Re: [piecepack] Re: Games with adult themes

[George Harnish <lefou23@...>]

On Thursday, May 5, 2005, at 08:03  AM, Leo M. Lalande wrote:

> I'm glad to see the discussion picking up again. :)

Sorry, I've been ill (simple flu like thingie). Hazard of being a 
school bus driver. I keep wondering if there's a game in that.

> the ESRB ratings possess a definition that defines the
> content of the games.

http://www.esrb.org/esrbratings_guide.asp is the link, incidentally. I 
particularly like the Content Descriptors. As "menchie" mentions, what 
I consider appropriate for my mythical children, he might not, or vice 
versa. Still fairly subjective, a good start.

On Thursday, May 5, 2005, at 09:50  AM, menchie@... wrote:

> From: "George" <lefou23@...>
>> What would we like to "rate"?
>> Age appropriateness?
> Meaningless, as what I will let my children play is probably not as
> 'adult in nature' as what you might let your children play.

Good point. My mom showed me a National Geographic article with photos 
of various stages of a fetus in the womb when I was quite young to help 
educate me on where babies came from. School never went that far, even 
in high school health class, though they showed us condoms, diaphrams 
and other such devices. Age doesn't equate to maturity.

>> Funness?
> Not *as* meaningless, perhaps applicable in general, but not useful for
> age-based appropriateness.

I'd find it useful to know what games other people consider fun. As 
Porter235 said, that's pretty well taken care of on the wiki, with 0, 
1, 2 or 3 check marks. (see http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/Ratings ) I 
suppose that encompasses the idea of electronic polling, too. All we 
have to do is participate.

>> Ease of learning? Depth of strategy?
> yes to both...not always related to each other.

Perhaps related to "Funness", though. Especially if a review gets 
written.

>> Sex? Violence? Language?
> Yes, all three, related directly to those things that concern parents.

Well covered by ESRB, I think.

>> Religion?
> If there is any religion-related theme it ought to be noted.
> ...Christian, Muslim, Pagan, Secular Humanism, Darwinism.....
>> Science?
> One person's 'science' is another person's religion.
> :-)

Yeah, that's why I mentioned it. Same with Opinions, Facts, Theories, 
Philosophy and even Politics. I've heard some people think there's such 
a thing as a dangerous idea. As you suggested, an Author's Notes and 
the already existing reviews are probably a good place to mention stuff 
like this.

>> Facts?
> Homer Simpson had the right idea about this....
> :-)
I don't get to watch Simpsons so much lately. Care to enlighten me?

>> Personally, I believe being offended is a personal choice of where 
>> you draw your own
>> line in the sand. You're welcome to show me where your line is, but 
>> you're not
>> allowed to draw my line for me.
> Geez, If you're in the USA, I bet I know who you voted for. <chuckle>

I'd tell you, but then we'd have to move the discussion to another 
group. :)