That line about unzipping "future blouses" always makes me chuckle - it's just so perfunctory and yet utterly ridiculous. Future blouses!
260: Reviewing Blood, Sex and Magic
- Thread starter Fintan Monaghan
- Start date
You should take a religious anthropology course then! Extremely interesting (although I had a fairly engaging professor, so YMMV).Loop Stricken said:
And I freaking loved that "future-blouse" phrase. It really makes you realize the cultural context of the rating that the article was getting at. A "future-blouse" is not even so serious an issue because, hey, the science-fiction premise in which this game's action takes place is not even so serious.
It's even more impressing than the Christian site's perspective because the description is otherwise so mechanical and disinterested, but then they throw in that phrase and describe one of our culture's viewpoints.
This is the their appropriateness rating for Bioshock.
Appropriateness 24.5/50 Killing in self defense ?4 Blood/Gore ?5 Swearing ?5 Sexual references ?3.5 Provocative clothing ?3.5 Sex outside of marriage promoted ?3 Rebellion against cultural norms ?1.5
Ok, how is sex outside of marriage promoted? That particular relationship ended badly for BOTH sides. And I guess I'm blind, but what is the reviewer calling provocative clothing?
Also laughing at the "Rebellion against cultural norms" listing.
Appropriateness 24.5/50 Killing in self defense ?4 Blood/Gore ?5 Swearing ?5 Sexual references ?3.5 Provocative clothing ?3.5 Sex outside of marriage promoted ?3 Rebellion against cultural norms ?1.5
Ok, how is sex outside of marriage promoted? That particular relationship ended badly for BOTH sides. And I guess I'm blind, but what is the reviewer calling provocative clothing?
Also laughing at the "Rebellion against cultural norms" listing.
Space Furniture - All the greatest designs now available from Pi-kealaryri said:
Futurama joke, couldn't get the actual Pi symbol to appear, kept showing as π.
Censorship is always made out to be something wholly evil, and, well, it is, but the censors themselves usually aren't. The guys who get to see all cultural products before anyone else (and who need to comprehend it and contrast it to other works) end up being highly cultural people.
I love the dry style of censorship reports. Although I find its allure fleeting.
This is the second time this week in which I'm reminded of a screenplay-like thing I'm writing in which a caller to a radio show says that games have a negative portrait of magic, a Christian anti-game advocate (heavily based on Mr. Thompson) agrees, and the caller reveals himself to be a Satanist who is angry at magic in games because they make it out to be to easy.
I love the dry style of censorship reports. Although I find its allure fleeting.
This is the second time this week in which I'm reminded of a screenplay-like thing I'm writing in which a caller to a radio show says that games have a negative portrait of magic, a Christian anti-game advocate (heavily based on Mr. Thompson) agrees, and the caller reveals himself to be a Satanist who is angry at magic in games because they make it out to be to easy.
Or so you think. *pokes Voodoo doll*sigma83 said:
I have to say I found some humourous comments in your review, the one that caught my eye was about how the English critique gaming. I am probably biased, but I do remember the old black and white horror movies, and perhaps the English tend to look at gaming blood and gore from a "gothic" point of view : Gothic as the original term was meant, not gothic as it is used today, to refer to how people (certain people) dress.Fintan Monaghan said:
I also want to mention, that it is REFRESHING to see a review that isn't full of grammar and spelling mistakes, or run-on sentences. Even so-called news journalists (on my homepage web) seem entirely incapable of putting two sentences together without seeming to be confused by that effort.
Thank you for an intelligent read.
There fixed it for you.Fintan Monaghan said:
But in a more serious tone, to get on religion and magic based on my own limited knowledge of Christian theology, whats the difference say in turning water into wine based on god and someone magically turning water into wine; both smell of witchcraft to me.
Furthermore I never understood the whole "sex is evil" tirade since you need it (currently) for the human race to go on, why is it so evil and hidden?
I strongly suspect from reading the British censor's report that someone on that group has a sense a humor; after reading there vivid description of Bayonetta
Anyway that's just my 2 copper pieces.
It's not that hard to comprehend, I mean the answer can even be found in basic Dungeons Dragons lore: priests invoke magic by calling on their God's favour.codemartin said:
The Faithfull
God is all powerful, and capable of performing miraculous deeds here on Earth at will. Whether it's performing an excorcism, parting a sea or smiting an army, his followers invoke his power by calling through prayer, and God will answer depending on whether your faithful enough, or if it was his by his design to begin with. Jesus of course being the son of God has the same miraculous powers.
The Foresaken
Lucifer was the top angel in heaven but through his pride rebelled against God. He was defeated, renamed to Satan, and along with his followers cast from the heavens down to earth and became demons. They don't necessarily have physical manifestations but rather are spirit entities, usually remaining hidden but capable of interacting with the real world. Satanic rituals or magic, and what Christians have historically percieved as "witch craft", involve people summoning or invoking these demons/spiritual entities to do their bidding.
While it's fine if people think it's silly, it would be nice if more at least understood why they get so freaked out about this sort of stuff. It's not necessarily that they're bat shit crazy but rather they just have a unique wordly view: Satan and his demons are real and witchcraft & 'magic' is performed by interacting with them.
Do understand that even if you do not believe in magic, these people do.sigma83 said:
To these Christians, magic is real, something warned against in the Bible, as magic powers are generally gained from the Devil, and are inherently evil in nature.
It probably looks silly to you, but some Christians genuinely believe in this and therefore see the world in a very dfferent way to you. It is as if they live in the Diablo universe for real, and for them, magic is wrong. Evil and wrong.
Whether you agree with that or not, it should be taken into account, and certainly puts the Christian video games reviews into perspective.
I suspect that it's less a case of more officious censors going looking for it as it is that everyone must look for it. In the BBFC's case, there are some things which are simply not allowed at lower classification levels. (In films, the oft cited example is that a headbutt is not allowed at any classification below 15.) Thus every film censor must look out for it. I presume that "glorying in violence" is similar, thus all games censors look for it, if only in passing. The mention of its lack in GTA is undoubtably because of the reputation of the GTA series as ultra-violent. I doubt that the censor involved in grading Super Mario Galaxy 2 will mention it, even if it is the same person!Fintan Monaghan said:
Australia aside (go us!), mostly these classifications (government and otherwise) are for informing the consumer and not restricting access for adults. A more informed consumer can only be a good thing (unless you're a MNC.) I'm glad then that some of these reports are written to actually be read by and appeal to people considering a purchase.
I was amused by the Christian writer's description of the Greek gods as being fairytales.
I was amused by the Christian writer's description of the Greek gods as being fairytales.
I think a good comparison would be that Jesus and or God performing miracles is basically a programmer/developer using their tools or possibly a debug mode.codemartin said:
People practicing "witchcraft" and "magic" would be someone using a gameshark to hack out a perfectly EV'd Shiny Charizard.
I think censorship should be down to the individual than a board. Personally, I'll decide what offends me. If it does offend me, I stop playing. Though there is a bit of a double standard between sex and violence.
You can tear people to bits in something like God of War and no-one bats an eyelid.
But for some reason an exposed boob or sex scene will wreak havoc and the moral guardians will swoop down from their ivory towers on Mount Olympus shouting "Won't someone PLEASE think of the children?"
I say nuts to the children - in Britain, an under 18 won't get sold a game with an 18 on the box. It's not just store policy, it's law. That way, if said child gets hold of the game, the question that should be asked was "Why did the parents knowingly give their kid an 18 rated game?"
All games already has a description of what's in it. Or the reasons why was awarded an 12/15/18 to start with. (Like violence, swearing, sex scenes etc.)
Parents are the ones who should be the ones to make the call as to what is appropriate for their children and take the time to research the games - not a board of elderly and out of touch censors.
You can tear people to bits in something like God of War and no-one bats an eyelid.
But for some reason an exposed boob or sex scene will wreak havoc and the moral guardians will swoop down from their ivory towers on Mount Olympus shouting "Won't someone PLEASE think of the children?"
I say nuts to the children - in Britain, an under 18 won't get sold a game with an 18 on the box. It's not just store policy, it's law. That way, if said child gets hold of the game, the question that should be asked was "Why did the parents knowingly give their kid an 18 rated game?"
All games already has a description of what's in it. Or the reasons why was awarded an 12/15/18 to start with. (Like violence, swearing, sex scenes etc.)
Parents are the ones who should be the ones to make the call as to what is appropriate for their children and take the time to research the games - not a board of elderly and out of touch censors.