Re: Games with adult themes

["Leo M. Lalande" <scorpio@...>]

> Reality is actually adult themed. Kids have to figure out the rules.

I love this point of view! :)  It seems so very true.

> Games are a great way to accomplish that. As piecepack itself is public 
> domain, designers are free to design anything they want with it.

True indeed.  But I think the issue is a little more complex than that.


> I wonder why sex is considered adult, yet violence is not, and no 
> eyebrows went up over the combat schemes in several of the games.

A very interesting thought to be sure; it's a cultural thing.  It
seems, in North America at least, that many people will object more
strongly to sex and porn than they will to violence.  I believe it has
a lot to do with the history of the settlement of North America.
 
> If you don't want to play a game, don't. If you don't want to buy it
for 
> your kids, don't. Please allow those adults who are interested in 
> mature themes to play the games they want to.
> 

The first two statements are a common type 'anti-censorship' statement
people use when there's talk of banning this or restricting that, and
they are valid statements; but they don't mitigate the fact that some
people are offended by certain themes like sex, and apparently to a
lesser degree, violence.

I'm strongly in the anti-censorship camp; but I do think that as a
community, there are reasonable steps we can take to make all types of
games available to the piecepack community at large, while helping
more sensitive members of the community to avoid offense and discomfort.

The solution may be something as simple as creating a new folder in
the files area for uploading 'mature themed' games in progress, or
developing a kind of 'warning label' system whereby the description of
the file alerts people to what kind of content they can expect to see
in the document should they decide to open it.  Perhaps a 'sub-group'
(i.e.: a new yahoo group) dedicated to mature themed games could be
created to discuss such games so that sensitive members aren't forced
to endure conversations to which they may not wish to be privy.

I don't think we've reached the point where designers of mature themed
games have to be 'in your face' about their games because a few
sensitive members are trying to have such material banned, as was the
case (and often still is in many American states) with adult magazine
publishers a few decades ago.  I think a little proactive compromise
now will go a long way to keeping everyone happy.

Movies/Home Video and Video Games have rating and description
systems... how difficult could it be to adapt something like that to
board games in general, and more specifically, to piecepack games?

Some food for thought.

Leo "14thWarrior" M. Lalande