Something that has been bothering me lately has been the insane amount of swearing in games. I think it's been annoying me more recently because every new game I've been getting has copious amounts of profanity.
The first shocker was Bad Company 2. I'm not even talking about the campaign, which was pretty tame, but the f#$%ing multiplayer has it too. The really crazy thing is that it's the computer yelling random obscenities when the computer isn't even playing. There aren't any bots in the matches so why should the computer be talking? I understand they want to make the match sound busier than it may actually be, but I do enjoy the yelling for updates on the status of the match like "They're taking point Alpha!" and the like. If the game is gonna swear at me just do it before or after the match like Gears of War or CoD: WaW...nothing like getting cursed out by Jack Bauer.
Another new game series that has never had a problem with swearing is Splinter Cell and now Conviction is loaded with it! It doesn't sound scary or intimidating....just juvenile. The swearing can be so thick at times it just sounds like a middle schooler just learning the finer points of cursing and is determined to show you how badass he is.
It's extra annoying because when I'm just playing to have a good time and a NPC is calling me everything under the sun my wife is telling me that there's no way I'll be playing this garbage when Masen is around and I have to agree. I don't want my kid picking up these habits. If he's gonna learn to swear he'll learn it from the public school system just like his dad.
Why can't a game be "M" rated for just having "Mature" context and not swearing and BOOBIES! Mass Effect and Bioshock are 2 game series that actually deal with mature content in a responsible and adult manner. They deal with complex issues and choices without copious amounts of dollars being thrown into the swear jar.
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Yeah, you're right. Bad Company 2 and Conviction are full of it and there's no need for so much. I think that's what bothers me about it: the AMOUNT of unnecessary swearing. I actually didn't notice it in Conviction until one time where I had cleared out a whole room except for one guy, who was standing there spouting out profanities constantly. I mean, if I was standing in a room and 3 or 4 of my buddies just dropped instantly (from an "execution," of course) I probably would say something like, "Oh shit!".....and then hit the deck and shut up, not roam around rifling off obscenities.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like they could just have an option to turn off the swearing. That way, you could shut it off once you got tired of it, or as a censor when certain people (kids) are around. I feel like there was one game that did give you that option, but I can't think of what it is. Gears or Gears 2, maybe?
Gears had a content filtering system. Isn't that kinda backwards? I wouldn't expect a game with a chainsaw attached to a gun to do much on the self censorship front, but they did a really decent job with it all.
ReplyDeleteI forget what PG-13 movie it was (number of years ago) but I remember watching it and thinking to myself that there was no way that this should be rated as it was. An R rating was definitely warranted, but upon research and some careful observation, I found out that the MPAA is mostly statistical in how it rates films. How many F-bombs are there, how many nipples can be seen, etc. The MPAA has made a false equivalency that content and context are the same. By walking the line, filmmakers were able to be even more provocative with their content by teasing the viewer, and begging for more. The film wouldn't have been nearly as edgy had it just showed the sex, or used the language, because then it would have just felt flat and silly.
http://kotaku.com/5457448/record-of-agarest-wars-really-naughty-limited-edition-lives-up-to-its-name
Games apparently, aren't exempt from this theory. This game hit shelves today, and has some of the most provocative, inappropriate box art (http://www.shacknews.com/images/generated/4afda7e07f0c8_featured_without_text_agarest.jpg) I've ever seen. It maintains a Teen rating, however, by not having sexual situations and keeping the language at bay. Apparently it's our fault if our imaginations run a muck. We're the ones with the filthy minds.
That is the dumbest launch trailer i've ever seen...
ReplyDeleteLanguage is overrated. Maybe the designers realize that the games will played by middle and high schoolers so the F word is funny. When you grow up and mature (2 separate things), the language doesn't hold it's humor. I remember watching Stepbrothers and how forced all the language was and it wasn't funny at all. I didn't even finish the movie...
Games are the same way. I'll still play the games. I mean, Goodfellas is in my movie collection with all 300 F words right there and I've been attempting to finish GTA IV lately.
But yeah, give us an option to turn it off or something. Gets old...
I'm not convinced it's all the designers fault though. At some point both us as participants and game designers as art makers need to exercise some restraint and responsibility. That doesn't mean exclusion of "questionable content", but having a simple awareness of when (or when not) this contents helps the end vision of the project. If we continue to just sit back with it all, I'm pretty sure the lowest F***ing' common denominator is gonna continue to pollute the field.
ReplyDeleteAlso, what a hopeless misnomer "Mature" is to describe this content. I don't see an ounce of maturity in most of the content put into the market. I sure hope I'm not ever mature enough to blow another man's brains out for no other reason than to do it.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should ask 3N3MY about the lady that would rather have her son shoot people than animals. (He'd probably tell it better than I would)
Haha, yeah, I think I've heard that story. When I was a kid and my parents were on vacation, we saw a motrocycle hit a deer. The biker's leg was all screwed up and the deer is flopping around right near our car, his guts held back by a thin membrane of skin. Another person on the highway had a revolver and was going to shoot the deer to put it out of it's misery. Some lady went after him and had to be held back by another guy. She almost attacked a man, a stranger with a gun (he had his son with him but still... a stranger who could have shot her for all she knew), to attempt to protect a dying deer. Even as a kid, you could see this deer was a goner and shooting it was merciful.
ReplyDeletePeople's priorities are screwed up...
And I am NOT part of the participants who support the Mature content. I will play a game if it's a good game but I'll play it with or w/o language in it. Sexual content is where I draw the line as I usually skip through that stuff or don't even play the game if it's bad enough. There is a group of people that want all that content in their games and I am not part of that group. And when I have kids someday, that may change too cuz I won't be having my kids play GTA.
ReplyDelete