Is Nudity In Games Such A Bad Thing?
Today we are disappointed to inform you that the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK), Germany’s video game ratings board, has refused to provide a rating for Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors. This means that the title will not be advertised or sold at retail in Germany.
The game will still be released in other regions of Europe carrying a PEGI 16 rating on September 23, and in North America with an M rating on September 20. There will be no release of Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors in Australia or with an OFLC rating.
For more information about the USK or their ruling, please visit This Link or contact them directly at kontakt@usk.de.
Stuff like this are not exclusive to the USK. According to the ESRB, the following is true. Trevor using pliers to violently rip teeth out of a screaming victim to torture them warrants an M rating (among the other forms of torture he uses in GTA 5). however playfully spanking an anime girl while she playfully moans “iie~” is an AO rating.
Meanwhile in South Park the Stick of Truth, aliens anally rape an 8 year old boy with probes while other male adults are having the same done to them again making sounds of discomfort is an M rated game.
So to summarize, according to the ESRB:
- Ripping a man’s teeth out: M (Sold almost every where)
- Anally raping an 8 year old boy: M (Sold almost every where)
- Playfully spanking an anime girl: AO (Are never sold by retailers or most wall gardens)
For some warped reason the society we live in today is ok with violence, foul language and murder in the media it consumes, but when it has to do with nudity, and stuff of a sexual nature, “oh no that’s taboo”. It’s seems completely absurd to think that things that can be considered harmful are glorified, while something that is completely natural is ostracized and viewed as vile by many.
What’s with society today?
What’s with our perspective, our standards?
As living organisms procreation is a very important part of our existence. It is how we are here today, and how future generations will be here, well as far as we know any way. As such, I strongly believe that such things as sex and the human body should not be frown upon. The naked human body is a natural thing that many are awkward and ashamed to look at, much less address, so it is pushed aside, cursed to be considered the scourge of the earth, yet be honest, we have all watched some form of pornographic material in our lives.
Well, all of us except you Johnny come perfect…
When I was in high school I was taught an Acronym that I remember to this day; GRIMNER. GRIMNER, or Growth, Respiration, Movement, Irritability, Nutrition, Excretion and Reproduction. These are the characteristics that differentiate what a living thing is from those that are not living. We were thought that an organism had to possess each and every one of these characteristics to be considered living. We human beings are considered to be part of the living variety, and as such we exhibit all of these traits, including the last one, REPRODUCTION. It is a very fundamental part of who we are, so why is it treated like a sin.
Hi
Welcome to this discussion about the impact of nudity in Video Games, Anime and other forms of entertainment, but mainly Video Games.
Now first thing before we go any further, I’d like to confirm that this is article has a mature subject matter, so please kindly bear that in mind.
Ok, so now that we’ve gotten that out of the way let’s get on with the real meat of this piece.
Let’s start with my humble beginnings, because this is not just an editorial, it’s a story of sorts. As a young child I was subjected to some very strict parenting. I was not allowed to watch anything that was remotely associated with the act of sex, which included kissing scenes in movies (I kid you not, I use to have to cover my eyes or leave the room if characters in a movie started getting physical). My mother was completely against my sisters, and I ever knowing anything related to physical relations between human beings out of fear that it would corrupt us, and make us perverse. I can honestly say that I have never had “THE TALK” with either of my parents, and I’m not sure about that situation as it relates to my siblings. All my understanding of all acts of a sexual nature was gained from media (books, pornography, movies, documentaries), conversations with friends, and personal experience.
With that being said, I do think that my mom had some merit in not exposing us to that particular type of information as prepubescents, however when one becomes a teen/ young adult I think it is very important for them to know about their body, and about that of the opposite sex, and I’m not talking about only during a science or a generic sex-ed class. It needs to be thought in a more organic way, and what better way than to have it in the media we consume, video games included.
Just think about this idea for a few minutes…….
As a species we are becoming more and more detached from each other. We live in a time where most of the media we consume is attainable via a small touch screen device that a majority of us possess. From my personal experience I consider this generation to be more alienated than the last. Younger adults are not sure how to interact with each other in an intermate manner, and to be quite blunt there are more and more who are repulsed by the human body. We have individuals who are repulsed by their own nude bodies, much less those of other individuals. To add to that many of these people have these false images in their heads of what the ideal body type is, when infact each body type is ideal to someone. Some people like chubby bodies, others like slim, then there are those that like short and those that like em tall. The point i’m trying to make is that it’s all up to the individual which type is ideal to them. Sadly most don’t have an opinion on what they like or are confused about the entire thing, because no one was ever real with them about human sexuality, and it is hidden from them by society at large.
Oh and here’s a little something interesting. I know there are going to be those that are going to say stuff like; “well if we allow games with nudity, then our kids will grow up to be perverts”. To those people I’m just gonna ignore you, because you obviously don’t know about rating systems, and just buy any game your kid wants and then blames the developer for what you child consumes. For the rest of you that are concerned or may believe that violence is less harmful than sexuality, I’d like to share some facts with you. The United States is a country that embraces violence in it’s media and culture while at the same time denouncing sex and other things related to it. Japan however frowns upon violence and embraces sexuality.
Taking that information into consideration, lets look at their crime rates….. According to the website, NationMaster, the US has a crime level of 55.84 while Japan’s is 12.8. Violent crimes (Gun Crimes) in Japan are rated 0.6, while the US is a whopping 148 times higher with 88.8…. and I know some of you are gonna say well Japan has rape on a ridiculous level…. well they’re rated 1 for rape and ranked 52nd in the world while the US is rated 27.3 and ranked 9th.
We as a populous need to stop alienating the human body in it’s most natural form, and that starts with allowing it in the media we consume, including video games. We need to embrace and accept it for what it is, beautiful, and stop hiding it under the rug as something bad while embracing other things like war, violence and so much others in our media. Of course these games need to be rated and those ratings need to be enforced, and yes, I know that it’s hard for developers to sell games with a AO rating especially when politicians, and parents lobby year after year to have them restricted, but why have a rating system if we’re not gonna let it do it’s job. We should also revisit our rating systems and restructure them to reflect the kind of media we have today. Many of these systems were created for an older generation with older forms of media, and so they should to be updated to match the current generation.
It is only then that we will have a truly better society of Johnny come stare are touch screens. 😉
Thank goodness that I don’t live in Australia or Germany. Their nanny state stance on video games makes me sick. Getting a 16 age rating in one country and banned in another shows how inconsistent standards are. Like you I cannot understand why eye candy is considered more serious than brutal murder.
Hi buddy been so busy I’m now getting a chance to reply. , thanks for the feedback, It’s a sad situation in some places in the world as it relates to games censorship and bias..