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M rating - bad ?
Airspell
Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 1,391
Few years ago this would be a no brainer. Noone paid attention to the ratings, especially big brother. Enter senator Clinton and the bunch and the ratings are slowly , very slowly, starting being enforced. Will Walmart carry AoC ? Anyone know ?
Movies are a good example. A rated R movie is by default going to make ALOT less money than a pg-13. Do you see this becoming the same for games in the future ? Do you think it will hurt age of Conan ? I believe it will because parents still buy games for their kids last I checked, and these soccer mamas are a bit more educated on games than 5 years ago. I know if I had kids I probably wouldnt want them playing extremely violent games.
Your views on the subject.
Comments
I think it might be a good tihng.. less kids playing..
I have to agree with Caldrin on this one.
A big problem i have experienced with many mmorpgs is that a large majority of the players are immature. I Don't know how big of a factor age is in this issue, but maybe the M rating will result in a more mature community. So far to date the most mature community I've experienced is EVE; to bad it wasn't my type of game. The real world doesn't have a pg-13 rating and neither should a good online world.
The certain things in this game that are going to give it a M rating are the same things that make me very curious to try it. This game is certainly going to be very unique and it may even revolutionize mmorpgs as we know (only time will tell).
I'm still looking forward to WAR more, but I'm going to give both games a shot to see what appeals more to me.
It all depends on your audience.
We can draw some wierd comparisons, but a movie like Live Free or Die Hard had at last check a $116 million plus U.S. box office. Movies like Pirates and Harry Potter will go far beyond that, simply because they are aimed at families.
So I dont think an M rating is bad at all, a quality product is going to sell, no matter what it's rated. Will it have a slightly lower overall number? Well, probably, but in the same breath, I tend to ask what the median age of MMO players is, and at last check it was over 26, so I dont think it's that big a concern. If it was AO, then it'd be a different story, and be a real reason to worry about a game.
The other part....I just dont think it keep out that many kids. It may keep out some with parents who feel that the game would not follow the way that they raise their children. However, it's probably going to be like a fly to honey to other kids who think "M rated" means it's gotta be good, and they'll want to play it for that reason alone.
You talk like less kids playing the game would be a bad thing?
They should make the game adult only, not to include porn or anything...but to see massive amounts of adult gamers flock in to their new haven.
LMAO....
A harsher rating will not reduce the immaturity in a player base... If anything it will attract immaturity like flies to sh...... you get the idea.
-Atziluth-
- Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity.
To be honest I dont think blood gore and violence in video games have so much effect on children 13+ . I doubt there's anyone here thats around the age of 13 that cant say they've seen a ''violent movie'' (Sin City as an example). Did it affect your behaviour? Did you become a murdering psychopath? Thats what I thought ;P
Honestly, I dont mind the M rating, its not enforced where I live (holland), its more of a guideline than a rule. Not that it matters to me, since im 20, but some younger friends will still get to play it. The only thing I like about it, is that there will HOPEFULLY be more mature players on AoC, something that does appeal to me very much.
Judging by people posting about it on the forums the community will be a cesspit of epic proportions pretty much from the start.
RP servers save us.
Daddy's got a nice credit card and mommy..well mommy dearest wont even look at the M rating on the back lol.
AOC is going to be MS big baby on the console..do your really think MS will alienate a very big portion of their console 360 users.
Most parents these days make up there own mind whether they think the games suitable for their kids.They dont take no notice of ratings because they know most the stuff on telly and the news is just as bad as the vid game..probably worse.
NOT this same Freaking thread AGAIN!!!!! This is atleast the 3rd one with the same title. LETS THINK HERE.
Are the types of people that are able to play for 5-8 hours a day the same type of people that look at ratings? No.
The average age of an MMO player is 27. Well above 18. Does the M rating keep other kids off games like Gears of War ? No.
Face it. M rating means nothing to the populous of MMO society. It's just an ESRB rating, so that they can show boobs, and gore. Thats all ...
I hate being grumpy but yes, this is the same/similair thread again. It was discussed (and flammed) previously. i really dont mean to sound rude but at least try and use the search button
Just to toss in my experience in Texas. I have seen several occasions at local Gamestops and wal-marts where some kid brings up an M title for whatever system and the cashier refuses to let them buy it without parental consent. I have also seen where the cashier explains to the parents what the M rating means and the parent then says NO to the whiny little teen. Warms my heart I tell ya!
boobs bring out the kid in all of us.
I am 16, and i went to buy the Warhammer 40k game. Being an M rated game, the cashier asked to see my identification, i was flustered having never been asked this questions before. I called over my dad who i thought could buy it for me. When he came over the cashier still asked him for identification. (He looks old, grey hair and all.) Well this upsetted him because he says he has been able to buy alchohol for 25 years without identifcation and now he needs it to buy a game. Well that store didn't get my money and i went across the street to another store to see if they had it. And what do you know, 10 $'s less and no identification needed!
Not sure if this has to do with anything. But wanted to put it out there that ratings can hurt business.
I start by saying I'm talking generally about M-rating,bad consequences and thoughts.Talking Not always maturity comes along with age,therefore not almost everyone under 17-18 years is a " bad kid". Please don't start to think to isolate/banish such people(a bit too overdone,but this is my idea of it)even if you do it unwillingly,for an initial good purpose.
forget the player base of a game.. get your self in a good guild and act accordingly.
The rating wont effect who plays the game in most cases, As stated in a previous post all the kiddies have gears of war.. i know cause I'm am regularly talked shi% to by a 10 year old boy that sounds like my daughter.
i could care less who plays what .. I'm going to get in a good guild .. hopefully on a FFA/PVP server and i will just kill the lamers i encounter .. i will not discriminate because of age.
I agree, M Rating is just stating that the game is suited for adults and the last time I checked games were at on point in time a "Kid" thing to do. Now, am I a kid yes in some respects and in other I am not, Gamers will be games and I say this to help remind everyone when it comes to games rating is nothing. Well, to a certain degree it is.
Walmart wont hold this game, it will hurt there sales but they dont care they make money selling everything else. The pompus money grubbers.
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I must not fear, fear is the mind killer.
Fear is the little death that leads to obliteration, I must permit fear to pass over me and through me.
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Here here my good man!
ACTUALY the average age of a MMO Gamer is 27.
Paint me immature at 24, I don't care. It's gonna be entertaining to play an "M" rated MMO with boobs out and monster wangs hittin' the tanks faces (glad I'm not playing a tank).
What is the Wal-Mart demographic? I personally have never bought a single game or music cd there.
ACTUALY the average age of a MMO Gamer is 27.
A lot of those demographic polls were taken in 2004. With the advent of WoW there are FAR more new players to the mmo genre. Also if you notice where most of those polls come from like IGN or other gaming websites the size of the pool is about 5,000 or even less. Also need to factor in the popularity of mmos in the asian market. These are a few quotes Chris Chung (VP of NCsoft) and Won Il Suh (CEO of Nexcon Corp.)
Chris: Although there were a number of games released during 2004 that helped to shift the profile of an 'average' MMOG player, the majority of MMOG gamers are late-teen to twenty-something males who play for more than 20 hours a week.
Won Il: In Korea, the player profiles vary greatly according to genre. South Korea has a very healthy user pool of players in their early teens or even younger. As for gender, males occupy 70~80% of the MMOG gaming population and for more casual games, our user base ranges from younger school children to men and women in their thirties.
http://www.igda.org/online/quarterly/1_2/mmogdemographics.php
Intresting read, tho sadly from 2005, Id love to see an updated poll with a bigger pool to see the avg age of MMO gamers. IMHO I think it's younger then 27. From my experience over the years as an Officer or GM for guilds the age i see from recruitment is about 16-23 years old. Now that doesn't mean everyone but meh, 7 or so years of experience has given me this opinion.
I have been playing MMO's since the begining, and over the years there has been an increase of old people coming into the scene. In todays world people need an escape from the busy life and gaming is one such outlet for us. As to slapping on M rateing personally I am glad they did, mostly because I am tired of having to listen to young people chatting about crap and streaming ascii pictures in my chat window well cussing up the channels. As for parents buying the game for children/teens that is debateable, I can under stand someone who is old enough to endure violence, but for the average kid and the mature content beyond violence I personally would not want to have my kids oggleing a naked sucubuss rubbing her nipples... enough said
It doesn't matter which rating it is here in holland
there is absolutely noone that enforces that here
and if kids cant buy the game in the countries where it is enforced they will most likely ask a older person (parents) to buy it for them
I bet wal-mart will carry it. Buying AoC should be like buying an R rated movie. Wal-Mart did carry the GTA series games, and i think those were rated M. But on the other hand they are trying to be a "family" store, so who knows.