We discuss “mature” content on this site. It’s really all this site is about. What I worry we don’t discuss enough is the fact that there are different types of mature content. I’m not talking about the differences between violence and sexuality, but the differences between mature sexuality and immature sexuality or mature violence and immature violence. I’m going to use sexuality as the example for this discussion. Having just finished Duke Nukem Forever last week and since I’m currently playing Fable 2, I am motivated by these games to make it clear that there is a distinct difference in the type and presentation of mature content. It’s important to at least understand the differences, and thus understand why it is so important for parents to get involved in the decision-making process. Let’s first discuss the darker end of the spectrum, the games that I just mentioned. For those of you who haven’t read the review of Duke Nukem Forever (which you should), the basic premise of the game is that Duke Nukem is a satirical view of the stereotypical 80’s action hero. The women of the world all throw themselves at Duke (figuratively and literally). The game is filled with gratuitous nudity and hypersexualization. This game is extremely immature in its presentation of sexuality. Yes, sexuality can be fun (and sometimes amusing), but Duke Nukem is not the kind of game that should be teaching children about sexuality. Fable 2, in some ways, is even worse. We’ll go into it more when we write the review for it, but basically Fable 2 is extremely kid friendly. There’s no blood, the missions are all the kind of stuff you’d expect to find in a fairy tale or fantasy, and even the “scary” moments are somewhat childish. This would have been the kind of game I would highly recommend except for the fact that the player can have sex. The player can invite a good portion of the civilian population in the game, both male and female, back to their house for a romp. Yes, the player can get married and have marital sex, but the player can also have multiple spouses (of either gender) and can have sex with multiple partners at once by simply inviting multiple people back to their place for a good time. These types of sexuality are what I consider “bad” or “inappropriate”. I know there are plenty of people (myself included) that could make an argument that 50% of the sexuality in Duke Nukem was appropriate for who Duke is and what Duke Nukem Forever was meant to be, but Fable 2’s sexuality is completely misplaced and doesn’t teach any sort of respect for the power that is sexuality. There is a plethora of example of games with “mature”, “appropriate” sexuality, but I’m going to specifically discuss Mass Effect. If you watch Fox News frequently, you may be familiar with the sex scene in Mass Effect. Fox News had a segment that absolutely railed Mass Effect and its development company Bioware for a sex scene in the game. The scene would play with whatever romantic partner the player got involved with, even allowing female players to have a same-gender sexual relationship. The difference between Mass Effect and Fable 2 is that Mass Effects sexuality is not an unexpected end. The reality is that when two adults develop a romantic relationship, after a period of time (significantly shortened in the kind of crisis situations that two involved parties find themselves in) the two people usually have sex. It’s another step in the natural course of a romantic relationship. There’s always two questions I ask myself when I review the sexuality in a game. First, is the sexuality “mature”? In this case, I don’t mean the concept of “adult” (as in, it’s only appropriate to be seen by adults), but is it put into a context that is meant to take the responsibility and power associated with sexuality seriously or does it brush it off as something light and frivolous. Second, is the sexuality “appropriate”? In this case, I mean is the sexuality presented in a way that makes sense with the message that the game is trying to communicate or the overall type of game. But as I have said before, my reviews are nothing without parental involvement. It is up to you as parents to decide what is appropriate for your children. If I thought that you would just take our word for it, we’d only ever put up the numbers and ages. We put detailed information with pictures and age ranges so that you can take a look at the game for yourself and decide what your kids should play. We’re not trying to make the decisions, just make them simpler.
1 Comment
8/1/2013 05:01:52 pm
Some games are there which have mature and immature content in it. Let it be mature sexuality and immature sexuality or mature violence and immature violence. In my opinion those game should specify the age group who would play that game and the parents should take ultimate decision on it, what game their children should play or not.
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The Legendary Carmine
Andrew Clayton (a.k.a. The Legendary Carmine) is SSG's Executive Editor. He toils at the stone to make sure this site brings its readers valuable content on a daily basis. Like what we do? Want to see more? Donate to the site using the button below!
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