Call of Duty

Mature is the rating that describes the audience that is allowed to buy it. There are different things in different societies that people don't want their children exposed to, and if such things are in video games, they receive a higher rating to prevent them from exposing those elements to younger audiences.

Of course, since it's a suggested rating, and not legally binding, it doesn't do all that much to prevent it. But that's what it's for.

Take Game of Thrones, turn it into a proper game and you have the definition of a mature game:

• Mature themes & Subjects
• Engaging multi-threaded story
• M+ imagery where warranted

Obviously there would be more to a mature game than just these points. At the moment I don't know of any game that is fully "mature".

Mature means two different things. I don't like the first definition, meaning "full of sex and gore" and I honestly think the ESRB should just use age numbers like the rest of the world (12, 15, 18 and so on). Duke Nukem is extremely immature, and yet it has that M on the cover.

The second means that the game actually has mature themes. Heavy Rain is a great example of this. The game should be about relationships and discovery rather than explosions and visceral deaths. Of course, you can have both in a mature game as well - just look at Mass Effect.

No, I mean mature. Mature is a very subjective word it seems, thus a mature game is a subjective thing too. If you think extreme violence is mature, then I think a game with extreme violence is mature. And if you think that serious/realistic depiction of things is mature, then a game that has that is mature. If a game has whatever you think it's mature, then that game is mature.

And if you ask my opinion about what's mature, it's probably 'mature' themes and all that. You know, if you're trying to tell a story about war, you don't depict it as being fun and all heroic but you also show the bad aspects of war. And if there's love in the game, you don't make it overly dramatic (imagine a teen relationship). Stuff like that. Something you expect to see in the world of responsible adults. I'm not sure if I can really explain it all that well but you get the idea.

But they don't actually portray Death in a realistic way. Kirby is made for kids. That should be obvious. It is far from a Mature game.

Mature games include cotent that is inappropriate and/or hard to understand for children. LIke I said before, ususualy this is gore, nudity/sex and deep emotional stories.

Yeah, I get where you're coming from, and it's pretty close to what I feel as well. However, I'm don't think "something you'd expect to see in the world of responsible adults" is quite right. I'd go with "subduded, grounded, or artistically and intellectually engaging".

Yeah

There are a fair amount of adults who play and enjoy Kirby, but that's a bit off-topic. I think what you're describing is something along the lines "not safe for children", which I really don't believe is mature by default. It depends on context- whether or not the story is deep, emotional, and intellectually engaging... or at least grounded and not absurd and stupid.

And there are comparatively non-violent games with more thought-provoking narratives than most games you consider to be mature.

for me its about a realistic story and thematic material

there are alot of movies and games that get the R and M rating and display tons of gore and nudity but fail to impress me b/c of weak and unbelievable storys

im more shocked and impacted with good storys and realistic or relateable themes than a bunch of gore and boobs