Poll: I demand sideboob!

[The Lawn]

To be honest.... I wished Cleopatra would have covered up those creepy fun bags of hers (Dante's Inferno)... they still haunt me...

THEY HAD TONGUES!!! And creepy death babies came out of them!!!

If I was a child and saw that... I would probably be terrified of female breasts for the rest of my life.

 

[Kortney]

Well this is my theory on the matter.

When things are "new" they are censored heavily. When Music started to become what it is today (i.e: recorded, mass produced music) there was no expletives. When film and television started out - there was also nothing graphic there either. Video games are following the same trend, in a way.

In my mind at least

 

[JEBWrench]

Give me the tl;dr, and I'll finish by saying I'll agree entirely with Kortney.

60 years for American cinema. Sixty freakin' years.

 

[Jedoro]

There shouldn't be official censorship, but the creators should think about it before they incorporate the material into their art form.

 

[Eleima]

I'd venture to say that there shouldn't be any censorship. However, I am in favor of a rating system: I wouldn't want my (imaginary) kids to have access to just anything. Also, since we're on the subject of "sideboob" there's a difference between too much nudity and tasteful nudity (which I thought was pretty nicely done in Mass Effect 1, the sex scene suggest just enough without showing too much). So don't censor, but don't feel as if you *have* to put violence, sexual themes, cursing, etc.

 

[Singletap]

Just in case you missed this very funny parody click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixt1eu11LXk#movie_player

 

[Tadrith]

*shrugs* I think the main issue is that mass media tends to ignore the fact that a video game rating of "M" is the same as a movie rating of "R" while (and this is prompted by something that irritated me in that youtube link) an "AO" rating is the equivalent of NC-17/XXX. Unfortunately, this failure results in parents not equating the two and expecting an "M" game to adhere to the restrictions of a "PG-13" movie...though, really, if you pay attention, what is a PG-13 rating today would frequently have resulted in an R rating 10 or 20 years ago...

The bottom line is, most people wouldn't be aghast if they were to walk away from their computer, travel to a theater right now and sit down to an R-rated film and find that at some point in the movie there were bare breasts, an exposed posterior, or a flacid penis. And while the majority of complaint as to why such things are more damaging in a video game seems to hinge on the interactivity of the experience, it's worth noting that in nearly every case of video game fornication, it's NOT interactive, and rather frequently not too much more titilating than what you might see on a daytime soap opera, or a primetime drama.

Further, when I see a study that states the harmful effects of video games, has been repeated at least 3 times with consistant results, and doesn't get discredited within a few weeks or months, I MIGHT believe it, though I'll be willing to admit the anecdotal evidence of my life and the lives of every other gamer I've ever met leads to a strong prejudice against such studies.

Hrmm....rambling....should stop....basically: Censorship bad. ESRB rating system not taken seriously and not accepted nearly as well as the MPAA's. Slightly ironic that video games get a lot of heat for what's commonplace in other media.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

This thread doesn't live up to the title and I don't really get the argument. Games should have more titillating content because they have so much artistic merit?

 

[Socius]

Play Bayonetta?

Are you that desperate for side boob, really?

Or are you just ranting at censorship and side boob is a funny topic that has been censored?

the later

 

[Gladion]

certain things are reasonable to ban, but sideboob is not such a thing. what is your thoughts on this?

My thoughts on this is you're being a little bit of a hypocrite here. You say boobies are fine but other things are not. Well, I suppose you mean stuff like on-screen child rape or something. Well, there are people who think differently. There are people who think that a flash is pushing it too far already and there are people who can't get enough of that wonderful violence. It's all a matter of opinion. While you might say that on-screen child rape is showing how our society degrades other people already might say so when a naked female is depicted.

 

[gxs]

There is nothing wrong with naked men or women in movies and especially games. Not to mention that ME didn't even show anything significant. Hell if my GF wouldn't cover herself up all the time I wouldn't even be interested in her breasts.
[/thread]

 

[Uszi]

While it was the developer's choice, I disagree with it.

"HEYHUM IT'S THEIR CHOICE!!"

Well, yeah, but it's also tantamount to self-censorship. Bioware saw the backlash they got for ME1 and they were afraid of it, so they backed down with ME2. It's cowardice.

I don't think that they can have pretensions to being serious artists if they're cowards. As artists they should be challenging the mold and doing new things and making statements, all of which require a spine. And Bioware is showing with ME2 that they are essentially spineless court jesters willing to change their form into whatever sells the best with the least fallout.

Nudity in ME1 was essentially a strong declaration on Bioware's part that they were creating a mature, adult game -- that was still tasteful! And for them to backpedal from that initial statement so quickly comes as a betrayal to mature gamers. Bioware: "You guys are mature... But we know you couldn't handle the side-boob, so we pulled it out."

I mean... to a certain extent there's nothing wrong with being a spineless court jester. It's working fine for Michael Bay. But don't go around talking about how artistic you are when you're part of the Michael Bay school of exploiting modern media to get rich, especially when there are people attempting actual artistry within the same field.

They made statements about how they were still creating an adult oriented video game with ME2, but how empty are those statements when the sex scenes are less steamy than what you see on prime time. Nickelodeon has more side-boob than ME2.

Finally, what makes it even more ridiculous, was that the whole world eventually sided with Bioware on this issue. The Faux News report, filled with blatant lies, was eventually disregarded by everyone that the game was originally intended for.

 

[Valksy]

To be honest finding side boob, front boob, upside-down in custard boob is so incredibly easy on the internet that I absolutely fail to see the point in wanting it in games.

From a practical point of view I do not see the west in a hurry to put schnu-schnu in games. It would not be worth the moralising media shitstorm that follows, the calls for a ban, the boycott by vendors. Some things are just not worth the trouble.

As a gamer I am not sure I see the point in putting sex in video games anyway. Cut scenes of any length are something that already irritates me (I want to play the game, not watch it play itself). So short of some sort of bizarre "stick waggle for penetration, X for splooge" mechanism I just don't see it having any place in the game world.

 

[Uszi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVC80fSFFAk

 

[Latinidiot]

look, iy's simple. look at the reason why the sideboob is there. is it simply part of the story, an artistic statement, something liek that, or is it meant to sexually excite. in the latter case, yes, it should be restricted, just like we don't have Jenna Jameson hanging in the Louvre.

 

[Brotherofwill]

Sideboob? Wasn't it more like a half-arse

We are now in the renesanse of the modern pixelarts

Made me cringe. Ouch.

Stupid people with no connection or experience with an artform should not be allowed to have any word about it.

Don't critisize what you can't understand.

The times they are a-changin' ;D.

 

[Brad Shepard]

im sorry, i couldent help it

OT: i have no right to talk right now, sence im playing Dante's Inferno.

 

[Brotherofwill]

look, iy's simple. look at the reason why the sideboob is there. is it simply part of the story, an artistic statement, something liek that, or is it meant to sexually excite. in the latter case, yes, it should be restricted, just like we don't have Jenna Jameson hanging in the Louvre.

The Louvre doesn't contain modern art but check this out: Porn art has been produced and garnered much praise and attention.

Jeff Koons made hardcore pornography in a series titled 'Made in Heaven' and took it to the biggest galleries. It made him a star. It was also exhibited in the Tate Modern recently, arguably the biggest contemporary gallery, so your argument doesn't work.

 

[Regiment]

As has been said, I don't want censorship but I don't have a problem with ratings. However, it's important to note that sex and nudity doesn't automatically make a thing better, more artistic, or pornographic- it all depends on context.

 

[Feralbreed]

You're totally right on this. I firmly believe that games really are an emerging artform, I'll admit that they're pretty stupid now because they're so new as a medium, but someday...

And censorship generally sucks, be the subject anything.

People hate games and judge them too hard because they're the favorite tools of the new generation X. They're rad, they're bad and the old farts don't completely understand them. It's like rock and roll music back then, or hell be it any subculture in it's time..

That's why people get hysterical over ridiculous little cocktease-scenes like the ones in Mass effect. The media-panic presses the developers too much and they retreat to self-censorship.

It's a horrible effect.

Glue those marble dicks back! Get those boobs out! You're beautiful! All of you!