Will we ever see an A.O game with mature storytelling ?

[Ground0]

I just finished playing this visual novel Kana little sister.. well yeah its a hentai 18+ novel but it surprisingly uses its AO rating to actually tell us a good mature story.

So when will we actually see microsoft&sony allowing AO games to be made for their consoles ? i mean what's the big deal about AO games ?

Why is A.O rating so taboo ?

 

[TheIceQueen]

Kana Little Sister doesn't have an ESRB rating, so it thus doesn't have an AO rating.

It's not one of the thirty-two games that have an AO rating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AO-rated_products

Besides, it's just an eroge visual novel. No offense, but I just don't think hentai has any place on consoles. Nor will Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo ever let them be on their console.

Hey, it's cool if you like sex and hentai and eroge stuff, I do, too. It's even cool when some of them know how to really hit the feels where they can be hurt, but those companies just don't want to associate with them and with good reason. Retailers don't carry AO rated games because they know there'd be huge backlash.

 

[Ground0]

Kana Little Sister doesn't have an ESRB rating, so it thus doesn't have an AO rating.

It's not one of the thirty-two games that have an AO rating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AO-rated_products

Besides, it's just an eroge visual novel. No offense, but I just don't think hentai has any place on consoles. Nor will Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo ever let them be on their console.

Hey, it's cool if you like sex and hentai and eroge stuff, I do, too. It's even cool when some of them know how to really hit the feels where they can be hurt, but those companies just don't want to associate with them and with good reason. Retailers don't carry AO rated games because they know there'd be huge backlash.

You actually missed my entire point..and i think visual novels are considered as video games right ?

I don't care about hentai or eroge they're dime a dozen.. i just want more mature storytelling in video games with issues and themes that are considered taboo in society and that's only possible with an A.O rating.

I can find movies which clearly addresses them like A clockwork orange.. Now i'd fu*king love to play a game like that but will a video game be ever made which has balls to tackle themes and serious issues like that ??


Will we ?

 

[NoMercy Rider]

It's not that developers don't have the courage to make games that have very mature themes, it's that there wouldn't be a single large retailer in the US (or maybe even the EU) that will sell the title in their stores. Sure, I'm sure there will be some specialty retailers that will sell an AO title, but when you have freakin' HUGE retailers like Wal-Mart or Amazon that simply refuse to sell the game, yeah, that is pretty much financial suicide.

 

[TheIceQueen]

Kana Little Sister doesn't have an ESRB rating, so it thus doesn't have an AO rating.

It's not one of the thirty-two games that have an AO rating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AO-rated_products

Besides, it's just an eroge visual novel. No offense, but I just don't think hentai has any place on consoles. Nor will Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo ever let them be on their console.

Hey, it's cool if you like sex and hentai and eroge stuff, I do, too. It's even cool when some of them know how to really hit the feels where they can be hurt, but those companies just don't want to associate with them and with good reason. Retailers don't carry AO rated games because they know there'd be huge backlash.

You actually missed my entire point..and i think visual novels are considered as video games right ?

I don't care about hentai or eroge.. i just want more mature storytelling in video games with issues and themes that are considered taboo in society.

I can find movies which clearly addresses them like A clockwork orange.. Now i'd fu*king love to play a game like that but will a video game be ever made which has balls to tackle themes and serious issues like that ??


Will we ?

Yes, there is mature story-telling in games and if I missed your point, it's because you didn't exactly form a coherent one. First you pointed towards an eroge visual novel, that doesn't have an AO rating might I remind you, and said that it's using its nonexistant AO rating to tell a mature story. Then, you go on to ask why Microsoft and Sony don't bother to let AO games on their consoles. Form a coherent thought before accusing others of missing your point.

Now, once again, your game does not have an AO rating. It does not have a rating and so it cannot use its rating to tell a mature story line, which plenty of games have done with an M rating as it is.

Besides, visual novels are about as much of a video game as a game entirely consisting of nothing but cutscenes and QTEs would be a game.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I doubt it. AO rating means adults only, which shut offs a sizeable chunk of the consumer demographic. While we can hope for more "mature" storytelling, whatever that means, the AO rating wouldn't be a very profitable thing.

 

[AD-Stu]

I suppose it depends what you mean by "mature" storytelling - but I don't think you necessarily need an AO/18+ rating to do it.

Looking at the list of games linked above, I see pretty much every single one of them is AO because of its visual content - blood or nudity or whatever (and the one that's only there because of gambling... WTF is that about?!?). I don't think I've actually played any of the games on the list, so forgive me if I'm making incorrect assumptions, but I'm guessing that most of them (GTA and maybe Leisure Suit Larry aside) probably don't bother much with story at all. That's not to say that AO games couldn't have great mature stories, it's just saying that story doesn't seem to be what they're designed for. It doesn't seem to be what their audience wants and values.

To address the flipside, there's also no reason you couldn't address "mature" themes in a story while at the same time dialling that visual content down just a little to slip under an AO rating. And I'd argue there are plenty of games that have already done it: Spec Ops: The Line, Heavy Rain, etc.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I imagine it will only be a matter of time before we do see AO titles emerge. They won't likely be for consoles until they have proven themselves to a point where console makers can't deny their level of success due to fear of being left behind.

I really have no idea what exactly the games will be, or what sort of time frame we're talking about, but I can't see it not happening sooner or later.

 

[Ground0]

Yes, there is mature story-telling in games and if I missed your point

Yeah let me elaborate on that by "mature" i also meant more options for developers to take the tone of the game... usually they're restricted to M or 16+ something rating which barres out sizable amount of unconventional ideas.

>that doesn't have an AO rating might I remind you
I know it isn't i'm just using it as an example how an AO game could be.
>you go on to ask why Microsoft and Sony don't bother to let AO games on their consoles
I was just curious about it.
Besides, visual novels are about as much of a video game as a game entirely consisting of nothing but cutscenes and QTEs would be a game.
Actually that is kinda true about games these days all you do is press some buttons walk in a highly linear path and trigger a cutscene and then repeat the process till you're done.. not really a big difference if you ask me.

To address the flipside, there's also no reason you couldn't address "mature" themes in a story while at the same time dialling that visual content down just a little to slip under an AO rating. And I'd argue there are plenty of games that have already done it: Spec Ops: The Line, Heavy Rain, etc.

Yeah and also Deux ex human revolution too...they all have mature storylines true but i'm still wondering what could developers come up with if they were allowed to have more artistic freedom.

 

[AD-Stu]

Yeah and also Deux ex human revolution too...they all have mature storylines true but i'm still wondering what could developers come up with if they were allowed to have more freedom.

I see what you're getting at - but there's a difference between the freedom to explore all sorts of mature themes in a story, and the freedom to show violence and nudity and drug use on the screen. All the developers need to do is be a little bit smart about it and they can cover pretty much any topic in an non-AO rated game. It might lack some of the gory visual detail, but if what you're after is story, then is that really a problem?

 

[Ground0]

might lack some of the gory visual detail, but if what you're after is story, then is that really a problem

So you're saying that any type of story can be accepted as long as its not graphical ? any type of unconventional out of box idea ?

Well i guess that's kinda neat but i can't help but think of an AO rated version of silent hill and the narratives it can have with those themes and how deep it can be with them.

I really think that silent hill can be even better if gets AO rating.

 

[Ender910_v1legacy]

Certainly not in the mainstream gaming market no. The rating is quintessential to fiscal suicide for any developer or publisher.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Wait, haven't there already been hundreds of "adults only" games on consoles over the year? Games not meant for children?
I mean, GTA5 has full on torture.

Or are we just talking grapic sex here?

 

[Amaror]

I am not from america, so what does the A.O rating actually mean?
18+? Because there's allready tons of that around. Or is that M rating? Is A.O that weird 21 Age, that America seems to like so much?

 

[Raine_sage]

I am not from america, so what does the A.O rating actually mean?
18+? Because there's allready tons of that around. Or is that M rating? Is A.O that weird 21 Age, that America seems to like so much?

I'm a little fuzzy on it myself but the distinction seems to be in the material shown.

So for example a game like the witcher can show full frontal nudity and be rated M so long as it shows no actual sex.

For example here is the full esrb summary of what makes the game M rated.

Spoiler: Rating Summary:

This is a role-playing game in which players assume the role of Geralt, a monster slayer who must hunt down an assassin to clear his own name. As players complete quests, they use swords and magic spells to kill enemy soldiers and fantastical creatures (e.g., specters, harpies, spider-like monsters) in melee-style combat; attacks are often accompanied by slashing sounds and screams of pain. Blood-splatter effects occur when enemies are hit, and damage sometimes results in dismemberment or decapitation?blood stains and body parts occasionally appear in the environment. Other cutscenes depict gore and more intense acts of violence: a close-up view of a severed head; a restrained woman's eyes getting gouged out (off-screen); a character being castrated (not depicted) before his throat is slit. During the course of the game, some female characters are depicted topless; there is also a fleeting image of pubic hair as a woman dives into the water. Players can initiate brief cutscene sequences that depict varying degrees of sexual activity: a topless woman rocking on top of man; a man caressing a woman's back; a man pushing up against a woman's posterior?sexual moaning sounds can be heard, though the camera cuts away from explicit sexual acts. Some sequences depict a cocaine-like substance being cut into lines; another scene shows a man's back as he snorts the substance. Language such as 'f**k,' 'sh*t,' and 'c*nt' can be heard in the dialogue.

So basically nothing you wouldn't find in an R rated film (For comparison a clockwork Orange was rated R not N-17)

For something to get an AO or NC-17 rating they have to be pretty much straight up porn. Full view penetration and everything. So I'm confused as to how that rating would allow for better stories. It's enough for me to know two characters boned. I'm not sure seeing them bone in graphic detail would add anything to the experience.

 

[Alfador_VII]

If there ever was to be a game that had even more "mature" story telling than current M/18+ rated games it would not be on any console.

There's no way Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo would allow those games on their platforms.

It would basically be PC only, and download only as shops wouldn't carry it. I'm not even sure if you could get it onto a major distribution platform like Steam.

So marketing and selling it would be extremely difficult. Also if the game hadn't been rated with the EBRB or PEGI or equivalent you could easily run into legal problems trying to sell it in some countries at all.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

I get what you mean, but I just dont think an AO rating is necessary at all, I mean as long as the writing is good you can explore everything you could possibly want in an R16 rating

 

[Murais]

I would much rather see a game that tackles sexuality in a mature and thorough fashion. Sexuality/sex is virtually the only thing that gets a game on an AO list these days, and I think that sexual themes and concepts can be discussed/portrayed safely at an M rating without gratuitous sex scenes.

It's a slippery slope argument, however. The kinds of sex scenes we see in your average R-rated Hollywood film are an instant AO in the realm of games. But it's not really the content of a sex scene that is relevant, but rather what that sex scene is meant to say, and what the emotional ties of that bit of storytelling are. I think this double-standard is just a small bit of a very large portion of reasons that sex in video games is still a tad on the silly and pandering side.

Like a few users have already said, however, barring that exploration of sexuality and sexual themes, you have very little use for an AO rating other than gratuitous scenes of sex or violence. It's the same reason you don't see NC-17 films too much-- for the most part, it's not really necessary.