Being rated M has that look Im an adult now... even though I havent even hit puberty thing going for it
That and how much sites like IGN and Gamespot hype it up... and PewDiePie... yeah sadly thats what sells games to a mass audience these days =(

Well, that's just silly since the rating is based on the game's content and nothing else.

Still, I'm with your friend or whoever it is and firmly believe that an 18+ rating scares away less than it attracts.

Edit: As a European, this whole M vs AO rating is not something I'm very familiar with. Here we have 16 or 18+ and I have seen 18+ titles in all stores that sell games. If an AO rating makes a substancial amount of retailers avoid selling a game I can see why a higher rating would make sales decline.

I get that, but the problem is when someone actually believes that the M rating actually is what sells the game.  If that were the case, people could just release games left and right with M ratings and not worry about anything else.  ESRB M ratings CAN negatively effect game sales, too.  Like, for example, if a game that WOULD have been M rated somehow got an E rating (all content is the same), more players readily have access to purchase it.  What that, in turn, means is a higher potential for sales.  What the person I was arguing with was denying this connection at all.  Person was pretty much saying that the M rating doesn't stop anyone.  Pretty much that the ESRB ratings are, in some way, pointless in doing what they are supposed to do.  

While many people who aren't supposed to be playing the games end up getting the game anyway, I don't think anyone can find a good case where you can say it doesn't stop anyone.

Here's what he says: _______ said, pretending that ESRB ratings ever stopped anyone from playing a game. Or parents from buying them for their kids.

All I did was say that putting giant penises on characters in a game would achieve it a rating of AO.

I start talking about AO ratings, not M ratings until he brings up GTA.  He later says this: Holy shit bro. Naked phallus stops no one from buying. Get over it

ESRB's ratings regarding male nudity have proven to matter shit in terms of sales. You were claiming that wasn't true, right?

Kids request it BECAUSE of the rating. Parents buy it to shut the kid up. Game sales. An AO, which would not necessarily happen, helps.

The guy then goes to compare male genitalia to boobs in games.

Well, he is clearly a moron judging by his attitude and generalizations. It is obvious that there are parents who won't let their kids buy AO games (mine included back in the day), which he appears not to understand. However, the question is whether enough people are attracted to the game to still make it sell more than it otherwise would have done, and my answer/belief would still be yes.

Unless, again, the AO rating makes a lot of retailers avoid selling the game, which I personally have not seen happening.

Am I the only one who feels 17+ and 18+ (or M) ratings are utter bullshit? I'm 17, if a war threatening us (The Netherlands) was to break out tomorrow I could get called up (Conscription), but I can't buy games like GTA V and BF4.... ''Here kid, if WW3 breaks out tomorrow you're gonna get a gun, but you can't play GTA....''
Logic! Seriously, fuck 17+, 18+ and M rated games.

No, you are not.

On top of age ratings being too high, I find it beyond absurd that violence and gore are generally considered less "harmful" to be viewed by a minor than sex and nudity. As if the latter would be more disturbing.

I argue that there are a lot of factors that come into play, and that the ESRB rating being anything besides being for everyone is a potential limiter.  How much so depends on many things, but I definitely don't think one can make a good argument to say that an AO rating would actually help sales.

Well, that brings us back to the content (that you dismissed as off-topic), which causes a game to be rated AO. Content that evidently has demand.

I'm referring to a game having been branded with the AO rating.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AO-rated_video_games This is proof enough that most people do not go after having that rating on them.  Whether that kind of content has demand doesn't change the fact that AO rating is bad for sales.