According to the Escapist Skyrim has already been rated by the ESRB as a mature game.
Here is a link to the news-page: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113129-Slow-Mo-Decapitations-Earn-Skyrim-an-M-Rating

So what you guys think? Are we finally... Free of boundaries?

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1231544-some-news-fron-esrb/page__st__140

*Insert ageist comment here*

Not a surprise...

Doesn't really mean a thing.

Bethesda's always said that they're designing the game they wanted, and would let the rating fall out where it would. :shrug:



Only poor design teams with no real plans, integrity, or dignity would do something like "Oh, it's M rated! Quick, we can add cursing, nudity, and gore now!"

This doesn't change anything. Bethesda is making the game they want to make regardless.

:ninja: 'd

No quality game company will ever make an AO game. advlts Only would limit the retailers that would take it on the shelves, so it's never boundary free..


It was always assumed that Skyrim would be an M game, that's what Bethesda makes. Their target audience isn't young people.

Very true. It's good to hear they weren't forced to cut anything either (the other end of that spectrum I think; where they cut stuff to please the raters).

+1

I have heard that most US retailers won't stock AO rated games but have never understood the reasoning behind it. I mean advlts Only is 18+, correct? In the UK our highest rating is also 18, yet almost all places that sell games sell all of the ratings categories. It doesn't make even the slightest bit of sense to me...

EDIT: Isn't the M category 17+ ? It seems very strange that one year's difference would put retailers off so much. Having thought about it, it sounds like pandering to whining "pressure groups" to me...

Beth have said themselves that they never aim for a particular rating, they just make the game they want to and leave it to the rating thingies to rate as they feel fit.

This! :goodjob:

It probably earned some of its M rating with the 1-handed perk that allows you to decapitate. I think there's one also for 2-handed.

Because it doesn't. American and by extension Canadian parents/parent groups have sticks up their asses. As cliché as it is to bring up, they're all afraid of another columbine. Heaven forbid someone have six in a video game, or have violence that's too graphic.


The ESRB 17+ is nonsense as well, at most retailers these days you have to be 18+ in order to buy those Mature games.

It's an issue of public perception. The "AO" rating is considered by many to = porm. And there's a big social stigma against porm videogames.

(There's similar problems with the NC-17 movie rating. The rating agency came up with it so they could have an "advlt" rating above R, for controversial/deep/whatever stuff that was truly only for advlts, without having to use the X rating.... but it backfired. People still considered "advlts only" to mean six, and the vast majority of movie theaters and media stores refused to stock anything NC-17 rated.)


What it comes down to is that the M game rating, and the R movie rating, are the highest socially acceptable & usable ratings in the US. Anything higher than that, and no mainstream chains will touch it with a ten foot pole. So, no-one bothers with the higher ratings, except for people trying to push buttons or make six stuff. Which only reinforces the perception. :shrug: