AO is 18+ am I correct? Perhaps in other countries it would be 19 or 21 but as far as I know 18 is advlt. 18 is only 1 year beyond the M ratings 17. I do agree however that some games do get away with far too much under the mature label.

No, there's a real taboo over it there. Hell, you can't even say "hell" on TV there.


To be honest, I think AO is just their way of making a game impossible to sell, whereas over here, the BBFC would just ban the game.

That doesn't make any sense at all.

For me it's not about protecting the children, it's what makes a game enjoyable. If something is full of sixual content and gore, I will not like it (speaking as a 35 year old) Oblivion was great, Morrowind was great, Final Fantasy is great, Dragon Quest is great, World of warcraft is good, COD is good, Diablo is great, starcraft is great, fable is good, KOTOR was great, lots and lots of good and great games have been made without a need for things like that, I'll stand by some gore and nudity have their place (when mentioning nudity I do mean nothing pormographic), but should not be a theme for the whole game.

Daggerfall was full of sixual content and gore, and it was still awesome.

Well too much gore and sixual content in the wrong places is bad indeed. I myself don′t feel like it′s needed. But when it′s done right it can do a lot of good. 100% excluding that is wrong and the usual reason is "the children".

Some movies were able to get around this silliness by releasing Unrated Directors Cuts and Unrated Straight to Video. I would think that with the availability of digital distribution that there could be Unrated games as well.

There is. It's called AO.

The only game I've seen get close to AO for violence was Manhunt 2.

I have honestly never seen an AO rated game. I even looked it up online. Why would companies make an AO rated game if it is just going to kill the game? Doesn't make sense.

The company who makes the game doesn't decide the rating.

This subject comes up again and again and again. Myself, I don't want six and extreme gore in my games, I can watch movies or read books for that. :shrug:

I don't see anything wrong with AO rated games (if it's not my cup of tea, I just won't buy it), but reading what people have said about American stores not stocking them, I can see the problem. I did watch This Film is not yet Rated, and it seemed ridiculous how they gauged the acceptability of the material (esp. when they did the splitscreen of two practically identical scenes, however only one film got the Rating of Death). Is it the same body who judges games as well then? But then I suppose someone needs to asses the rating, and it's their job, so you've got to tow the line.
I'm not worried about Skyrim ending up with an AO rating though - just can't see it happening.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhunt_2#Development_and_censorship They were only able to release as a heavily censored version, which ended up being probably less gruesome than the first.


As was mentioned, the developers aren't the ones who rate it, and ratings aren't a precise thing. There are of course many violent games out there not rating AO, and it's the behind-the-curtain judgement of several people's opinion whether one crosses the line. Two extra-violent games may have only one get the AO rating, because its content happens to specifically offend one of those judges. The companies have no control over this, they just deliver it and hope it doesn't get an AO.

simple, stores wont sell them and the game companies cant make a buck off of it.


come to think of it, where can we get advlts only games (besides first runs and un-patched) ? i know they are out there.

Online shopping.

In America, the ESRB rates video games, and the MPAA rates movies. Both entities are not associated with the government, but are industry created bodies. Their ratings do NOT carry the force of law.

About AO ratings, very few games have ever gotten an AO rating. only 21 games have earned and kept their rating, while around 8 additional games were either threatened with, or given an AO rating only to lose it later because offending content was removed.

Video games are a media like everything else. Why should they be held at a different standard than writing or film?




(Not directed at you phlooph)Anyways, being a US citizen I find it apalling that people in this country will spout horrible things about something sixual(which in and of itself could be about love or pleasure) but wouldn't bat an eyebrow to someone getting murdered gruesomely with a baseball bat and a belt sander on a cop television series or what not.

Just goes to show you this country is full of people grown up to hate on things that have been morally distorted.

The "problem" with AO rated games is that, by simple statistics, they do not sell as well as M rated games here in the United States. Stores won't sell them because selling advlt-only material ruins their reputation with outspoken individuals (typically mothers of young children). It's a simple cycle, really - one that is held in place by the values of individuals who would object to having AO rated games sold in the same store as Spongebob Squarepants DVDs. It would turn into an instant boycott - and while in theory any publicity is good publicity, stores like Walmart and Kmart don't see it that way.

Also, what people seem to be forgetting, is that the current ESRB system in the United States is a much better system than what we would have gotten if the government had decided to rate games instead of allowing the industry to self-rate games. It would put the rule of law behind every game rating and would also be heavily politicized (even more so than it is now).

nothing. if your an advlt then you have nothing to worry about. if your a kid then its up to your parents what you get i guess. Imo unless its explicity pormo graphic basicly an indepth snuff game there is no reason to block any commercial product (gaming wise) from younger gamers. but there isn't really an issue with AO because it is so rare and like i already said it only affects very few people.

I play video games to escape from the real world. six is everywhere, magazines, t.v., internet, books, etc. I'm not a prude, I would just like to play games without having six a part of it. :shrug: If and when it becomes acceptable in games, I will stop buying games, it's that simple.

:shrug:

Good luck with that. Will be a hard search.

But the industry still 1) really needs those rating systems, and 2) needs to make sure they're followed. Because, otherwise (as mentioned), those wacky "moral majority" folks and Congresscritters looking for good PR issues will raise a huge outcry and legislate a system that's much, much more flawed.

Ratings are a joke.

The main two factors that matter with a child and games are:

1) If they are disciplined enough to know when to put the game down and focus on more important things like school work, a job, and/or chores. (I've seen kids throw huge tantrums over this, even in their teens)

2) If they can handle fantasy vs. reality, which inevitably comes to them early on with children's programming using fantasy cartoon characters and muppets.

If #1 and #2 are present in a kid, especially my own, I would let them play GTA4 or RE5 or Oblivion or Skyrim or any game that would currently get an AO rating at the age of six.

The rating of a game is an opinion of a board members of people that deal with their ratings based on a reaction from parents who don't understand principles of parenthood and want some agency or big government to do the dirty work for them. The ability of a child to deal with something is what an individual parent who pays attention to their kid figures out as time goes on, generally sooner than later.

Oh well. :shrug:

I like shrugging.

:shrug: