iseko said:
Parents don't want to raise their kids anymore. Put them in front of a pc/tv/console and be done with it. But they want their kids to learn morale and virtue. So they don't want nudity or violence...
Personally I don't think nudity should just be in any game. Only if it adds to the story. For example: dragon age 1. They need a baby so they have sex at the end. In mass effect however it doesn't really add to the story. You can bring up the arguement that having a relationship adds to your character development. But lets be serious. 99% of the gamers just want to see boobs...
In duke nukem it kinda adds to the story in the sense that duke nukem is a pill popping, girl humping psychopath with a lust for alien blood and cheesy one liners. But duke nukem isn't really a game I would let my 12 year old play.
I agree almost entirely with what you have to say. If parents don't want their under-aged children to be exposed to eroticism and nudity, they have to be the parent and decide what sort of media is and is not allowed in their home.
Where I disagree is that the sex scenes in Mass Effect were unnecessary. It makes perfect sense in the story and adds another human element, even if your partner isn't human. They are alone in space, shouldering a huge burden that would cripple most people. They've made it this far through perseverance and teamwork, but they've lost members of that team, they've been accused of lying and madness, and they are the only ones in the Universe who can make it right. Chances of success and survival are slim to none, but they have to try anyway. Wouldn't you want a little physical and emotional comfort at a time like that? They do something life reaffirming before facing their mortality, that's not so out of the blue.
And there's more sex in Dragon Age than Alistair and Morrigan at the end. Your playable character forms a bond with someone else in the middle of adversity and, again, near death experiences, with odds stacked against them that would cripple others. Finding someone to love, and who loves you back, in the middle of all of that is beautiful. I personally hate the fact that Alistair and Morrigan have to get it on so I don't die or lose Alistair. That /sucks/. It's poignant, but it sucks. What sucks even more was there was supposed to be a scene where she goes to talk to him about it first and they argue about it and he shoots her down. That was taken out for some reason, not entirely sure why, but it was.
Lastly, none of the games you cited are games I would let a 12 year old play. That's part of being an adult. Yeah, Nukem is over the top and easily the most offensive, but there are topics in Mass Effect and Dragon Age that I wouldn't want a 12 year old wrestling with. Rape, hopelessness, bigotry.. they have no place in childhood. Add four more years on and a lot more maturity and I might let my future offspring take a crack at the Bioware titles, but that depends on the child's maturity level, and how I feel about it.'
To address the OP - the industry is now full of gamers and consumers who have grown up as part of this medium. I was playing atari at the ripe old age of four, and I've been gaming ever since. It's time for people like us to take a stand and say "Hey, this is our medium. In our eyes, it's art. I'm a tax paying adult, and if I want to see two characters in a video game express love for each other physically, that is my business, not yours. It's perfectly acceptable for you to not want your children to see this, as my parents didn't want me watching Titanic until I was older than 13, but that falls on your shoulders. Not mine, not the video game industry, yours. See that M on the box? That's there for a reason. Educate yourself, like you would about movies, books and television, and take control of what you let into your home. In the meanwhile, let us grown ups who enjoy this sort of thing do so in our own homes. Live and let live."
