That is true. My definition of "mature" game is something that you would not let a 6 year old kid play. :) Most teens can handle M rated games/movies.

LOL teens can handle everything, slasher and horror movies didnt created if not for them :)

Technically, if you actually go by what mature means, a mature game would be one that is available for purchase. An immatue game would be one in active develpment, or canceled. Outside of that, I don't see how any game could be considered more mature than another as none actually fit into what the word mature truly means.

Also there's no direct correlation between adults enjoying the Wii and there being mature games on it. For that to be true then you have to determine all of those people are mature and only do mature things. Does it make Bingo a mature game, because they also play that a lot in retirement homes.

@Onyxmeth: I gave somekind of description earlier, but if we would want to look at it a little deeper.

Mature implies to something that have aged enough.

If we look at human brain developement, brains are in constant change until the age of 25. After that point, brains don't really change anymore, or to be more specific, they just grow slower and starts going bad.
After the brains have fully developed, ones behaviour changes to more calm and learning new things becomes harder, just like interest to learn new things isn't what it used to be.

Then, if we look at how people generally view "grown-up", it's when one turns 30, he/she stops being a kid and becomes an adult.

Mature behaviour, would be classified as ability to "pull back" and ability to be polite when needed. You also should know how to act in different situations. Also the skill of judging different things goes beyond ones own attitude, when instead of seeing just black and white, one sees different shades gray.

Basically immaturity would be a stage in developement, when you learn (social) skills, and maturity when you use what you've learned.

Mature brain gets tired more quickly than immature one (if you ever have wondered why your kid beats you in arguing every time).

Adrenaline and testosterone production slowly goes down when aging and the barrier of being impressed goes up, while at the same time, when you used to get pleased from heavy stimulation, you start to be pleased more and more about relaxing stuff.

So, what kind of game would we need in order for it to be mature.
It needs to be simple and fast to learn, so you could play it (sophistication).
It can't be graphically too intense (detailed), so that the visuals don't stress the brains too much.
It needs to be fun.
I can't be too fast or a reflex test.
It has to be playable in short bursts.
It needs to focus on gameplay.

Maybe not the best possible explanation, but i'm kinda tired and in a little hurry right now, so i don't really have the time to go in-depth with the subject.

@bdbdbd

The burden of proof falls on you, so for every point you make, i'll need to see some link to a study or something similiar to show they are all acts of maturity. I don't necessarily disagree with some of them, but even that is my own interpretation of maturity, and I wouldn't use to to force a type of game into meeting those criteria. Also what exactly makes 30 the year one hits maturity? Brain functions, as you stated mature around 25, and sexual maturity(which is what most species are graded on in terms of reaching maturity) is around the ages of 12-15. What level of maturity is reached at the age of 30?

Right here i'll break down each point you made on a mature game and it's qualifications:

It needs to be simple and fast to learn, so you could play it (sophistication).

-The word sophistication does not match the sentence that precedes it. If anything sophistication would mean complex, not simple. Here's the third definition ripped straight from Merriam-Webster "the process or result of becoming more complex, developed, or subtle". FYI, the other two definitions don't support that sentence any better.

Now moving onto the sentence itself, it doesn't make a lot of sense to assume a simple and fast to learn game would be considered mature, when one of the most popular games for adults is chess and if any game on this world were to ever be considered mature, it would surely be chess. It took me one hour to get good at Gears of War. I still suck at chess after having played it on and off for the last 10 years.

It can't be graphically too intense (detailed), so that the visuals don't stress the brains too much.

-You're going to have to give me a legitimate study to back this claim up because at this very moment I'm finding it hard to believe an adult's brain would get stressed trying to play a graphically intense game. You also haven't given any point ro prove what qualifies a game as graphically intense. Wii Sports is graphically intense in comparison to an Atari 2600 game is it not? Without a common relateable standard it's impossible to say what is or isn't graphically intense.

It needs to be fun.

-"Fun" is relative to the person that plays the game. You cannot just say one game is fun and not another. This would qualify any game to be mature, because any game could be fun in theory to at least one mature person.

I can't be too fast or a reflex test.

-I'm not sure what this has to do with maturity. Also just to point out, your three previous examples of mature games, the Wii series all have fast gameplay and require reflexes at various times, disqualifying all of them. Note: I haven't played Wii Fit yet, so this applies primarily to Wii Play and Wii Sports. From videos i've seen of Wii Fit, it looks like it does contain those attibutes though.

It has to be playable in short bursts.

-All games are playable in short bursts. If what you mean is a game that is designed in nature to be played in short bursts, then there are a shitload more games than just the Wii series that qualify.

It needs to focus on gameplay.

-What game doesn't focus on gameplay? The only ones I can think of are Dragon's Lair and Time Traveller.

Just to let you know, it doesn't look like you explained one iota what a mature game would be like, but you somehow perfectly explained the mentality of arcade cabinet games. So basically a mature game is an arcade game? I suppose then NFL Blitz '99, House of the Dead 4 and Daytona USA would be the most mature games of all huh? Good point. I love arcades, so I suppose I'm a mature gamer.

@onyx----> Are you even reach the age of 27 to proof such claims Im 27 and I do agree with bdbdbd already. You dont even have such claim too to prove your point, most of what you're saying are assumptions and opinions sorry for debating with you but if you have such claim you have no right to say you're right and bdbdbbd was wrong. We're here to share our opinions not to counter each other's opinions simply because you didnt agree with someone .

Bdbdbd's comments are not statements, they are opinions, he believes mature games must have the following x y z criteria.

Onyx is making a rebutal because he believe the term mature is extremely subjective and shouldn't be generalised. This is something I think most people can agree to.

When I originally started this thread, i should have just clearly stated that the term mature when reference in the damn thread means M rating under the ESRB or its equivilant in your respective country. (I have since stated this but once the cat is out of the bag...)

What I refer to was to a technical lingo with a very definite parameter, 'mature' as debated here is a concept that is impossible to categorise because the concept is base on personal opinion and observation rather than clear cut facts.

By Bdbdbd's definition, Hopscotch is a mature game as it
a)Is simple and fast to learn (subjective)
b)Isn't graphically intense (subjective)
c)Is not very fast or a reflex game (subjective)
d)Can be played in shortburst - fact
e)Is focused on gameply - fact (as there is nothing but gameplay to it)

Yet it is universally considered a children game and adult that plays it would very likely find themselves mocked and ridicule by strangers.

The merit of what constitute mature isn't what the topic was originally about, it was about  a category of games with clearly define classification from an institution that monitor video game censorship.

Well if we're using bdbdbd's definition of who is allowed to address him based on maturity then you haven't reached it either. He clearly stated the age of 30 is when one reaches maturity. You have 3 more years before you can comment on this discussion. Also I think you're missing what this forum is about. The same way you were allowed to say reviewers are wrong is exactly why I can tell bdbdbd I think he is wrong(pending some links to studies). Again sir, drop the elitist attitude, because it seems like nobody but yourself is losing their cool here. bdbdbd and myself argue very pleasantly. There's no harm involved.

OK, OK sure... you win but are we going offtopic here? but then, we're being offtopic even after the thread begins...

OK, as the topic goes theres things that we learned:

1) The rating system is subjective depends on the culture and moral of each country; yeah I say this again, RE: umbrella Chronicles was Teen rated here in our country.

2) Even the defintion of mature is subjective, we cant conclude anything what is Mature content and what isnt.

3) Having mature content doesnt mean it have violence, gore and blood. In our country, schlinder's list was banned for atleast in time period because of just nakedness no pornographic scene or anything.

So what we're really discussing here? Sorry for the OP since you're online I think you should change the topic to "why 3rd parties didnt make violent and gory games" than Mature games in general because Mature games are subjective and broad. We really cant agree to anything. And not because it have blood doesnt mean its Mature even Counter Strike have blood why teens playing it? And the ironic part of it was Counter Strike was more violent than resident Evil umbrella Chronicles and yet RE: UC gives a mature rating.

And I think we should change the topic to what is a Mature game to what are the factors why the games have mature rating on which country are you on.

Even GTA series are rated Mature theres nothing I can think of why GTA cant played by teens.