At 2/28/21 02:30 PM, MysteriousZKelroth wrote:
I have no way to phrase this topic into a title, LMAO
But basically, we know the debate of how certain PG-13 movies now are a lot more tamer compared to that of ones around, say, the 80s or 90s. People might say that this is really how we've progressed as a society, but I hear a lot of people complaining about more mature stuff coming into GAMES more often and being more explicit then stuff in the past.
About the best response that I can come up with here is that our standards and sensitivities have changed a lot over the last 10-20 years or so, so something that would’ve been considered shocking/scandalous in terms of content then would be generally shrugged off now by the majority of people. That said though, a few folks will still find some way to complain about something, because it doesn’t fit their world view or some level of value dissidence that doesn’t exist. (That’s not including the general hypocrisy they usually end up in)
In a way, it’s not so much explicit as it is society building up levels of tolerance towards open violence and sexuality in games, and seeing what publishers/developers can get away with.
I've heard of old games being censored for modern releases or even ports of foreign games being cut out, so what are one's thoughts on the situation?
This has been nothing new, as games have always some degree of censorship or changes from one country to another. What makes this different is the accessibility of the internet and outrage culture forcing a few developers to walk on eggshells, because the lack of anonymity.
Personally, a lot of it generally is exaggerated to make it sound worse than it is, but it is also troublesome nonetheless that a minuscule, but very vocal sect of “gamers” (Think Anita Sarkessian) can influence game companies to bastardize games by altering content in order to cater to an audience that doesn’t exist, or at least doesn’t want it, alienating long-time fans in the process.
More or less, it’s a lose lose proposition for everyone:
You force publishers/developers to alter content or put in controversial content that nobody asked for to appeal to an audience that may or may not be gamers anyway, let alone care.
Fans respond by not buying the game, and metaphorically trashing on it en masse, which means you lose money.
Reputations get ruined, which only creates bad feelings among developers and fans.
Finally, foreign game makers could be less likely to publish a game to another region/console because they might be bastardized, which may kill off any momentum for a franchise with devoted fans.
