The game is rated Mature, they have no legal recourse to censor it. Might be different if they were going for a 17 and under crowd.
With PvE raiding, it has never been a question of being "good enough". I play games to have fun, not to be a simpering toady sitting through hour after hour of mind numbing boredom and fawning over a guild master in the hopes that he will condescend to reward me with shiny bits of loot. But in games where those people get the highest progression, anyone who doesn't do that will just be a moving target for them and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay money for the privilege. - Neanderthal
I'm a mature gamer and live in the US. If they do indeed censor the US version I will be greatly disappointed. I really don't care if there is boobs or not in the game but if I'm going to pay a monthly fee for the game then I want the full version of the game not the watered down one. I want what is offered to the rest of the world.
The point isn't whether it's an absence of flesh, less blood or any other form of censorship.
The point is that Robert E. Howard's Hyborian age was filled with just this type of content. Any less, and it simply isn't Conan. Period.
Drinking, carousing, womanizing, thieving and killing... that was largely the life of an adventurer like Conan. If those elements aren't in the game, then it will just be another fantasy MMORPG.
Welcome to MEDIOCRITY, Funcom. The pool is a little crowded, but at least all the other also-ran fantasy MMORPGs will start to fall off and you won't be here for long either, so try not to worry about it too much.
The issue doesn't lie with the ESRB; it lies with Funcom and their cowardice in not seeking an outright AO rating in the U.S. They knew a Mature rating with all of the proposed content would be a hard, if not impossible, sell with the current media and political hysteria over games.
They should have just ripped the band-aid off, cried a few tears and went for the AO rating.
The function of the ESRB is to act as a self-policing rating scheme similar to the MPAA. Are movie studios as gun shy about rated R movies? How much money do movies with an R rating lose compared to movies with a PG-13 rating? If it is such a significant amount, why do studios continue making R-rated movies?
Honestly, the fact is that game studios and their publishers are complete cowards. Which is probably why they will never be taken seriously in the entertainment industry and why their audience will always be infantilized by the press, politicians and the general public.
We aren't adults. We are all just little children, playing our cute little games.
Awww, isn't that cute! Widdle Johnny is pretending to be a Cimmerian!
They wouldn't think a yard of Hyrkanian steel spilling some Nemedian's intestines and blood into the dust was "cute".
And they shouldn't; it's not supposed to be frigging cute, cuddly, nice, gentle or pretty. The whole Conan mythos is about blood, sweat, tears, sorcery, death and sex.
If I wanted cute, I'd play Flyff or some other juvenile, elementary pablum.
For those who are saying "wait and see", you obviously have more faith in the embattled ESRB than I and many others have. They have been beaten so much in the press and by politicians lately that it is highly unlikely they would approve any content for a Mature rating if there is even the slightest chance it will cause controversy.
Abbatoir / Abbatoir Cinq Adnihilo Beorn Judge's Edge Somnulus Perfect Black ---------------------- Asheron's Call / Asheron's Call 2 Everquest / Everquest 2 Anarchy Online Shadowbane Dark Age of Camelot Star Wars Galaxies Matrix Online World of Warcraft Guild Wars City of Heroes
Keep in mind that in America boobs are still taboo. I live here and it sickens me how much censorship we have to deal with. I cant even purchase a Playboy at sam goody without getting wierd looks from people
Here in the land down under all you have to do is walk down to the beach and the White Pointers [ boobies] are on display, dear god I love summer
Humors me that as long as boobs are allowed, people think their societies are free from censorship. What a narrow view of things.
For instance, most Canadians didn't know they had a serial killer in the Vancouver area killing women, chopping them up, and feeding them to his pigs (which he then sold some as food). To 'protect' their citizens they withhold that kind of information.
And from what the Spanish are doing with this rather tame calendar, I wouldn't be suprised if the EU doesn't start cracking down on nudity far more than the USA does. Ain't the EU a wonderful thing? Heh.
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
There is like over 400 miles of beaches on the coast of Spain where its ok to go topless for women.
As for AoC censorship, the game is being made a certain way, it's up to the ratings board of particular countires it encompasses and not the game makers fault.
I don't think that any censorship of the US / Canadian version woud be detrimental to the gamer. We are talking minor adjustments here - if at all.
This thread is pretty stupid in my opinion. Who cares is women have exposed breasts in a freaking game? It isn't like it does anything to make the game better. It is really just an artistic choice and one that is kinda silly since it will offend some people which will be an issue for some younger people. While I don't care if the game has breasts or even sex in it for when I play it. I probably wouldn't want my young daughter playing it and I'd probably be concerned about how some less mature people might respond to this. So in my opinion nudity doesn't offer much and is a negative. It certainly has no effect on gameplay other then to say wow look....
So someone saying they won't play because the game is censored... well that just seems silly...
--- Ethion
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Originally posted by ethion
So someone saying they won't play because the game is censored... well that just seems silly...
Or they are maybe religious. But your right its a computer game after all, and the things you see aren't real!
Indeed Avery, there's lots of topless beaches in spain, but beaches aren't electronic games .
Besides, the USA has plenty of nudist beaches too.
Frankly, what I've seen from nudist beaches makes me say: "Put the clothes back on, my poor eyes!" For every good looking person on those beaches, there's 100 who shouldn't have left home (I'm one of them ).
This is just like how WW2 Online has to be 'censored' because of the european laws (France and Germany if I remember correctly) regarding the display of the swastika. Does that make much sense to me? No, but hey...
Since when has a little T n A hurt anyone?Some parents I tell you.
The little fellers are going to see them sooner or later.
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Originally posted by eric_w66
Indeed Avery, there's lots of topless beaches in spain, but beaches aren't electronic games . Besides, the USA has plenty of nudist beaches too. Frankly, what I've seen from nudist beaches makes me say: "Put the clothes back on, my poor eyes!" For every good looking person on those beaches, there's 100 who shouldn't have left home (I'm one of them ). This is just like how WW2 Online has to be 'censored' because of the european laws (France and Germany if I remember correctly) regarding the display of the swastika. Does that make much sense to me? No, but hey...
I think the EU is sucky when it comes to farsical rules too. Thats why I moved to Canada, but I was aware of the Pig dude :P
I belive PEGI the rating for EU area has already rated it an 18 at the moment, but its still rating pending everywhere.
It's funny to see the little pervs crying that the game might not have as much simulated sex, or as many exposed nipples as they had fantasized that it would. If it increases the playerbase to leave some of the superfluous nudity and sex out of the game, then they should do it. I knew the game would never launch in the US with that content. I said it as soon as they dropped the harpie boob shots. I understand that some people get of on seeing half-bat women's breasts, but an AO rating would kill the game.
Don't forget that the FCC has also tried to sue South Park for the episode with the "largest crap," becuase they showed doody...
Wasn't jsut doody.. but Emmy filled doody.
Shayde - SWG (dead) Proud member of the Cabal.
It sounds great, so great in fact, I pitty those who canceled - Some deluded SWG fanboi who pities me. I don't like it when you say things. - A Vanguard fan who does too. 09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0
Indeed, this isn't about 'censorship'. The USA doesn't censor games, it rates them. The problem for the people who want boobies in their games is that most of the retailers won't sell them because they'd have to take special precautions (like the nudie magazines) and its not worth the trouble to do so. Its not that the game would necessarily 'fail' if they kept the AO rating, but more that its: "The game wouldn't make nearly as much money if they took that part out." So who's to blame? Is there even any 'blame' at all? Is it a negative thing for a company to want to make more money?
Many movies do the same thing, they'll keep editing until they get that R rating instead of NC-17 because the movie will then get a much wider audience. The government isn't censoring the movie. It could be released as NC-17... its just that the people behind the movie want to make more money (there are a few exceptions, but there's always exceptions, typically the producer is already rich and doesn't care, or the producer knows the movie stinks and wouldn't succeed at 'R' anyways, so might as well see if they can't get a bigger crowd to fall for the NC-17 raiting...)
So someone saying they won't play because the game is censored... well that just seems silly...
Or they are maybe religious. But your right its a computer game after all, and the things you see aren't real!
And if they don't like that there is something in the game they don't have to buy it.
And if the developers believe that a significant percentage of people would choose the latter, then removing the 'offensive' content is the only reasonable course of action.
The key thing that makes this unreasonable is there is no option. Either its censored or its not. Put in the option, and the people who want to be sheltered can censor themselves. Problem solved. Or it would be if it wasn't for the ultraconservative views that dominate crap like this, which result in games getting slapped with AO ratings and whatever if theres even data anywhere in the client that might be slightly offensive to someone.
whats more retarded than censorship is increasing censorship
but whats equally retarded is getting upset about it "oh no the government is trying set social guidelines for us ahhhh what are we gonna do ahhh what right do they have ahhh"
young postmodernists.. shutup im tired of hearing you speak
Just when you think you have all the answers, I change the questions.
Comments
I hate to bring politics in, but, the fact remains, if the M rating disappears, it originated from here.. and this is only the beginning folks.
http://gamepolitics.livejournal.com/146121.html
The game is rated Mature, they have no legal recourse to censor it. Might be different if they were going for a 17 and under crowd.
With PvE raiding, it has never been a question of being "good enough". I play games to have fun, not to be a simpering toady sitting through hour after hour of mind numbing boredom and fawning over a guild master in the hopes that he will condescend to reward me with shiny bits of loot. But in games where those people get the highest progression, anyone who doesn't do that will just be a moving target for them and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay money for the privilege. - Neanderthal
I'm a mature gamer and live in the US. If they do indeed censor the US version I will be greatly disappointed. I really don't care if there is boobs or not in the game but if I'm going to pay a monthly fee for the game then I want the full version of the game not the watered down one. I want what is offered to the rest of the world.
The point isn't whether it's an absence of flesh, less blood or any other form of censorship.
The point is that Robert E. Howard's Hyborian age was filled with just this type of content. Any less, and it simply isn't Conan. Period.
Drinking, carousing, womanizing, thieving and killing... that was largely the life of an adventurer like Conan. If those elements aren't in the game, then it will just be another fantasy MMORPG.
Welcome to MEDIOCRITY, Funcom. The pool is a little crowded, but at least all the other also-ran fantasy MMORPGs will start to fall off and you won't be here for long either, so try not to worry about it too much.
The issue doesn't lie with the ESRB; it lies with Funcom and their cowardice in not seeking an outright AO rating in the U.S. They knew a Mature rating with all of the proposed content would be a hard, if not impossible, sell with the current media and political hysteria over games.
They should have just ripped the band-aid off, cried a few tears and went for the AO rating.
The function of the ESRB is to act as a self-policing rating scheme similar to the MPAA. Are movie studios as gun shy about rated R movies? How much money do movies with an R rating lose compared to movies with a PG-13 rating? If it is such a significant amount, why do studios continue making R-rated movies?
Honestly, the fact is that game studios and their publishers are complete cowards. Which is probably why they will never be taken seriously in the entertainment industry and why their audience will always be infantilized by the press, politicians and the general public.
We aren't adults. We are all just little children, playing our cute little games.
Awww, isn't that cute! Widdle Johnny is pretending to be a Cimmerian!
They wouldn't think a yard of Hyrkanian steel spilling some Nemedian's intestines and blood into the dust was "cute".
And they shouldn't; it's not supposed to be frigging cute, cuddly, nice, gentle or pretty. The whole Conan mythos is about blood, sweat, tears, sorcery, death and sex.
If I wanted cute, I'd play Flyff or some other juvenile, elementary pablum.
For those who are saying "wait and see", you obviously have more faith in the embattled ESRB than I and many others have. They have been beaten so much in the press and by politicians lately that it is highly unlikely they would approve any content for a Mature rating if there is even the slightest chance it will cause controversy.
Abbatoir / Abbatoir Cinq
Adnihilo
Beorn Judge's Edge
Somnulus
Perfect Black
----------------------
Asheron's Call / Asheron's Call 2
Everquest / Everquest 2
Anarchy Online
Shadowbane
Dark Age of Camelot
Star Wars Galaxies
Matrix Online
World of Warcraft
Guild Wars
City of Heroes
Here in the land down under all you have to do is walk down to the beach and the White Pointers [ boobies] are on display, dear god I love summer
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316925,00.html
Humors me that as long as boobs are allowed, people think their societies are free from censorship. What a narrow view of things.
For instance, most Canadians didn't know they had a serial killer in the Vancouver area killing women, chopping them up, and feeding them to his pigs (which he then sold some as food). To 'protect' their citizens they withhold that kind of information.
And from what the Spanish are doing with this rather tame calendar, I wouldn't be suprised if the EU doesn't start cracking down on nudity far more than the USA does. Ain't the EU a wonderful thing? Heh.
There is like over 400 miles of beaches on the coast of Spain where its ok to go topless for women.
As for AoC censorship, the game is being made a certain way, it's up to the ratings board of particular countires it encompasses and not the game makers fault.
I don't think that any censorship of the US / Canadian version woud be detrimental to the gamer. We are talking minor adjustments here - if at all.
This thread is pretty stupid in my opinion. Who cares is women have exposed breasts in a freaking game? It isn't like it does anything to make the game better. It is really just an artistic choice and one that is kinda silly since it will offend some people which will be an issue for some younger people. While I don't care if the game has breasts or even sex in it for when I play it. I probably wouldn't want my young daughter playing it and I'd probably be concerned about how some less mature people might respond to this. So in my opinion nudity doesn't offer much and is a negative. It certainly has no effect on gameplay other then to say wow look....
So someone saying they won't play because the game is censored... well that just seems silly...
---
Ethion
Or they are maybe religious. But your right its a computer game after all, and the things you see aren't real!
Indeed Avery, there's lots of topless beaches in spain, but beaches aren't electronic games
.
Besides, the USA has plenty of nudist beaches too.
Frankly, what I've seen from nudist beaches makes me say: "Put the clothes back on, my poor eyes!" For every good looking person on those beaches, there's 100 who shouldn't have left home
(I'm one of them 
).
This is just like how WW2 Online has to be 'censored' because of the european laws (France and Germany if I remember correctly) regarding the display of the swastika. Does that make much sense to me? No, but hey...
Since when has a little T n A hurt anyone?
Some parents I tell you.
The little fellers are going to see them sooner or later.
I belive PEGI the rating for EU area has already rated it an 18 at the moment, but its still rating pending everywhere.
It's funny to see the little pervs crying that the game might not have as much simulated sex, or as many exposed nipples as they had fantasized that it would. If it increases the playerbase to leave some of the superfluous nudity and sex out of the game, then they should do it. I knew the game would never launch in the US with that content. I said it as soon as they dropped the harpie boob shots. I understand that some people get of on seeing half-bat women's breasts, but an AO rating would kill the game.
-----Zero Punctuation Eve Online Review-----
Wasn't jsut doody.. but Emmy filled doody.
Shayde - SWG (dead)
Proud member of the Cabal.
It sounds great, so great in fact, I pitty those who canceled
I don't like it when you say things. - A Vanguard fan who does too.
09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0
Indeed, this isn't about 'censorship'. The USA doesn't censor games, it rates them. The problem for the people who want boobies in their games is that most of the retailers won't sell them because they'd have to take special precautions (like the nudie magazines) and its not worth the trouble to do so. Its not that the game would necessarily 'fail' if they kept the AO rating, but more that its: "The game wouldn't make nearly as much money if they took that part out." So who's to blame? Is there even any 'blame' at all? Is it a negative thing for a company to want to make more money?
Many movies do the same thing, they'll keep editing until they get that R rating instead of NC-17 because the movie will then get a much wider audience. The government isn't censoring the movie. It could be released as NC-17... its just that the people behind the movie want to make more money (there are a few exceptions, but there's always exceptions, typically the producer is already rich and doesn't care, or the producer knows the movie stinks and wouldn't succeed at 'R' anyways, so might as well see if they can't get a bigger crowd to fall for the NC-17 raiting...)
Or they are maybe religious. But your right its a computer game after all, and the things you see aren't real!
And if they don't like that there is something in the game they don't have to buy it.
Or they are maybe religious. But your right its a computer game after all, and the things you see aren't real!
And if they don't like that there is something in the game they don't have to buy it.
And if the developers believe that a significant percentage of people would choose the latter, then removing the 'offensive' content is the only reasonable course of action.
-----Zero Punctuation Eve Online Review-----
The key thing that makes this unreasonable is there is no option. Either its censored or its not. Put in the option, and the people who want to be sheltered can censor themselves. Problem solved. Or it would be if it wasn't for the ultraconservative views that dominate crap like this, which result in games getting slapped with AO ratings and whatever if theres even data anywhere in the client that might be slightly offensive to someone.
Bans a perma, but so are sigs in necro posts.
EAT ME MMORPG.com!
I don't give a flying fuck either way.
CURRENTLY PLAYING SHAIYA
Are people still playing this game for the boobs? Isn't that what real women are for?
Just don't take my head chopping and impaling. Indeed all I need are real ladies.
It basically comes down to this. People who will never play this game, get to make desicison as to how the game has to be played.
Torrential
Torrential: DAOC (Pendragon)
Awned: World of Warcraft (Lothar)
Torren: Warhammer Online (Praag)
whats more retarded than censorship is increasing censorship
but whats equally retarded is getting upset about it "oh no the government is trying set social guidelines for us ahhhh what are we gonna do ahhh what right do they have ahhh"
young postmodernists.. shutup im tired of hearing you speak
Just when you think you have all the answers, I change the questions.
Censoring Sex? in a game?
damn!, I'll tell you what must be censored, all the war in the world must be censored. Every time a politician try to start a war he must be censored