Why are all the good games rated "M"?

[Eggsnham]

It should be obvious to all that what you're oversimplifying as "blood" is gore, overt sexuality, possibly even rape and war crimes. Oh - and lots and lots of murder. I really have no problem with parents wanting to keep their 11- and 12-year-olds away from this stuff, but the 17+ rating seems a bit stiff. Again, I think that should be obvious to all, and I suspect it is - even to the opportunistic lawmakers who introduced the idea in the first place (*cough*Leiberman*cough*Tipper Gore).

However, there are plenty of games with a T or E rating that are fantastic, and if it truly is the flying limbs and polygonal titties that attract you to a game, I would (gently) call into question your own maturity.

No, I don't love gore and I don't find polygonal titties attractive, but games like say, BF:BC2 which looks like a potential CoD killer (t'will be awesome, methinks), the only reason (that I know of) that it's rated "M" is because of blood. I think that's going to upset a lot of fans of the original who are restricted by parents and people fearing psychopathic children. Like I said, most games worth playing are rated "M".

I suppose by CoD you mean Call of Duty. So what the fuck is BCTS:#*&2? "BattleFront:Because I Can 2?" I'm confused. If the game to which you're referring is anything like Call of Duty, then it must contain some of the following: burning people alive, terrorism, nuclear explosions, mines and explosives that blow people apart, and other realistic war situations. "Blood," once again, does not begin to cover it.

I mean, really, if your parents have any say in what you're playing/watching/listening to (aside from pornography), either they're VERY christian or simply out of the norm, or you're 12 or 13 in which case, again, I think it is within their moral (as well as legal) right. If you're 15 or 16, I can't see a lot of parental interference here, unless they've recently attended some seminar for crazy religious zealots. I mean, when I was in the single digits my parents went to meetings wherein they "learned" that everything from He-Man to Cabbage Patch kids were satanic (that's satanic in the literal way, btw, not simply an expression of it being bad or a distraction). By the time I was a teen, my Mom could care less what games I played and what movies I watched as long as I wasn't downloading porn via AOL on our Windows 95-enabled P 60. And you, sonny, are too young to know what that is (consider yourself lucky). Now if you'll excuse me, the missus and I have some whittlin' to do.

Lol, sorry BF:BC2 is Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and it will probably involve guns and explosives with just blood. No dismemberment, no maiming, no burning. Just blood. And explosives. I'm 15 by the way, at the age where parents could care less about things I watch, it's been like that since 12 actually. My parents are pretty far from religion whores actually, my mom is very loosely Christian and my dad is agnostic. Anyways, enjoy your whittlin'.

 

[PinkAngelKitty]

Because apparently your idea of a good game has the following criteria:

MATURE
Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.

 

[DeathChairOfHell]

because those who decides it are p*ssies.

 

[LWS666]

just wanted to point out, a study showed that too much gore/blood can take away from the experiance. especialy if it involves puzzle solving.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

First of all, not all good games are rated M. there are a fair amount of great E and T games.

To answer your questation, think about it like this: you have to make a slidshoe explaing the plot of the halo series in detial to a group of childern between the ages of 4 and 7, with thier parents in the room. You'd have to cut out half the content due to it beniing "inapropriate". less ristrictions, better game.

 

[Godhead]

KOTOR.

/thread

 

[Bilbo536]

Actually, I'd argue the opposite. M rated games focus so much on being 'hardcore' that they put more effort into blood and gore effects than into gameplay. The best games are the games that put focus into gameplay, plots, and environments (Cutscenes can go fuck themselves). See, M rated games use lines such as "OMG look at teh graphics/blood/pysics engine!' and tend to lose their glory after a few months of being released as people realize they aren't as good as they were hyped up to believe, and that the game exists only as a dull and empty shell for a new ragdoll effect or graphics engine. This is why games such as Zelda, Metroid, and Mario are so universally loved, even after 30 or so years of games. They focused on gameplay, and try to bring creative ideas and gameplay mechanics into their sequels, unlike pretentious M rated FPS's nowadays, whose idea of a sequel is making a pretty new batch of cutscenes, adding a new gun and possibly, if you're lucky, a new enemy type.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Spyro, Mario, Portal, Metroid, Final Fantasy, Pokemon... Honestly, I still don't see why Halo was rated M. Think it was just to sell it better, because some study showed that M rated games DO sell better.

 

[BloodyThoughts]

Because, In T games, there are more restrictions to what you can and can't do. But in M games, most of them say "heres a gun, go batshit crazy".

 

[Goldeneye103X2]

Now here's an interesting little thing I have to say......

Why do the media, politicians, and everyone else want to "protect" kids from mature subjects.

I mean, If had a kid, I wouldn't show him SAW or GTA at a very young age, but I think that its important to expose your child to mature things, it helps him grow up mentally. I mean, if we constantly hid violence, sex and drugs from our kids, then they would shit themselves if they then saw it properly at a later age. I mean, in this day and age, they'll eventually find out one way or another probably before the age of 10, even 5, if they're Unlucky(or lucky) enough. Ratings nowadays are sort of pointless, and the media and politicians are actually damaging their young.

 

[Smagmuck_]

It's a conspiracy... -_-'

 

[Small Waves]

I personally think that Mature rated games care more about being "edgy" and controversial than about actual game play. I constantly hear about how bloody/violent M-rated games are, but seldom see the game play itself being discussed, such as missions or levels being fun and/or challenging, the best way to complete a goal, or the most fun thing to do (outside of cheats involving unlimited ammo or anything else that makes it impossible to lose such as invincibility). Despite all of the praise GTA: SA got back in the days, I don't remember a single instance of anyone talking about the missions outside of "Mission X is so hard". It was either complaining about the harsh difficulty spikes or how controversial the game itself was.

 

[health-bar]

there are plenty of good games that aren't 'M'

but probably the best reason that a lot are 'M' is that they are portraying some gritty realism.
plus if you shoot/kill anything resembling a human it's automatically a 'T'. just add some gore or dying screams of pain and you just bumped it up a step

 

[Fearzone]

Good for your parents, and they are not. The only time the "M" rating benefits a game is when there is a lot of blood and gore.

This is a "grass is always greener" issue.

 

[neoman10]

If it is rated M it mean it was made with less restrictions. Less restrictions means more fun.

nothing is real, everything is permitted

 

[Daffy F]

Bah, there is no 'M' in this country, although the age rating applies in generally the same way.

 

[Initial J]

The N64 begs to differ.
Oh, you can go further back but I think you get my point.

N64 would like to introduce you to Conker's Bad Fur Day and Perfect Dark.

But seriously, this:

If it is rated M it mean it was made with less restrictions. Less restrictions means more fun.

There are lots of good games that aren't rated M but as you grow older your taste grows too and you start to find M rated material more entertaining (and make it your standard where you compare everything else).
I personally love games with dark and unnerving atmosphere but you can't really find that in games that aren't rated M (or if you do then they're are pretty half-assed when compared to games with rating M, which have less restrictions = more fun, like stated above).

 

[Eggsnham]

Good for your parents, and they are not. The only time the "M" rating benefits a game is when there is a lot of blood and gore.

This is a "grass is always greener" issue.

Wait, good for my parents what? I'm not being restricted, not since 12 years old. My parents understand that I'm not going to shoot up a school because I saw someone die in a videogame. If that was what you were getting at.

 

[Sulu]

There was a post a couple days ago about some kid getting in the age old ratings argument with his mom that got me wondering. Why are all the games worth playing rated "M"? This was a ***** to me a few years ago when both of my parents had the strict "No mature games in this house, no exceptions!" rule (turns out there was an exception, putting up a well organized argument apparently means I've matured, needless to say, I WTF'd and ran with it) but it was annoying as hell when a game that half of my friends wanted to play with me was rated "M". It seems to me that the line between "T" and "M" is blood, why?

What are your thoughts on this (keep in mind though, that if you're not going to contribute to any conversation, then please don't post at all)?

Nobody likes children. You will realise this when you are of adult age. The restrictions are there to try and stop kids ruining online play in games such as the Call of Duty series. Unfortunately you find ways to bypass the ploy and spoil it anyway.