Violence is completely uncensored in videogames... But love is??

[Ascarus]

As per social norms ...

i think you need to put social norms in quotes there.

personally, i feel this country (and it would be the US to which I am referring) is completely bipoloar about sex, sexuality and the like. on the one hand people in this country talk about sex, think about sex, support the sex industry, surf sex sites, and even (gasp!) have sex. but for some reason when sex is thrust (/giggle) into their lives in ways that are "inappropriate" or "unacceptable" some of the more bat-shit insane people in this country use it as an excuse to scream "WILL SOMEONE PLEASE THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN!!?!". invariably that is the foundation of the "argument" and one need only look at the colossal overreaction to janet jackson's "bra malfunction" to see how true that is.

violence is an accepted part of everyday life and entertainment. but it took years for the level of violence now common in film, TV and games to get to such a visceral level. sex in entertainment media is still controversial and in its infancy, with some producers starting to push the boundaries. in time maybe we will see full on sex in computer and video games. who knows? very likely many of us will watch these scenes and wonder (like the pornography of violence that exists in some movies) did it really add anything to the game?

 

[Nikolaz72]

America = violence fine, sex shameful
Japan = sex fine, violence shameful

Not sure which country is somewhat in-between. Maybe Sweden.

Scandinavia follows Americas example. Perhaps you should look in Asia yea?

 

[bushwhacker2k]

People have different values in some countries, for some reason sex is considered to be incredibly inappropriate which is kinda funny since it's pretty necessary for the human race's survival, and on the flip side incredible amounts of death and destruction are passed... hmm, what to make of that..?

It's kinda like what I say: Humans are illogical, example: why do curse words exist if we aren't supposed to say them?

 

[TheBaron87]

Love and sex make life worth living for. It's hard to get people to do what you want when they have their own interests. It's even harder to get them to go into dangerous situations to kill the people you don't like for you so you can take their stuff when they don't find the idea of dying and never seeing their significant others again to be glorious.

Solution? Design your culture to glorify violence and make the most violent people the heroes, guarantee they will get tons of chicks, and then tell them that doing anything natural with said chicks is horrible and evil and degrading and that they will be shunned by society, only allowed back when they prove what great service they are to a country that basically has done nothing to help them except hoarding them from other countries that have less advanced weapons technology and therefore do not control the direction of world politics and can't afford to screw them over as gently as their current country has been since they were born. This service can be either menial labor or murdering that other country's guys so they'll be even LESS equipped to lube up for the sake of their surviving populace.

 

[Enigmers]

The media is anti-life. Killing humans is good, making humans is bad. At least, that's the best I could come up with. Maybe the people who make movies and video games are actually part of a secret alien club that want to slowly kill off the human race.

 

[Jonatron]

Also, given that a lot of gamers are teenager, that could cause some uncomfortable situations for them if they were aroused by video game sex and decided to take matters into their own hands.

You talking literally "into their own hands"? I don't see the point you're making.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Can anyone explain to me why I can openly rip a man's arms off, beat him to death with them, and then smoke crack out of his eye sockets in a video game and have in completely uncensored.... But anything involving the act of live (sex, sexual body parts, even references) is entirely censored out of the game? What sick minded person decided that's how things were gonna go?

God of War games are a perfect example.

/Discuss

You live in America, don't you? Should be used to this by now... And how are God of War games the perfect example? They had nudity... I think Mass Effect 2 or Dragon Age would be a better example...

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Because apparently gore is less traumatizing than sex. I know, I also get that incentive to murder the entire ESRB board but I suppress it by taking a healthy dose of porn every morning and before going to sleep.

 

[Nazz3]

So that people wouldnt get a heartattack for getting overly excited for porn.

Didnt that happen to some woman?

 

[similar.squirrel]

Because sex and nudity are for hippies. Whereas with slaughter, one can always reassure oneself that the fallen foes are dirty Commies. Simple, yes?

 

[veloper]

We don't want our children exposed to sex because we don't want them doing it. Ergo, we want our kids to kill people.

Heh. Pretty close actually.

We know kids already fight in and out of the schoolyard, but we'd really be concearned if they also started fucking eachother.

Violence in games and on tv? It's expected kids are already pretty familiar with the concept, so a little more exposure to violent ideas shouldn't do that much harm.

 

[SelectivelyEvil13]

I won't bother reiterating in-depth the important note that a lot of the perceived public negativity towards sex in general media is just some idiotic status quo; enough people before me have provided ample examples and explanations. The acceptance towards violence can be correlated with many various cultural and historical factors as well.

I have a rather accepting mindset and believe that sex is a perfectly natural part of life. Excessive sheltering of children/society towards anything in the real world just because of some obscure "offensiveness" is detrimental in general and downright impractical in the long term.

However, sometimes there is too much sex in various forms of media, just put in for the sake of having it. Sex is put into everything, and quite frankly, it often shouldn't because it is just silly when done improperly. I'm talking about those sex scenes planted right in the middle of a movie just to say "it has nudity! Woo hoo!" to compensate for a lacking moment in the film, not to advance the characters' or the plot in any way. For video games, I don't mind sex in the least if it has a place and is done tastefully, serving a purpose other than to act as a pathetic draw. For example, randomly fetishsizing a fight scene in Devil May Cry 4. It's not offensive, gross, weird, or what have you, it's just inane and detracts from the experience. I would be fine with this instance as an example if it was not completely shoved into my face while adding absolutely nothing.

I think that is where the line is drawn in one way. When the game is being created, can love and relationships be tactfully incorporated, or is it just going to be a random scene to get a few extra sales for pubescent teens? Then the whole public outcry for some arbitrary reason if sex/relationships/ect. are actually in the game, even if successful, well, that's likely ignorance. See the Fox News vs. Mass Effect (I never played the game, but neither did they!) After that fiasco, Hot Coffee in GTA: SA, and whatever else, the risk of backlash in some way may not be worth it to someone along the game's path towards production.

 

[Samoftherocks]

Can anyone explain to me why I can openly rip a man's arms off, beat him to death with them, and then smoke crack out of his eye sockets in a video game and have in completely uncensored.... But anything involving the act of live (sex, sexual body parts, even references) is entirely censored out of the game? What sick minded person decided that's how things were gonna go?

God of War games are a perfect example.

/Discuss

There is tranny penis in GTA Vice City Stories...no foolin'. I damn near fell out of my chair when I saw it, and there was no hot coffee in play!

EDIT: Or was it GTA 4 - Lost and the Damned?
DOUBLE EDIT: God of War didn't need overt sexuality because introducing the kind of sex Kratos gets down with if his violence level is any indication would be rated:

"Tijuana Donkey Show Rape Basket"

Some things I am happy to pass on witnessing when there are Gorgons to manually decapitate with my bare hands, and eyeballs to tear from the sockets of grabby Cyclops...

 

[zehydra]

Sex != love.

And our society (U.S.) in general is more sensitive to sexuality than violence/gore

 

[RewardMe]

Does anyone remember indigo prophecy? Gawd controlling that sex scene was weird.. and hot.

Spoiler: You mean the bit where...

the main character has turned into a super saiyan zombie and the lady cop decides that the best course of action is to have unprotected sex not ten feet from a gathering of smelly hobo rebels in their smelly hobo disused subway station with the the guy she, until then, had been tracking down to capture/kill and that she knew nothing about except that he was a murderer and a corpse and that has just gotten her partner killed in the course of the fucked up alien/government-conspiracy/psychotic-episodes-of-said-protagonist bull shit?

That sex scene? Come to think of it, I think that may just have been what voided my innocence and made despise humanity at least until the penance that was Heavy Rain. Guess they were right -- sex in games does corrupt the youth, boy howdy!

Haha, i just googled. I can't remember those scenes. The one i'm talking about is when his trying to impress his ex by playing the guitar. If you get the right buttons playing the guitar you end up in bed with her and you control the thrusts he make. I'm pretty sure i heard, though, that it got cut for the american version.

But damn, what's not sexy about the spoiler you mentioned?

 

[T-Bone24]

I guess that I would rather watch two lifeless mannequins fight to the death than get down.

I don't feel that games have progressed far enough to have sex scenes that don't feel shoehorned in just for the sexy.

 

[Bobzer77]

America = violence fine, sex shameful
Japan = sex fine, violence shameful

Not sure which country is somewhat in-between. Maybe Sweden.

And south of Sweden is the Netherlands where everythings fine.

 

[SextusMaximus]

What are we supposed to discuss, exactly?
How we all agree with you? Because that's what most of it is.
And just to play Devil's Advocate, God of War has openly shown women with top nudity.
Just sayin'.

Any sign of vagina, however is completely unnacceptable in games... earns them an AO rating.

 

[Jonluw]

Well, it's not only video games. People are just more disgusted by even the tinyest bits of carnal love than they are by any amount of graphic violence.

Killing eachother is bad, yes, but it isn't taboo, like sex is.

This has probably already been said...