2006-05-09 - ESRB rating change revisited Options

[stargelman]

You knew this would happen.

You just knew it would happen when you heard that Oblivion's rating was changed by the ESRB on the grounds that "the game contains hidden nudity".

You just knew he would get involved to spread FUD.

It is also clear that Take-Two corporately and its senior officers, including CEO Paul Eibeler, individually, must now be prosecuted criminally for the knowing distribution of "sexual material harmful to minors" which is a felony in most states and nationally. The undersigned intends to work toward that end immediately.

...

Its popular and newly released Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has now been re-rated "Mature" and recalled by the ESRB because Take-Two and its co-publisher have been caught embedding nude figures and scenes in the game which can be unlocked with a code provided by the developer. This is not a modification or "mod" of the game by gamers. It is an unlocking of content that was put there by Take-Two with the unlocking code provided by the developer!

Go read Jack Thompson's press release over at Games First.

Maybe have a good laugh. Or maybe frown and understand that this guy is a serious threat to the gaming industry and all happy gamers, because there's enough people in influental positions that don't know any better or try to make profit of this and support his agenda.

Now, you probably haven't seen what the fuss is all about. Can't have that.

Oblivion's Harmful Boobs

[RealPi]

Hello world

I am awaiting a new system to arrive so I can begin playing Oblivion. In the meantime I thought I would check what's going on.

Indeed, I do agree with a lot of the concern on the ratings.

I would like to apologize in advance if some of my personal views below offend some people's personal beliefs. However none is meant in an insulting manner.

First: Always IMHO, the hypocritical morals of some purported Christians in the United States are not a particularly startling phenomenon. After all, look at our society. Pietism and Puritanism are the unfortunate children of the Reformation and counter-Reformation, themselves having been begotten out of the ugly wedlock of European barbarism and the declining legacy of the Papacy that many would argue had already lost the essence of Christianity after the Great Schism of 1054. The East has for the most part kept a Christianity that is quite distinct to what we have been used to in this part of the world, although the past 200 years have seen a slow change in this respect, which is very fortunate for us.

Of course, there are also a small number of "Christian Right" activists who happen to be Eastern Orthodox, at least by name, but they certainly do not represent the Consciousness of the Orthodox Church, which clearly states that politics cannot mingle in its realm in an essential dogmatic way. Christ was persecuted exactly because He did not come to bring an external peace, as some political leaders would have it, but "His peace"; an inner peace. Clearly this man who writes about "gaming" so frivolously (and others like him) seems to have totally missed the point by trying to present Christianity as some form of Idealist Manifesto whose purpose is to make long statements and banish this or that "evil". That however is not Christianity but a sociopolitical theory that can easily be undertaken by any "moral person" who wants to be an activist.

Whatever people's beliefs on the topic, what matters for us gamers (Christian or other) is to realise that Christian ethos and morality cannot be measured against or associated with "morality in games" in an external and therefore shallow way. Perhaps the man might be well-meaning in what he is doing but I cannot agree in the way this is done.

Second: Having said this, we must also look at the other side of the coin. Grand Theft Auto for example, no matter how much we may not wish to admit this, did portray some situations in life that might concern not only a parent but ourselves and our younger brothers. Irrespective as to what happens in other areas (online pornography, school etc.), we have a weak argument if we claim that "there are more important areas to check for morality", much in the same way that when a cop gives us a speeding ticket we do not say "but the other guy behind me passed a red light". The idea is that teenagers may not have as yet developed a sufficient idea of what reality entails and, as they may still be absorbing what they see unquestioningly, they might also be influenced by it in a negative sense. From a Christian perspective, however, one may also wonder if such a pastime is beneficial for one's soul (certainly a question ripe for the younger ones and also for the older bunch -- we are not excluded from this). This however cannot by its nature be discussed or developed outside the pre-eternal ethos of the Church through the ages, which certainly seems to be absent in the underlying hypocricy of various pep-rallying activists (well-meaning or not they may be, that is not my concern).

Since a true Christian mindset can only be developed by individual people through imitation (much like jogging needs to be lived to become a way of life for our health) of the Christian life witnessed, we must realise that such discussions will bear little to no fruit if done outside the right context, as we also need a personal commitment from people who are Christian or become Christian (in some specific and definable way that is clearly beyond the purpose of this post). Of course the problem is much more complex, but essentially we can see that the Church (at least my perception of Christian Church which is found in the Orthodox Church) is not trying to stop people from saying "don't do this or that" but is first and foremost being the place, the Ecclesia, where people are meant to work out their salvation, by bringing them closer to Christ (theosis). Thus such suggestions cannot be developed outside the context of The Church through the ages, and become a sociopolitical fanfare of some activist with some very vague idea about Christianity. Of course, due to the fragmentation of Western Christendom it is common to try and minimalize issues, but that is precisely why we have "astronomers" and "astrologers" both claiming they are "scientists who study the stars". So the upshot is: while there is some point in discussing these issues of morality, these cannot make sense out of context.

Third: We must also admit that these issues need to be addressed. Bethesda also produced Cthulu which seems quite a disturbing game. I do not think that this would leave to some person (young or old) nice images inside them. Of course, in that game there is no questioning the mature rating. Perhaps that, together with the Elder Scrolls' success, led some people to pay closer attention to the game. At any rate, the Elder Scrolls series have never promoted some of the more questionable mods. Let us also recall that they almost got into trouble for the popular Children's mod, that worried some that weirdos could use it in the wrong way to promote paedophilia. Clearly, there are a lot of issues that need to be addressed when a free-form modding community exists. Sometimes they are of an evolving technology with unanticipated issues.This can be addressed through the parents and their children but also through careful monitoring by the company who makes these games (and Bethesda did do that).

Fourth: Following from the above, is there something we can say about games? Obviously, the first thing is that parents and children must be responsible about what they buy, read and also cooperate. That means the teenagers talk to mom and dad and the other way around. Communication. When something is clearly contumelious to the spiritual welfare of a child (even among the media norms) and yet the media promote it because "it sells", is it and some half-revealed nipple in a game that causes the problem? If the child develops and uses questionable mods, the parent is responsible for they should have made it their business to learn what's going on. IMHO what is far more important in a game is that it should not take so much time that we lose on other areas of our lives (for Christian people, losing too much time away from God would mean a "true oblivion"). But whatever people believe or support, and I respect it of course, it is certain that the ball falls back to the parents, and how they help their children grow up. Playing a few hours of clean-fun oblivion with your kid is no problem.

Fifth: A more careful examination of such issues may reveal that such people like this activist are often presented as some form of "scapegoat", out to ridicule Christians or Christianity. The "Christian Right" by no means represents Christianity in any way, especially if one actually realises that even the "Christian America" is closer to a myth, a romantic portrayal, that forgets to add e.g. Jefferson's rationalism that erased all miracle-working stories from the Bible because they had no place in the new rationalism. Furthermore, we need to realise that a distorted ethos can arise in a society that has been influenced by a distorted view of Christianity since the beginning.

Irrespective of how well Christianity is represented in the US or not, and irrespective as to how much or how little agree with these views presented here, the upshot is that Oblivion probably does not deserve the mature rating although I would think that a parent should be informed about the content of the games his child is about to receive.

For us grown-ups of course, our decisions are (at least theoretically) sound and mature.