Indeed. I sure wouldn't buy it because I've just got no interest in it and not because I care if they make them. There is no law against an AO rating, there just isn't enough gamers wanting it to make it a profitable business. :shrug:

I've never even seen a XXXX Game store.

There is no law mandating that games must be rated. However, retailers are likely NOT going to sell them, and neither will console manufacturers allow the game to be put on their machines. No government law is in place, but companies are more than free to say what they will and will not deal with.


If Skyrim was rated AO, it may not "die" per say, depending on what the hell Steam's stance on AO-rated titles are. Nevertheless, it would still not sell as well as it could. Sony and Microsoft will not allow AO-rated games onto their systems, so there's a huge chunk of sales lost right there. And despite the growing popularity of digital distribution, it's not going to do Bethesda any favors to severely limit the number of retailers willing to stock their product. It's just not worth the effort to produce an AO game, especially a big budget one.

Do I need permission to?

Personally I don't care for letter ratings and I won't split hairs as to how the ESRB or whatever rating entity rates whatever media is being played or watched or listened to, but I do have a problem with telling me what I can or should play, or that my child should or shouldn't be able to play or watch or read something just because most other parents are too lazy to pay attention to their own kids. If they were to play Doom or GTA4 or RE5 at my house at the age of five, six, ten.. it's because a combination of the fact that they want to, and because they can handle it responsibly. Maturity can't be rated.

At least no one really cares about game ratings here. We're still 20 years or so backwards so gaming is barely considered a normal medium of having fun, thus no one minds if a 12 year old buys GTA.

De facto censorship.

Video games are still considered by most to be kids games. "advlt kid games" is a disgustingly contradictory thought to most of the narrow minded populace and they won't stand for it. Stupid, but it's the truth.

Edit: Hey, look at that, 3 stars. It's been that long already?

The new Mortal Kombat says "Hi".

Manhunt 2 was an AO game.
I dont think there is inehiranly anything wrong with the rating, but like others have said, its tough for a store that majorally caters to kids to carry them.
really what is needed is a market.. I am sure there is a demand. I would also thinkt hat smaller game companies would ahve more to gain as they could possibly build that market.

its not always about simulated six, ether.. but while we are at it.. if simulates sixual content isnt logical, the why is it so heavily used in film and photographic mediums?

It's not simulated in films.

either you forgot sarcams tags, or the concept of what six is in real life vs feature film or an advlt movie is lost on you.

Is Duke Nukem Forever going to be AO?

I remember being rather shocked when I read about that. How ghastly! @Cannibal Club: no, some actors really will do it for real for movies. Not pretend, not "it looks like they do it but they don't really."

I voted "somewhere in the middle." For the most part, you don't need gore, six, and genitals to make a game interesting. In fact, I think it takes quite a bit of talent to come up with a compelling story and NOT have the characters diddle around, shoot each other up with guns, and cuss each other like sailors. I get the feeling a lot of the six, drugs, gore, and nudity is just thrown in there.

Honestly, I'm just so sick and tired of gore, explosions, and people exchanging bodily fluids. None of the six really has anything to do with the story. It isn't the sort of action that advances an overarching plot, you know?

there are exceptions to everything, i am sure.
but when you boil it down, its stil someone directing a fictional scene that someone wrote and is caprtured on a medium and represented through pixels or in some cases actual film. in short, it still isnt real.

and i dont agrere with over the top gore and sixual content just for its sake..
but i do feel it can be done tastefully and fittingly as is done with film.
anyone remember the petitions going around to get videogames categorized as art?

Nooooooo.....dont let Skyrim be an AO game in the US. I want to play it dammit! :sadvaultboy:

AO games are a horrible, horrible, evil thing. Because they get banned in Australia. Usually not for the main reasons you'd expect (eg. The ability to cut someone's head off), but for piddling reasons like the abilility to eat your meat raw, wear a shirt without a tie, or have a black-out non-interactive sixual encounter thats less advlt than Fable. Every time an advlt game gets banned by our government I cry into my pillow for hours before importing it...

I understand that, but companies do know what ratings are. They aren't totally oblivious to it, so they can at least have an idea what to do to make the game under the rating of AO.

Of course; that's one of the reasons games that DO get it are extremely rare, and even less likely to be any kind of big-budget game. Those who do knowingly go too far are likely reaching for shock value, it's not a rating you generally get "by accident".

I figure God of War can be pretty gory and, uh, risque... and it has an M rating. I don't want to personally see content that earns the AO rating. Not my thing. Who's thing is it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AO-rated_products

Most of them appear to be translations of Japanese advlt games, which are usually unrated anyways. It is a pointless rating, but it serves a purpose at limiting what can be put into an M game.

Nothing.

There is nothing wrong with an AO rating... except that Sony and Microsoft won't let the game be released on their platforms.

But i'll never learn to understand how some people can seriously think a naked briast is somehow much worse than extreme gore. As soon as you mention nudity some people assume we are talking about hardcoe pormography. :facepalm:

Some people have a very strange wiev on nudity if you ask me.

Anyway. Personaly i would consider an AO/18+ as a good sign whereas a low rating would have the opposite effect unless we where talking about a family game like Super Mario. But when it comes to RPGs i want them atleast somewhat dark and mature.

Nothing is wrong with a game being rated AO for violence/gore except that America is a country of Puritan values where a single exposed briast in a video game is apparently worse than mowing down a horde of cannibals with heavy machine gun (thank you Left4Dead2 )

i knew there was a reason this thread attracted me :laugh:
there was a poll done about "if Skyrim required Steam" & it turned out about 35-40% of those wanting it on PC said thet didn't want to get it if a steam was a requirement. (this wasn't limited to the Beth forums either) sorry, can't find the the thread atm

Ontopic:

Reneer is correct, making a current big budget game solely available via online distribution would definitely limit it's potential market.

I just checked the list of games rated AO (google it) and as far as I can see, they all have strong sixual content. So I'm guessing AO is left only for what are essentially pormographic games.

The ones that stay AO yes, however, Manhunt 2, GTA: SA, and a few other games were cited for other reasons as well. Either way, AO = nonsensical and pointless.

I don't see an issue with it as long as it got the rating due to it being related to the subject matter. As in developers don't go out of their to make a game AO but if it happens it happens. :shrug:

The problem is retailers won't sell games with an AO rating, making the rating a death sentence for games.