarily have to show the acts to the mature player, it is inherently unsiutable for children.

Well, I for one am not sure a 16 year old is better off by not being confronted with the fact that racism exist, and what consequences it might have for innocent others. It's usually more about how a theme is handled than about the theme itself.

But yeah, obviously some games can show things unsuitable for anyone who isn't an adult.

 

[Seishiroa]

...so it can be made even more inoffensively bland?

Not nesscesarily, as you pointed out yourself with your bloody - pristine PC comparison. It can (if skillfully applied) actually create more depht for the player.

But of course this does not work with every game concept out there. It would however be nice to see this potential explored.

Well, I for one am not sure a 16 year old is better off by not being confronted with the fact that racism exist, and what consequences it might have for innocent others. It's usually more about how a theme is handled than about the theme itself.

Of course the way any topic is approached can make a huge difference. So yes you can make a game that tackles those issues for 16 year olds. When I said kids I was thinking more like 8-12.
In the end it would of course be ideal if the parents where responsible and knowing enough but thats a little too optimistic to hope for.

And even if they are, such filters could be usefull as Shymer pointed out.

I think Brutal Legend did this brilliantly. During the opening cutscene, the game pauses to check whether you're OK with bad language and, separately, gore. I was playing, but my boys were in the same room as me - and so it was a relief for me to be able to toggle them.

When they were in bed, asleep, I could release the filters and experience the game 'as nature intended'. Certificates on games don't offer that flexibility. I simply have to stop playing the game I want to when my boys are at home - and that's just a wee bit irritating.

 

[Nimcha]

Old idea, and bad idea. That means instead of actually creating good content or polishing the games, someone on the dev team has to sort through all the game's content to create these filters. Waste of time and money IMO.

False.

I added ONE line to my fallout.ini file and it removed ALL of the bloodsprays, dismemberments, and gore from combat.

You added one line. The programmers had to add quite a few more.

Stupid idea. There's already age restrictions.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

Old idea, and bad idea. That means instead of actually creating good content or polishing the games, someone on the dev team has to sort through all the game's content to create these filters. Waste of time and money IMO.

never thought from this exact angle before, and it is true...

Except it's not. See post 10.

oh how i knew you would do that, i almost editted just to avoid having to do this, but i was hoping you would be lazy instead of adamant as fuck.

i know some coding, i have seen people do it on the job, i personally know people who do it, and yes i understand it really doesn't take that much to do it, but regardless of that, it still takes time, and you picked the near one game that is completely in your favore, fallout 3, as it has next to zero cutscenes (really i don't remember a single cutscene), most games have lots of custcenes/extras involved which would go for even more coding involved there

but really i am not gonna sit here and argue this ridiculously small point to death, so when you respond back with your high and mighty response as to why i am wrong, dont expect a response back beyond a troll reply

Eh? The effort spent is so incredibly marginal, and yet it could easily boost revenue. For one thing, there's plenty of kids that can't play m games but want to. If there was a filter, then they could buy and play them. Also, more options is always a good thing, and if a game is made on such a shoe string budget and so rushed that they don't have time to do something do simple, then it probably sucks.

 

[Biodeamon]

Boooooooo!

terrible idea. The moment you start censoring stuff it's a slippery slope into becoming a nation of sissies

 

[lacktheknack]

Old idea, and bad idea. That means instead of actually creating good content or polishing the games, someone on the dev team has to sort through all the game's content to create these filters. Waste of time and money IMO.

False.

I added ONE line to my fallout.ini file and it removed ALL of the bloodsprays, dismemberments, and gore from combat.

You added one line. The programmers had to add quite a few more.

Stupid idea. There's already age restrictions.

You're right... they had to classify the combat blood and dismemberment as separate "Gore" and then place both "Gore"s under class "AllGore". You know, what they were doing as the programmed the delicious blood physics for use in modding and such. (Basically, for each effect, they added a line, and then one subroutine total for ease-of-modding. At least, that's what I think is most likely.)

Then, I type in the ini under the General section,

bDisableAllGore=1

And because programming languages are nice, no further action is needed.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

There is already a content filter for every game released. Here it is:

Do ESRB still use the K-A ratings anymore?

 

[The_Graff]

if you dont want your kid exposed to that sort of thing why are you buying them the game in the first place?

 

[ChildofGallifrey]

There is already a content filter for every game released. Here it is:

Do ESRB still use the K-A ratings anymore?

Not since the late 90's. It was replaced by the E and E 10+ ratings. That's probably why it's smaller and at the end.

 

[FalloutJack]

No, that's a terrible idea. You know very well that everybody would be out to break said filter and then companies would raise a shit over it, causing ANOTHER long-ass woe-tide of legal battles and probably more shit-head hackers who try to 'take them down'. Very bad idea.

 

[evilneko]

Filters are pointless because parents won't use them. They don't even pay attention to the rating, what makes anyone think they'll actually fire up a game to turn the filter on and password it?

OT: holy crap a recaptcha I can read on the first try.