Dead Pixels has 41 chronicles

1. Sex and Entertainment
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Nov 11 2009

   Sex and Entertainment: a Call for the Removal of Gaming’s AO Rating
   
   Dead Pixels for 11-10-2009
   By Ryan M. Eft
   
   Often I ask myself exactly what our society is up to. Of course, having a lot of people of differing views and types trying to live together in one world is, by necessity, going to make that world pretty much inexplicable. But I try to understand it anyway, maybe because I’m drawn to futility.
   
   One of those things I just can’t wrap my head around is exactly what people find offensive, and moreover why they find those things offensive. As a gamer, and therefore a devotee of what is currently the most controversy-laden medium of expression in the world, this is of course a highly relevant interest. Specifically, I wonder how we scale our offenses.
   
   Let me explain it this way: I have seen more senseless gore in some games than I’ve ever seen in anything else, from film to television. And it seems there is no way to kill a person so horrifically that the ESRB will not send you onto shelves with more than an M rating. Dissect someone with a backhoe, cut someone into pieces with a chainsaw; it seems like no gore is too much for the average 17-year-old.
   
   I’m not speaking out against M-rated games. Quite the opposite.
   It’s just that I can’t help but notice that murdering hundreds rates an M-rating, while having sex will usually get an AO, or Adults Only.
   Why is this? As a friend of mine would put it, why is it that it is okay to kill a person but not okay to make one?
   
   Of course, AO games are perfectly fine to produce. But the AO rating is the kiss of sales death. No major retailer will carry them. People who gleefully butcher enemy soldiers seem to regard AO as the equivalent of the movie industry’s X.
   
   This problem isn’t limited to games, of course. The strange difference in how acceptable people consider violence versus how acceptable they consider sex has long been sending shrinks into confusion. In our television and film, we’ve long since accepted certain words that would have been taboo a few decades ago. As stated above, violence doesn’t affect us anymore, which one episode of CSI will drive home for you. And yet, with maybe the exception of NYPD Blue, sex mostly stays off our screens, regardless of their size.
   
   Now, I know that sex is depicted in films with increasing regularity. But I can’t help but notice that when it is depicted, it so rarely aligns with what real people actually do in the bedroom (or the backseat or the shower, etc.). Usually, we get either something akin to an unrealistic fantasy, or if sex is depicted the way it typically happens, it is in a comedic way.
   
   So how does this relate to gaming? It’s pretty simple. Gaming is constantly pushing envelopes these days. But the one envelope it could really push is how sex is depicted in popular media. My proposal can really be summed up simply: get rid of the AO rating. Recycle what would have classified as AO into the M category.
   
   Immediately there are going to be people who stand up and say “but what if little kids play those games?” Well, see, we have content descriptors that are supposed to provide customers with info and then let them make a judgment call. Do we think personal responsibility to underdeveloped that parents can not make a judgment call about sex? And if they can’t, whose fault does it become for their child seeing those things? Clear content description absolves the ESRB, and games in general, of the bad choices made by consumers.
   
   Ultimately, trying to protect people’s morals has always been shaky ground. Most of what was once thought indecent has come to be, to a degree, accepted. But sex still isn’t allowed to be portrayed honestly in any mainstream media. Part of this is a cultural bias, because let’s face it: we don’t want sex portrayed correctly. Deep down inside our psyches, there’s a part of us that wants sex to be portrayed glamorously, one might say as some sort of epic. This, of course, is because almost no one really has sex that way. Numerous studies show that relatively few people lead sex lives that would be interesting to anyone but themselves, yet that’s not how we see it in entertainment.
   
   Do I think this is one of those things that games absolutely have to do to be relevant to the modern day. Actually, no. I do think it is a bold step they can take to say “Hey, hold on a second. Games are riding high, more popular and successful right now than movies, television or music. What do we have to lose by making a stand about sex?” Retailers need to say “you know what? We’ll carry AO-rated games. People don’t have to buy them.” There aren’t even many games with that rating, so all it will be is a declaration of principle. And maybe it’ll get the walls torn down faster.
   
   It is inevitable that, once the AO restriction is lifted, many will not be mature enough to treat sex in games any differently than it has been treated in most other mediums. But that’s growing pains; I believe games can and will learn. And how much deeper will character in our games become if they are allowed to behave like humans? How much more meaning would the stories have?
   Right now, games can simulate life, but they don’t, really. This is a decision that could help change that.

   
   

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Dead Pixels has 1 comment on this chronicle.

1. A-Thon X
   Posted On Nov 12 2009

   I"m gonna say that i'm for the AO rating, because it differentiates what KIND of mature content the game has.
   People (or at least Americans) do seem to view sex and violence drastically different, though in some ways they are the same, first and foremost, both seem inappropriate for younger aundiences.
   
   I think the difference is that violence is a naturally part of life and growing up,as is sex, but sex is commonly seen as a deeply personal experience. If our kid gets into a fight at school, we want to know who won. Because be able to stand up for yourself is a big part of growing up. Its expected.
   
   Even those who oppose violence know its a necessary evil. Who wants to know about a kids sex life? Or anybodies sex life for that matter? If i started posting about my sex life, think those Chronicles might be a big hit? Probrably not. It would be awkward and uncomfortable for all involved. (including me )
   
   But violence is different in that it seems to be part of the way parents train children to be adults. Such sport and competition can often be important tools when building character. Sex? less so.
   
   In fact sex is often a tool in character break down. Often. Not always. Plz don't think i'm opposed to the very idea of sex, if you knew me, LOLz, you'd know that to be false. I'm just saying its rated differently because, ironically, people are comfortable with violence and even horror. We like to walk up to the edge of our own mortality and peek over that edge to see what may lie beyond. Strength. Courage. Overcoming obstacles. This is what violence represents to the common person.
   
   Sex seems to be viewed as just gross to the vast majority of people. Something best left to personal conversations with ppl you really feel comfortable with.