Does anyone else other than myself think that AoC is on track to earn an Adult Only Rating?  This rating would effectivly ban the game from large US retailers (Target, Walmart) and destroy the chance of the game reaching a large number of players in the US.

EDIT:  I guess I should really say do you think it will get an AO rating if it keep the current adult content in the game?  People are bringing up good points that the company may cave in and edit the game to get a better rating (aka. Manhunt 2).

It will absolutly NOT. only reason being they will not be able to sell the game in half of the stores. they will push M as far as they can go but they will never take it to AO. Just to many stores will refuse to carry the game. Same reason manhunt 2 went BACK from being an AO to mature. You gotta remember investors in the game want their profit. they don't want to release a game that you can only Direct DL.

Yes but effectively they will have to eliminate all this "Mature" or what they consider mature (BOOBIES) content from the game to get it in retail store shelves.

Nah they can keep that in... Sans the XBOX conan game tons of boobs and sex and GALLONS of blood. They just kept it in context. For instance they never SHOWED conan having sex or touching a boob.. but it was known what was going on... kept it an M rated game and it wasn't toooo bad.

Originally posted by Thecrow12345

Yes but effectively they will have to eliminate all this "Mature" or what they consider mature (BOOBIES) content from the game to get it in retail store shelves.

They need to remove it anyway.  All it is going to do is attract even more kiddies then games without that type of content.  Swearing, boobs and blood doesnt make a game "adult oriented".  Complex gameplay that requires thought and strategy does.

Well they're not making it have that stuff JUST to make it adult... they're leaving it IN because they stated they don't want to kidify the game and make the conan universe something it isn't. If you read the books the Lore is intact... theres MORE blood and MORE sex and violence in the books than could ever even be PUT into a game. They just stated the coment "adult" game meaning they weren't gonna pull any punches when it came to content in order to acheive a T for teen rank. They want to leave the conan world how it is.

I do agree though i'm worried about the community the game will attract.

Originally posted by Everith

Well they're not making it have that stuff JUST to make it adult... they're leaving it IN because they stated they don't want to kidify the game and make the conan universe something it isn't. If you read the books the Lore is intact... theres MORE blood and MORE sex and violence in the books than could ever even be PUT into a game. They just stated the coment "adult" game meaning they weren't gonna pull any punches when it came to content in order to acheive a T for teen rank. They want to leave the conan world how it is.

 

I do agree though i'm worried about the community the game will attract.

I believe they've actually said this, and that they want this.

But when crunch time eventually does hit, don't you think they will cave in a little like most art producers do? I mean, if it ever comes down to a choice between artistic integrity and dollars, then dollars always wins right?

Don't get me wrong, I think there is a case that the adult angle might actually garner more dollars, because that would make it different than everything else out there. But I may be wrong, OR they may just not think that, and when it comes down to it, dollars will win. At least it will be entertaining to see how the game changes (if it changes) when the screws start to tighten. Here's hoping they stick to their guns and try something a little different...

I agree i hope they stick to there guns and keep the game how it's meant to be... don't wanna see it change all of a suddon and be censored *cough witcher *cough (stupid censorship in america)

It is on the lines of GTA atm, it will be an 18 no doubt but they would be hypocrites if they made this game AO when they have games like GTA which the same kind of features in.

For instance, theres nudity in GTA, theres also excessive violence and gore etc, theres also obscene language, theres nothing apart from peeing npcs that you cant find in GTA that you can find in this game.

Only way i could see them classing this game as AO is because of the graphics, gta has crap graphics so they could argue it doesnt descentisize the violence as much as a game that looks as good as age of conan does. But i doubt that would happen, i cant say i wouldnt be surprised if it did though it was strange a game like manhunt was actually baned in England usually no one cares lol

There is no way this game will carry an AO rating. As stated before, I don't believe any company who wants to take a shot at the MMO throne would screw themselves in this manner. What it all comes down to is $$$$$$. I would love nothing more for the game to be AO so limit the WoW kids from coming over, but this would make the company substantually less money, as most stores wouldn't carry the game.

Here's the deal in sales... you want to have Wal-Mart and Target selling the game. I'm not even sure at this point if Wal-Mart would carry it with the "M" rating. So unfortuneatley, artisic integrity < Mula.

Who knows though, here is the exact text from the ESRB for mature and adult only:

MATURE
Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.

ADULTS ONLY
Titles rated AO (Adults Only) have content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.

What's the difference? Only your senator knows for sure.

If for some reason it did get an AO rating I'm fairly sure Funcom would tone it down and get it re-rated until it was given the M rating they are aiming for.

So the answer would be 'no' to an AO rating.

As the game is right now I think it would get an AO rating in the US. The Witcher, as mentioned before, has gotten censored in the US for showing full female nudity. If they hold this game to the same standards, then there will be a lot of cover-ups going on before this game makes release.

All is fine as long as they publish a proper EU version as well :)

Maybe then the people will have the freedom the censorship movement in the US does not allow them to have.

if it keeps the kiddies out i say go ahead.

Originally posted by ASmith84

if it keeps the kiddies out i say go ahead.

I think people keep pointing to the nudity as the main reason for the possibility of an AO rating.  But from what I've heard, the graphics involved in killing someone/something are also very much a factor in this rating.

I haven't seen any screen shots with a 'gore-factor' at this point. 

I have seen a few shots with female nudity (breasts).  Does it go beyond that?

...

If nudity is done in the proper context, then I fail to see how it can be 'wrong'.  If the game is trying to set some type of mood and/or help illustrate a setting or show us how a certain race/breed of people are, then I think it has a valid place in the game.

If National Geographic has shown us one thing for decades... it's that nudity is acceptable to show when/if it's the native state of things.

There is no AO rating on National Geographic. 

...

As for violence and how to illustrate it...

I hope AoC is a bloodfest.  I hope it raises the bar on combat. 

I don't think we get enough of a feel for what killing is really like in games.  I mean, we see some pretty bad effects in most games when we kill/are killed. 

When I kill someone with a mace... their armor should have a nice fat dent in it. 

If I kill someone with a sword... their armor should have gashes in it OR they should be missing a limb (as my sword would find the open spots in the armor at joints, etc.,..).

There should be blood.  Enormous amounts of blood.  Not just on who I kill... but on me, too.  Until I go to town or find a way to wash my armor, I should have blood on me. 

Quality audio on combat.

Yes, there should also be some 'better' sounds involved as well.  Bones snapping or being torn through.  Flesh, muscle, tissue being ripped through. 

I'm not asking for tongues and eyeballs to pop or people to release their bowels when they die... but if your character just slumps to the ground and a small puddle of blood circles him, that's weak.

If you live through combat with wounds... you should know it.  After 2 years of playing a character and after fighting and killing several thousands of beasts and people, you shouldn't look like some GQ cover-model golden-boy elf.  You should look like someone who has climbed a Mt. Everest sized stack of bodies with sword, shield, tooth, nail, fist, blood, sweat, and tears so that you could stick your flag into the top of the meat-heap.   There should be scars and perhaps limps... I dunno. 

...

Violence and nudity have an artistic place in games. 

Originally posted by BlackWatch

 

Originally posted by ASmith84

if it keeps the kiddies out i say go ahead.

I agree with the thought there... but I doubt it would keep them out (as discussed a few dozen times previously).

 

I think people keep pointing to the nudity as the main reason for the possibility of an AO rating.  But from what I've heard, the graphics involved in killing someone/something are also very much a factor in this rating.

I haven't seen any screen shots with a 'gore-factor' at this point. 

I have seen a few shots with female nudity (breasts).  Does it go beyond that?

...

If nudity is done in the proper context, then I fail to see how it can be 'wrong'.  If the game is trying to set some type of mood and/or help illustrate a setting or show us how a certain race/breed of people are, then I think it has a valid place in the game.

If National Geographic has shown us one thing for decades... it's that nudity is acceptable to show when/if it's the native state of things.

There is no AO rating on National Geographic. 

...

As for violence and how to illustrate it...

I hope AoC is a bloodfest.  I hope it raises the bar on combat. 

I don't think we get enough of a feel for what killing is really like in games.  I mean, we see some pretty bad effects in most games when we kill/are killed. 

When I kill someone with a mace... their armor should have a nice fat dent in it. 

If I kill someone with a sword... their armor should have gashes in it OR they should be missing a limb (as my sword would find the open spots in the armor at joints, etc.,..).

There should be blood.  Enormous amounts of blood.  Not just on who I kill... but on me, too.  Until I go to town or find a way to wash my armor, I should have blood on me. 

Quality audio on combat.

Yes, there should also be some 'better' sounds involved as well.  Bones snapping or being torn through.  Flesh, muscle, tissue being ripped through. 

I'm not asking for tongues and eyeballs to pop or people to release their bowels when they die... but if your character just slumps to the ground and a small puddle of blood circles him, that's weak.

If you live through combat with wounds... you should know it.  After 2 years of playing a character and after fighting and killing several thousands of beasts and people, you shouldn't look like some GQ cover-model golden-boy elf.  You should look like someone who has climbed a Mt. Everest sized stack of bodies with sword, shield, tooth, nail, fist, blood, sweat, and tears so that you could stick your flag into the top of the meat-heap.   There should be scars and perhaps limps... I dunno. 

...

Violence and nudity have an artistic place in games. 

 

I think I love you... ya know, but in that manly sort of way... lol

Good to still see the contents of this game still shock the mind of some.

In Austraila the highest rating it can get is a MA 15+ "Video games which exceed the impact of what the MA15+ rating allows are refused classification (RC). Games refused classification may be edited and resubmitted by their developers to garner an MA15+ classification."

So go figure for a large percentage of Oceanic timezome players, Funcom will play fair within the ratings board.

Mature rating is just fine for the U.S. look at all the recent Mature titles games that are just the same spewing out at the moment.

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

Good to still see the contents of this game still shock the mind of some.

In Austraila the highest rating it can get is a MA 15+ "Video games which exceed the impact of what the MA15+ rating allows are refused classification (RC). Games refused classification may be edited and resubmitted by their developers to garner an MA15+ classification."

So go figure for a large percentage of Oceanic timezome players, Funcom will play fair within the ratings board.

Mature rating is just fine for the U.S. look at all the recent Mature titles games that are just the same spewing out at the moment.

Anyway, Funcom is shooting for the ESRB "Mature" rating (M 17+), to which the Australian equivalent is MA15+. Yes, yes, the age restriction is different but the classifications are essentially the same.

You can bet your bottom dollar that Age of Conan will NOT get an AO rating, as that would be a commercial disaster.

I don't believe AoC will get an AO rating, because in order for them to get that rating they will need to do more then just show some boobs and gore. AO rating usually stems from full nudity and sex scenes that are clearly depicted.

If they somehow managed to get an AO rating that would be a commercial nightmare, because AO does not pull in big numbers at all.

As long as the women are topless and not doing sexual thing with their toplessness (at least not seen) then the game will get a 'Mature' rating.  Conan has breast in the game, so you can expect AoC to have the same.

**edit**

Question, maybe someone will answer this.  Ok, say that they do restrict the AoC version in US only (gore, blood, nudity, whatever....) would it be possible for a US player to purchase the game through a UK online store and play the game in US servers with a UK game?