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The ESRB Doesn't Take Games Seriously?
Eurogamer has word of comments by the president of developer Factor 5, Julian Eggebrecht. The veteran game developer had some extremely pointed things to say about the ESRB, an organization he painted as 'not taking games seriously'. Says Eggebrecht, "I would be happy if in games we could talk about homosexuality, but we're not even at the point where we can admit that humans have heterosexual relationships, and that is a real problem - and it tends to show that games are not being seen, even by our own ratings boards, as an artform ... It's a flat out bizarre system...It makes it even harder for games than movies because we don't have the intermediate ratings. They don't really tell you what they will object to - they just say 'well, follow the standards that have been set before', which is a problem if you want to push the envelope." There's further discussion of this issue at Ars' Opposable Thumbs blog, which points out that the console makers hold some responsibility here too. Meanwhile, Rockstar is asking for help from the wider games industry to help them to fight the ESRB/BBFC rulings.
This has to be the stupidest thing I have ever read. You are trying to "push the envelope" and you are surprised that you have a problem getting the rating you want?
Just remember - if the world didn't suck, we would all fall off.
Rockstar can kiss my ass. They were utterly irresponsible by leaving that in a game that already gets people mad. We're in a democratic society, and if we don't behave, people will enact laws to force behaivior.
The ESRB was meant to prevent that from happening. Perhaps there needs to be some recognition of what artistic expression is allowed, but if it's homosexual sex, or any other kind of elicit sex (I don't really care which), then that stuff is for adults. IF your artform is really violent or sexual, perhaps there is nothing wrong with it being sold only to adults. If mommy thinks this is ok stuff for Junior to experience (And often it will be), then she can buy for him.
One of the serious screw ups Rockstar made was releasing a game that circumvented the claim its rating bore. It had a sex simulator hidden in it. And of course, Rockstar lied through their teeth about it. That means that parents who didn't mind their teenager playing GTA for the violence and themes weren't also aware of the explicit sex. MY opinion or your opinion on which is worse is not relevant. What's relevant is that parents weren't aware of the content as Rockstar lied about it. This wasn't some low budget download, this was a huge brand! You take that level of control and security away, and it becomes much easier to rally censors. Made the industry look like a bunch of retard clowns. Rockstar owes the entire industry a huge apology, because now we have to pay to lobby harder than before to keep our freedom of speech.
Freedom of speech will never be absolute. Laws will get in the way, and we've got to show we can act responsibly and produce artistic and interesting stuff without lying about the content.
We need to convince console makers to license AO content, and then we need to use that rating appropriately. The way to do that is to make your homosexual relationship game (or whatever else you are interested in) for the GOD DAMN PC. If it's really good, people will respect it, and things will change. I think games are an artform and I want to see more controversial material done in a thoughtful manner. I want more expression, but now we have Hot Coffee hanging over our heads.
Rockstar has zero credibility in this debate. Zero. I love GTA: SA, but they need to grow the hell up. Jack Thompson and various other assholes want nothing more than for dumbasses in this industry to get explicit content in the hands of kids.
So yeah, Hot Coffee is a good reason to ignore anything Rockstar wants to say about this.