GTA: San Andreas was a game created only for adults that included scenes of graphic murder and brutal beatings. No problem.
Then it was found out that using some external resources you can play a sex mini game that was originally removed from the retail version.
That got me thinking, "How insensitive have I become?" What could I possibly play that I would feel bad doing? Or what game content would offend me to the point that I would no longer want to play?
Would the context of taboo content affect your opinion? Or when that content is included in the game. Because some of the more harsh topics have already been in games if not hinted at.
Remember that really bad voyeur game with Dano Plato from Diff'rent Strokes? She gets raped right?
Even child molestation is hinted at in the Lucas Arts game Outlaws.
Beating of women...hmm... play any fighting game and you'll see girls slapped around relentlessly.
So these actions COULD occur in games, they'd just have to be appropriate?
Because seriously, nothing gets me as angry as the thought of any type of molestation or abuse and if there is an enemy character that does any of those things it is much more likely to get me riled up enough to chop him to bits. (Hitman.)
My point?
Are games that different from movies? Because in movies there has yet to be any taboo topic. They even touch on the ever controverisal religious subjects.
The funny thing is that I can definitely see a game covering much more religiously controversial topics with less media fanfare than a movie. At the opposite end of the spectrum, however; movies can depict graphic scenes of sex and rape and still get rave reviews. Games will never reach that level of freedom in this arena.
Could it be because they still consider videogames to be geared towards children?
Perhaps they need to stop making silly shaped and colorful consoles and make them more like the rest of the components of our entertainment centers.
This is not the answer of course, but a step in the right direction.
What else do you think would help?