Mass Effect's M-rating almost entirely for strong sexual content - CONFIRMED

[QUOTE="Darth_Tigris"]I understand what you're saying completely. But we all would agree (maybe) that there are many things in life that we do that just don't belong in games.

Eating is part of our every day lives. Bathing is part of our every day lives (well, most of us anyway). Peeing and taking a dump are both parts of our every day lives. Games maturing and becoming more realistic should include all of that, right? I don't wanna play a game that includes all of that. Yes, those are part of our lives, but they're not really game-related fun.UpInFlames

There's an obvious and staggering difference between something as mundane as eating and peeing and whatnot, and a sexual relationship. Even so, there are indeed fun games that include all that - The Sims series.

Sex, yes, is a reality in most adult lives. But I question its place in gaming (especially in any type of detail). I remember playing Golgo 13 for the NES years ago and when you hooked up with a woman they would showthe outside of the hotel window and the light would go off as your health meter rose (kinda backwards if you ask me, but I digress). That felt ... weird to watch in a game, but it was not done in any type of graphic detail. For games to now have sex scenes where they show polygonal nudity feels ... exploitative to me. I've seen the sex scene in Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy online and that looked ridiculous to me. I just don't see its place in gaming to the extent that we're likely to see in Mass Effect.

Then again, maybe it will be completely avoidable...Darth_Tigris

This is where we differ. You want to keep gaming as innocent and surreal as possible...perhaps as a last connection to your childhood, I don't know. On the other hand, I want gaming to grow alongside me and fulfill my needs as an evolving adult. Not every game has to be about alien invasions and orcs and elves - I enjoy those very much, though. I want games that treat me like an adult like all other entertainment media does. I want extreme violence, I want profanity, and I want sex. I want meaningful social commentary, I want characters that feel like real people, and I want those characters to have as deep relationships as possible - both emotional and sexual. Why? Because as a breathing human being, that is what I can relate to, that is what can impact me the most, that is my reality, that is who I am.

Actually, I don't even think Darth really has an argument ,especially if he thinks that including aspects of people's every day lives is any less innocent than, ie shooting someone in the face...I never understand even as an American why we are so uptight about sex, and yet somehow violence is somehow judged on a different scale... Has murder become more socially accepted than sex, it still seems to me like some people are still stuck in the old ancient puritanical society.

Yes, that is where we fundentally differ. I want games to grow alongside me as well and fulfill my needs as an evolving adult. But ADULT to me doesn't mean extreme violence, profanity and sex. In my adult maturity, I see those as part of an arrested development that I've moved past. I truly desire for gaming to grow and reach even deeper into providing an entertainment experience that cannot be had elsewhere. But graphic violence, pervasive language and gratuitous sex or nudity is not growth to me. Just because you CAN do something doesn't always mean that you should.

I do agree that meaningful social commentary and layered character depth is something that will POWERFUL grow the storytelling in gaming and Bioware is quite adept at that. THAT is adult to me. All of that can be pulled off without gore, rampant profanity and nudity. I want games of relevance that resonate on multiple levels and, in all of that, still maintain an undeniable level of pure fun gameplay. Darth_Tigris

Likewise, if you can do something you should if its what you want to do. If Bioware wants to tell a story that involves ton of violence, nudity, and profanity then they absolutely should. Just because it has those elements doesn't mean that it can't be a powerful and fun experience.

NOTE: For those that are ripping any individual that hesitates purchasing this because of partial nudity, I ask that you not judge others for their values as they too not judge you for yours. I can't believe that I'm asking forthat on the internets ...

Darth_Tigris

If you don't want your values judged by others, you probably shouldn't share them on a public forum.

Showing intimacy through hinting at sexual intercourse between two in-game characters lends itself to the story and the emotional attachment of the player to the characters. So what's wrong with that?

Look, there is a large difference between lust and love. I highly doubt Bioware would present this scene (if it even does exist) in any manner that would be irrelevant or detach itself from the story in any way. The sex scene would be there as a means to an end, not the means in itself.

If there were explicit scenes of sexual content, you can bet it would get an AO rating. I don't think a breast profile is necessary, but maybe they want the player to indulge themselves? Who knows?

[QUOTE="AquaMantor"][QUOTE="dvader654"]

Alien thongs! YES!

I grew up on rated R action flicks, lots of violence, blood, foul language and nudity. Its about time games caught up. I want pointless sex scenes mixed in with my action. :P

HiResDes

Hmm...that's a perspective I wish I could have. But I'm going to be playing this game on an HDTV in my living room...in front of other people...awkward...

not really, especially if you're 17 or older, you know the age you should be to play this game.

Okay...okay...fine, then, play the scene in your head. I'm 17. So fair enough. My mom walks into the room while I'm playing a game where it's showing two characters having sex.

And let's say I was a 40 year old loser who lives with his mom, she walks in on me playing a game where two characters are having sex.

Age is going to effect the response to a degree, but it's not going to make her ignore it. I'm never going to forget what happened when I had sex with my wife for the first time in Fable.:P

Oh, and here's a twist: What if, hypothetically, I was married, and my wife saw said sex scene? (shocking, isn't it? But a lot of gamers marry) I would be a mature adult there, but I doubt that anyone, upon seeing that in a video game, wouldn't comment on it...very likely leaving the same feeling of awkwardness that I speak of.

Hehe, in Baldur's Gate 2 not only was it possible to have sex with multiple characters, but there were also brothels and slavery, drug use and alcohol. To make things even better Viconia was an evil psychopath with a thing for Drow torture, kinky, and you could get Aerie pregnant.

You know what the game was rated? Got the original box sitting right next to me on a shelf with the rating 13 & up on it, aka T for teen.

In contrast, Mass Effect has a thong and a potential love scene...

the_mad_madman

yea dude i was playing FF7 and 8 yesterday and there's a good amount of blood, and alot more language i could imagine from a T rated game...but now ESRB's package just got squeezed a lil too much

[QUOTE="HiResDes"][QUOTE="AquaMantor"][QUOTE="dvader654"]

Alien thongs! YES!

I grew up on rated R action flicks, lots of violence, blood, foul language and nudity. Its about time games caught up. I want pointless sex scenes mixed in with my action. :P

AquaMantor

Hmm...that's a perspective I wish I could have. But I'm going to be playing this game on an HDTV in my living room...in front of other people...awkward...

not really, especially if you're 17 or older, you know the age you should be to play this game.

Okay...okay...fine, then, play the scene in your head. I'm 17. So fair enough. My mom walks into the room while I'm playing a game where it's showing two characters having sex.

And let's say I was a 40 year old loser who lives with his mom, she walks in on me playing a game where two characters are having sex.

Age is going to effect the response to a degree, but it's not going to make her ignore it. I'm never going to forget what happened when I had sex with my wife for the first time in Fable.:P

Oh, and here's a twist: What if, hypothetically, I was married, and my wife saw said sex scene? (shocking, isn't it? But a lot of gamers marry) I would be a mature adult there, but I doubt that anyone, upon seeing that in a video game, wouldn't comment on it...very likely leaving the same feeling of awkwardness that I speak of.

If someone walks in on you while said "sex" scene is going on, they are only getting half of the picture. If they deem to judge the person that's playing it from such a small sampling without having had seen the entire follow up to that point, then that is their problem, really. It sounds like your motivation for playing or not is based on what someone will think of you if they see what you are playing is objectionable in their eyes.

But hey, if you're 17 that does legally make you a minor, so I would guess it's a bigger deal. Play in your room or something, with the TV facing away from the door andkeep the remoteright by you so you can switch to cable really quickly if she walks in. If she still does catch you in an intimate cutscene that will last possibly 10 seconds at most, just show her the M rating which is 17 and up. She can't deny something like the ESRB's recommendations...:D

Problem solved...

~-~Does anyone else think that the whole, "make the relationship seam real" or whatever is just an excuse to show aliens in thongs? I wouldn't mind if they just gave us the choice. I mean why do you HAVE to do it? like someone else said, I might be playing this in front of people and that would not be fun to have them all see me playing a game where I'm doing an alien. (even if I am going for a human chick) I mean, it's an RPG, would it really hurt the game if it game you the choice? I don't care if they want to give people a chance to do that stuff but why do you have to force me? As for the rating, I don't see why anyone would care unless they're under 17.:| The only reason I'm miffed is they didn't give us a choice. Is letting the player play how he wants such a hard concept that you can't think to put in a yes/no duologue?~-~The_PirateKing

What makes you think it isn't a choice?

[QUOTE="The_PirateKing"]~-~Does anyone else think that the whole, "make the relationship seam real" or whatever is just an excuse to show aliens in thongs? I wouldn't mind if they just gave us the choice. I mean why do you HAVE to do it? like someone else said, I might be playing this in front of people and that would not be fun to have them all see me playing a game where I'm doing an alien. (even if I am going for a human chick) I mean, it's an RPG, would it really hurt the game if it game you the choice? I don't care if they want to give people a chance to do that stuff but why do you have to force me? As for the rating, I don't see why anyone would care unless they're under 17.:| The only reason I'm miffed is they didn't give us a choice. Is letting the player play how he wants such a hard concept that you can't think to put in a yes/no duologue?~-~H3LLRaiseR

What makes you think it isn't a choice?

This is beginning to bring up a whole nother issue.

When rating a game's content, how can you rate something the player can choose not to go through with? Just because he has the option to kill and see gory visuals, or have sex and witness nudity, doesn't necessarily mean that he will. In that sense, it's almost like trying to slap a rating on reality.

I mean really, what if the government came to the conclusion that the television is rated X and may only be viewed by individuals over the age of 18, just because it's possible someone might change to a channel containing nudity or gore? They do not, because it is our option not to view such material. As is seemingly the case with video games as they continue to evolve. Particularly Bioware games.

This is beginning to bring up a whole nother issue.

When rating a game's content, how can you rate something the player can choose not to go through with? Just because he has the option to kill and see gory visuals, or have sex and witness nudity, doesn't necessarily mean that he will. In that sense, it's almost like trying to slap a rating on reality.

I mean really, what if the government came to the conclusion that the television is rated X and may only be viewed by individuals over the age of 18, just because it's possible someone might change to a channel containing nudity or gore? They do not, because it is our option not to view such material. As is seemingly the case with video games as they continue to evolve. Particularly Bioware games.

AlwaysSoft

~-~So... I can go the relationship path for a deeper story in the game and still not have sex? Alright then, I'm happy.~-~The_PirateKing

Uh...no. Definetely not. What some people may be forgetting was that the climax of a relationship in every Bioware game ends in sex. The only difference is that it's showing it this time.

[QUOTE="The_PirateKing"]~-~So... I can go the relationship path for a deeper story in the game and still not have sex? Alright then, I'm happy.~-~AquaMantor

Uh...no. Definetely not. What some people may be forgetting was that the climax of a relationship in every Bioware game ends in sex. The only difference is that it's showing it this time.

This is beginning to bring up a whole nother issue.

When rating a game's content, how can you rate something the player can choose not to go through with? Just because he has the option to kill and see gory visuals, or have sex and witness nudity, doesn't necessarily mean that he will. In that sense, it's almost like trying to slap a rating on reality.

I mean really, what if the government came to the conclusion that the television is rated X and may only be viewed by individuals over the age of 18, just because it's possible someone might change to a channel containing nudity or gore? They do not, because it is our option not to view such material. As is seemingly the case with video games as they continue to evolve. Particularly Bioware games.

AlwaysSoft

You know, I've thought about this many times too. Take Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory for instance. Its the first M rated SC game, but the way I played it was just like the other titles. I didn't kill people brutally and the game has minimal language. Basically, the way I played it, it was a T-rated title.

Same with Gears of War. With the Extreme Content option disabled, is the game really still M rated?

That's why rating games is sooooo tricky. I don't envy the ESRB's job.

This is beginning to bring up a whole nother issue.

When rating a game's content, how can you rate something the player can choose not to go through with? Just because he has the option to kill and see gory visuals, or have sex and witness nudity, doesn't necessarily mean that he will. In that sense, it's almost like trying to slap a rating on reality.

I mean really, what if the government came to the conclusion that the television is rated X and may only be viewed by individuals over the age of 18, just because it's possible someone might change to a channel containing nudity or gore? They do not, because it is our option not to view such material. As is seemingly the case with video games as they continue to evolve. Particularly Bioware games.

AlwaysSoft

It is certainly a weird area, but its obvious the eSRB doesn't take it into consideration at all. GTA: San Andreas is a great example. After the Hot Coffee incident, the game was rerated to AO despite the fact that you had to consciously hack the game to access the "AO" material.

[QUOTE="AquaMantor"]

[QUOTE="The_PirateKing"]~-~So... I can go the relationship path for a deeper story in the game and still not have sex? Alright then, I'm happy.~-~The_PirateKing

Uh...no. Definetely not. What some people may be forgetting was that the climax of a relationship in every Bioware game ends in sex. The only difference is that it's showing it this time.

I heavily doubt you can get pregnant. It's an action RPG. Running around with a machinegun while you're pregnant? :lol:

And I think you're overestimating just how detailed the choices you make are in a Bioware game. When it comes right down to it, you choose between being good or being evil, and that's about it. They said that they were going to do this "differing philosophy" thing with Jade Empire. But I think they realized that they weren't strong enough storytellers to justify two directly opposiing moral philosophies, so they chose to make the closed fist "bad" and the open palm "good". It's a shame, really.

What was the "hot coffee" situation?manningbowl135

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_coffee

[QUOTE="GodModeEnabled"]So any form of crazy violence is ok (as long Rockstar dosent make it) but a sex scene is taboo? How old are you people? Sex is a natural part of life, arguably more so than shooting and killing and destruction. If a game is M rated, and not available to kids than I say we need MORE nudity, sex and other things of the ilk. The more we treat our hobby like toys, the more it perpetuates the gross double standards we have to put up with guys. Man up and look at some godamn boob it wont kill you trust me.Darth_Tigris

I'm not going to stand up for extreme violence in games, because I think its completely unnecessary too. But what's being talked about here in Mass Effect is NOT part of the gameplay. When you speak of gaming growing up, do you really mean gaming as in watching more adult cinemas in games? That's not GAMING to me. And that's what this is.

And, yes, I do know of people that will be hesitant on buying this once they see Partial Nudity on the front of the box, just as they would if it was extreme gore. If you have no problem with that, then that means they have different values than you. Without knowing exactly what they are getting (and NONE of us have actually SEEN the footage), I know they will be hesitant and I don't blame them.

This was Bioware's choice and if anyone thinks that they won't lose some sales because of this then you are being completely unrealistic. I'm not near saying the game will flop because I'm sure it will sell very well. But they will lose sales because of there choice to keep this content in the game. And, from how little actually appears in the game (based on the ESRB letter), I question whether it was indeed worth it ...

The industry is evolving at a faster rate than the gamers themselves and thats the problem.GodModeEnabled

That's the truth. Whether or not people want to accept the fact that video game content will rival that of movies in way of adult material, if not already, it's going to happen regardless of their position. I sometimes think that in 5 years we are going to look back and say, "I can't even believe this was an issue."

Unfortuantely, we have to get there first.

[QUOTE="Darth_Tigris"]

[QUOTE="GodModeEnabled"]So any form of crazy violence is ok (as long Rockstar dosent make it) but a sex scene is taboo? How old are you people? Sex is a natural part of life, arguably more so than shooting and killing and destruction. If a game is M rated, and not available to kids than I say we need MORE nudity, sex and other things of the ilk. The more we treat our hobby like toys, the more it perpetuates the gross double standards we have to put up with guys. Man up and look at some godamn boob it wont kill you trust me.GodModeEnabled

I'm not going to stand up for extreme violence in games, because I think its completely unnecessary too. But what's being talked about here in Mass Effect is NOT part of the gameplay. When you speak of gaming growing up, do you really mean gaming as in watching more adult cinemas in games? That's not GAMING to me. And that's what this is.

And, yes, I do know of people that will be hesitant on buying this once they see Partial Nudity on the front of the box, just as they would if it was extreme gore. If you have no problem with that, then that means they have different values than you. Without knowing exactly what they are getting (and NONE of us have actually SEEN the footage), I know they will be hesitant and I don't blame them.

This was Bioware's choice and if anyone thinks that they won't lose some sales because of this then you are being completely unrealistic. I'm not near saying the game will flop because I'm sure it will sell very well. But they will lose sales because of there choice to keep this content in the game. And, from how little actually appears in the game (based on the ESRB letter), I question whether it was indeed worth it ...

You and I differ on what Adult means. Its probably best if we just agree to disagree.

But let me add one thing: I wanted to play Gears of War, but all of the videos that I saw prior to the games release showed it was extremely gory and I just view that stuff differently that I have in the past as I've gotten older. But Epic did something ... respectable. They put in an option to turn off the gore and tone down the profanity some. I played and loved the game. Did they compromise their vision by doing that? Not at all, because it was simply an option. To me, that was one of the most MATURE ways to appeal to a wide audience. I wish more devs would imitate their foresite.

[QUOTE="GodModeEnabled"][QUOTE="Darth_Tigris"]

[QUOTE="GodModeEnabled"]So any form of crazy violence is ok (as long Rockstar dosent make it) but a sex scene is taboo? How old are you people? Sex is a natural part of life, arguably more so than shooting and killing and destruction. If a game is M rated, and not available to kids than I say we need MORE nudity, sex and other things of the ilk. The more we treat our hobby like toys, the more it perpetuates the gross double standards we have to put up with guys. Man up and look at some godamn boob it wont kill you trust me.Darth_Tigris

I'm not going to stand up for extreme violence in games, because I think its completely unnecessary too. But what's being talked about here in Mass Effect is NOT part of the gameplay. When you speak of gaming growing up, do you really mean gaming as in watching more adult cinemas in games? That's not GAMING to me. And that's what this is.

And, yes, I do know of people that will be hesitant on buying this once they see Partial Nudity on the front of the box, just as they would if it was extreme gore. If you have no problem with that, then that means they have different values than you. Without knowing exactly what they are getting (and NONE of us have actually SEEN the footage), I know they will be hesitant and I don't blame them.

This was Bioware's choice and if anyone thinks that they won't lose some sales because of this then you are being completely unrealistic. I'm not near saying the game will flop because I'm sure it will sell very well. But they will lose sales because of there choice to keep this content in the game. And, from how little actually appears in the game (based on the ESRB letter), I question whether it was indeed worth it ...

You and I differ on what Adult means. Its probably best if we just agree to disagree.

But let me add one thing: I wanted to play Gears of War, but all of the videos that I saw prior to the games release showed it was extremely gory and I just view that stuff differently that I have in the past as I've gotten older. But Epic did something ... respectable. They put in an option to turn off the gore and tone down the profanity some. I played and loved the game. Did they compromise their vision by doing that? Not at all, because it was simply an option. To me, that was one of the most MATURE ways to appeal to a wide audience. I wish more devs would imitate their foresite.

but youre stillokay with the whole idea, of sawing, shooting, stomping enemies? ...so ridiculous

Why would having sex scene in a game make you awkward if you have girl friend?

How do you watch any movies with sex scene then?

Many games do have sex scene or at least implied sex scenes such as Xenogears and Xenosaga, Way of Samurai etc etc. I say it is fine as long as it is used to heighten the mood of the scene instead of just adding it in to make that a selling point of the game.

What was the "hot coffee" situation?manningbowl135

[QUOTE="manningbowl135"]What was the "hot coffee" situation?Jonas_81

Teh horror! Polygonal humping!

Think about the children who inadvertently could hack the game and find that hideous content! :o

:P

This is beginning to bring up a whole nother issue.

When rating a game's content, how can you rate something the player can choose not to go through with? Just because he has the option to kill and see gory visuals, or have sex and witness nudity, doesn't necessarily mean that he will. In that sense, it's almost like trying to slap a rating on reality.

I mean really, what if the government came to the conclusion that the television is rated X and may only be viewed by individuals over the age of 18, just because it's possible someone might change to a channel containing nudity or gore? They do not, because it is our option not to view such material. As is seemingly the case with video games as they continue to evolve. Particularly Bioware games.

AlwaysSoft

But the fact you can easily decide to view that content or make those decisions to seeing the mature content should make it M or T. It isn't what a single person will do, you have to base the rating off what that user CAN do within the game.

I can play Oblivion and not kill a single thing, just wander around doing non-violent quests or actions. Because I can easily whip my sword out and bash a human to death with it causes it to get that higher maturity rating.

Now I don't see why people are flipping out because it got "M" due to partial nudity. I wouldn't want my kids playing a game with some half naked characters dancing around on a stage or wandering around with their left butt-cheek hanging out. If you really want to see a boob I'm sure you'd have no trouble finding them on the 'net.

As for the cultural differences Europe freaks out when you blow a cartoon character's head up, thinking you'll go out and shoot your neighbor. Well then won't sex scenes cause you to go out and rape someone or pick up a hooker in Europe? No. The US allows ultra violence because they know you won't run out and shoot someone after playing GTA or Halo. But they are strict on nudity. I myself don't care if there is nudity in a game but parents might care if they see their children watching whoopee in a video game.

Again, why are we crying it is rated "M" ? Its not like it got AO.

[QUOTE="AlwaysSoft"]

This is beginning to bring up a whole nother issue.

When rating a game's content, how can you rate something the player can choose not to go through with? Just because he has the option to kill and see gory visuals, or have sex and witness nudity, doesn't necessarily mean that he will. In that sense, it's almost like trying to slap a rating on reality.

I mean really, what if the government came to the conclusion that the television is rated X and may only be viewed by individuals over the age of 18, just because it's possible someone might change to a channel containing nudity or gore? They do not, because it is our option not to view such material. As is seemingly the case with video games as they continue to evolve. Particularly Bioware games.

cametall

But the fact you can easily decide to view that content or make those decisions to seeing the mature content should make it M or T. It isn't what a single person will do, you have to base the rating off what that user CAN do within the game.

I can play Oblivion and not kill a single thing, just wander around doing non-violent quests or actions. Because I can easily whip my sword out and bash a human to death with it causes it to get that higher maturity rating.

Now I don't see why people are flipping out because it got "M" due to partial nudity. I wouldn't want my kids playing a game with some half naked characters dancing around on a stage or wandering around with their left butt-cheek hanging out. If you really want to see a boob I'm sure you'd have no trouble finding them on the 'net.

As for the cultural differences Europe freaks out when you blow a cartoon character's head up, thinking you'll go out and shoot your neighbor. Well then won't sex scenes cause you to go out and rape someone or pick up a hooker in Europe? No. The US allows ultra violence because they know you won't run out and shoot someone after playing GTA or Halo. But they are strict on nudity. I myself don't care if there is nudity in a game but parents might care if they see their children watching whoopee in a video game.

Again, why are we crying it is rated "M" ? Its not like it got AO.

[QUOTE="cametall"][QUOTE="AlwaysSoft"]

This is beginning to bring up a whole nother issue.

When rating a game's content, how can you rate something the player can choose not to go through with? Just because he has the option to kill and see gory visuals, or have sex and witness nudity, doesn't necessarily mean that he will. In that sense, it's almost like trying to slap a rating on reality.

I mean really, what if the government came to the conclusion that the television is rated X and may only be viewed by individuals over the age of 18, just because it's possible someone might change to a channel containing nudity or gore? They do not, because it is our option not to view such material. As is seemingly the case with video games as they continue to evolve. Particularly Bioware games.

UterusPlate

But the fact you can easily decide to view that content or make those decisions to seeing the mature content should make it M or T. It isn't what a single person will do, you have to base the rating off what that user CAN do within the game.

I can play Oblivion and not kill a single thing, just wander around doing non-violent quests or actions. Because I can easily whip my sword out and bash a human to death with it causes it to get that higher maturity rating.

Now I don't see why people are flipping out because it got "M" due to partial nudity. I wouldn't want my kids playing a game with some half naked characters dancing around on a stage or wandering around with their left butt-cheek hanging out. If you really want to see a boob I'm sure you'd have no trouble finding them on the 'net.

As for the cultural differences Europe freaks out when you blow a cartoon character's head up, thinking you'll go out and shoot your neighbor. Well then won't sex scenes cause you to go out and rape someone or pick up a hooker in Europe? No. The US allows ultra violence because they know you won't run out and shoot someone after playing GTA or Halo. But they are strict on nudity. I myself don't care if there is nudity in a game but parents might care if they see their children watching whoopee in a video game.

Again, why are we crying it is rated "M" ? Its not like it got AO.

Most of today's generation in the US is much more open about sex. Probably even more so than a lot of Europe. However, it's the older generation that casts the votes, and so it's the older generation that will continue to get what they want in this country. At least until the youth of this country starts voting as well..... or just waits for all of the geezers to die off :P

Breast profiles? That's just stupid. I have no respect for Mass Effect now.

And not only that, but I doubt I'll end up buying the game because I don't want to risk my parents walking in while the camera is focused on a pair of naked breasts.

This is a shame. Mass Effect has a terrific dialogue system, and they had to ruin the whole game by turning it into interactive pornography.

but youre stillokay with the whole idea, of sawing, shooting, stomping enemies? ...so ridiculousmonie11k

I've made my feelings clear on extreme violence and gore already. When you disable the extreme content in GeoW, its quite similar to shooters we've been playing dating back to the Atari 2600, just with a bit better graphics. :D

And again, what's up with the judging??? I've been consistent in all of my posts that I'm speaking for me and some of my contemporaries. Should you judge people with certain values that are different than yours any more than they should judge you? Too much of the judging on these boards .......

I have a gut feeling thatsome of the posters that are so vehemently against any type of sexual content whatsoever are still in their teens or their very early twenties at most.

If people can't handle a little romance and God forbid SEX (!!) then they don't deserve nor will be capable of enjoying many mediums of entertainment, such as art, music, TV, movies, you name it. Stay locked up in your rooms your whole life with the brainwashed notion that sex is so taboo and is such a far removed part of being human that you are willing to forgo something so enjoyable (gaming) because of something so trivial and over-exaggerated as sex.

I apologize if this is harsh, but come on.

Breast profiles? That's just stupid. I have no respect for Mass Effect now.

And not only that, but I doubt I'll end up buying the game because I don't want to risk my parents walking in while the camera is focused on a pair of naked breasts.

This is a shame. Mass Effect has a terrific dialogue system, and they had to ruin the whole game by turning it into interactive pornography.

AbusementPark

Chances are that the sex scenes are not a mandatory part of the game and that romance interests don't have to be followed up. Besides it may be possible to skip cutscenes anyway.Oh and the cutscenes involving sex aren't interactive.

The only sex scene I remember in a mainstream video game was in Mafia, and that was more of a PG-13 allusion to sex that occurred off "camera".

Not having played the game I've no idea what the issue is here. I don't quite understand how anyone can take issue with the ESRB, or defend them when we've no idea what this content actually is.

Either way an M rating for this game doesn't cause me any issues.

Okay, coming from an 18 year old juggalo who's seen alotta **** up things.. sex in america is nothing. Everybody tries censoring it saying dont do it it's wrong, but from my experience, I've seen 13 year old girls having sex and actually they know more about it than most 40 year olds(having experienced both{not while 18 tho}).. the thing is if people try to make people not do it, it becomes an enigma or riddle that people want to find out. Nobody tells you what sex is or how to do it, so what better way than become a slut and find out for yourself?? I mean, c'mon, we should be able to see boobs in a game without it being M. Maybe T would be more appropriate. In this day and age, BECAUSE of America's constant cover up of sexuality, teens are more prone to sex before they reach their teens! I've heard some sick **** cuz girls and boys want to know what it is America's trying to hide so harshly.. they're getting younger and younger.. it's gross really.. but how many 14 year old boys and girls HAVENT seen boobs? Why is that adults only or 17 and up?? Doesn't make sense to me

Personally I wanna see the sex in games, maybe mature rating for sex in games, but defintitely not adults only. I dunno, i'm having a hard time putting out my point in writing.. maybe someone will see what I'm saying.. but violence should be considered the same as sex.. it's gonna happen, teens already know about it; why hide from us/them what we already know?!

My ESRB:

Thong(or provocative clothing)/Fighting with no/minimal blood: E
Boobs/Ass/Fighting with blood: Teen
Sex/Decapitations and fun stuff like that: M
Graphic sexual things(like blowjobs or vaginas or penises): AO. I say porno material should be AO, NOT sexual things EVERYBODY AND THEIR MOM knows about..

Maybe you'll agree, maybe everyone'll think I'm just sick. Who knows, who cares? I know I dont. ---- America!

Don't Censor Bypass. Next time I will moderate the message instead of editing! - Ghost Face 8/10/07