We always hear about "mature" games.  What makes them mature, exactly?

Is it violence?  Sexual content?

Do we have a word for the kind of maturity a person has when they begin to care about things other than violence and sex?  How about the maturity that can enjoy the pleasures of a more child-like or simple presentation, apart from surface image and social pressure? Do we need one? Does this idea of "maturity" actually contribute anything at all, except to be used as a lame insult?

Personally, I feel a little tired of hearing about "maturity" from gamers that sound to me to be sixteen years old at the most.

But what about you?  What do you think makes a game "mature"?

Boobies.

Actually, I believe a game's ability to force one to think is what makes it mature. That could be through storyline, gameplay mechanics, themes, etc.

It's the same thing as believing that Watership Down is more mature than Starship Troopers, despite Watership Down being an animated film about rabbits while Starship Troopers is laced with violence and bewbs.

In the video game world, Mature means it is not meant for younger viewers, but maturity is more about how you are mentally able to handle things than how innapropriate for younger people something is.

Actually, what we call 'Mature' games are not (necessarily) 'mature' at all. In fact, it's quite the opposite--when they say 'Rated M for Mature', they are literally saying that you need to be mature in order to play it. It doesn't mean that the game is mature at all.

After all, in real life if you went around swearing your guts out and shooting things, would you be called mature?

Watership Down!  One of my all-time favorite novels.  You, sir, have excellent taste.

Though boobies are good, too.

A game rated M for Mature doesn't mean the game is literally mature. RPGs(both Japanese and Western) with a T rating tend to be just a tad more mature(in a literal sense) than a lot of M rated shooters

You are asking a question about a broken system. The ESRB is broken. It is opinion and nothing else. Parents need to sit down and make sure they know what their kids are doing instead of letting an agency do it for them.

I would like to know what morals ESRB chooses to use to rate games. As far as I know we haven't taken a nationwide vote to choose what these ratings mean or what is considered good or bad. How do you judge good or bad? A gut feeling - a thought in your brain? Obviously some countries might consider shooting someone in the head ok for children. We have children soldiers in some countries.

Personally I agree with those posts above mine. Maturity is being able to enjoy a good game that doesn't have a bunch of blood and guts and nudity. I'm not saying that games that have blood and guts and various lude subjects are not "smart" in their own rights, but I think more of the younger kids are enthralled by these games because it makes them feel like "adults" since it is new to their senses.

it has to appeal to a bunch of 12 year olds....ohh wait why does that seem funny

A mature game is what the young people say it is, you know kids in the 15-25 age range

The "M" on the reverse bottom right hand side of the game.

Usually it's provided by the ESRB to alert consumers that it is a "M" rated product.