| F0X said: What makes a game targeted towards a mature, possibly adult audience? Graphic violence? Imagery that isn't appropriate for children? The fact that it has an "M" on the box? And what is a mature audience? Is it really dependant on age? What is maturity? Is this whole concept of a "mature" game a bit stupid? Or is "mature" just not the right word? Honestly, I don't even know what to think anymore. Help me out by discussing this topic. |
Mature content is anything that is deemed by society to be inappropriate for consumption by minors without the consent of their legal guardians.
In my opinion a mature rating should have more to do with the nature of the content and less to do with checking boxes on an ESRB grading sheet.
For example, a game about a hunting down a child rapist and bring him to justice is a mature theme even if it doesn't have nudity, blood, or naughty words.
Halo games are rated M for mature, but in my opinion they are T for Teen at best. You only kill aliens, there's no nudity outside of Cortana and even she isn't technically naked, and worst language tops off at "shit". I wouldn't give Halo to an eight year old, but a 12-14 year old would be fine. I'd rather kids play Halo than GTA or Manhunt.
It's not stupid to have standards. In fact I wish everyone took the standards we have now more seriously. I really bothers me that we have the ESRB, as flawed as it is, but parents don't look at it so they hand GTA over to their 10 year old because he asked for it. Then they get mad at the whole video game industry when they walk in on their kid beating a prostitute to death.
Do parents let their kids watch R rated movies as casually as they let them play M rated games? I don't know, but it's not the rating system or the video game industry's fault if people ignore the warning.
