Gaming is in the midst of its own maturation, similarly to film at the turn of the 1930's. Once colour and sound were introduced, the commercial apparatus around them began to balk at the prospect of fully realised hedonism and violence - that's what led to Hollywood's Hays Code. VR, in particular, adds a confrontational culpability to t…
Gaming is in the midst of its own maturation, similarly to film at the turn of the 1930's. Once colour and sound were introduced, the commercial apparatus around them began to balk at the prospect of fully realised hedonism and violence - that's what led to Hollywood's Hays Code. VR, in particular, adds a confrontational culpability to the player: you're looking through the eyes of the protagonist, their hands are your own.
Triple A can be quite disquieting, but their content is mostly disturbing as a work of graphic viscera. Cyberpunk, however, had a mission where you could crucify a convict, which I was utterly disarmed by. I find CD Projekt's approach to morality to be a pretty effective subversion on the inherent solipsism of single-player titles. When the implication is greater than the act, I find its provocation to have resonance. I think indie and VR titles will change the form, rather than challenge it - one for its statement unbound by commercial expectation, the other for the directness of its message.
Do you believe that a stricter code will be created, or people will just be desensitize? I understand that we already have our own ratings, and that it also varies by country. An act without meaning lacks souls, but will do commercially well, sometimes. I've been curious on diving into indie VR titles, as I have no clue how that community is looking.
I think discretion will still be in the hands of the publishers. If they have a particularly extreme product with provocative content, they might bypass traditional storefronts to distribute it themselves. The ERSB - US rating system - is voluntary - since most stores require a rating to sell the game, publishers oblige. They can use homebrew, third-party independent platforms, etc.; PC VR seems like the likeliest frontier for these developers. The consumers will decide whether this would be a viable model, yet it would be a great disadvantage if your game was not featured on Steam.
Has there been any cases where the bypass was necessary and it lead to a commercial success? I know that GTA was wild for its time, but I guess you can't make an A rated game and be a success. Though, I know that Conker was rated A at one point. And regarding Steam, there are a lot of questionable games in that platform if you go deep enough, but I know that they're there because you'd have to go deep to find them.
Just fron cursory digging, I found that there was a title on the DS called '100 Classic Books' that bypassed ESRB (https://youtu.be/9FC5ioaCs2E?feature=shared) - not quite on the scale of GTA, though. I remember Postal 2 was banned in Australia, yet still available on Steam for some time? Now it has a conventional 15+.
Most major commercial titles need ESRB for their console/physical releases. Even though Steam doesn't require ratings for its games - hence why there's such a glut of NSFW titles - simultaneous releases need to conform to the system. Itch.io and similar indie platforms are outside of the mainstream, which would provide the best avenue for full expression.
Gaming is in the midst of its own maturation, similarly to film at the turn of the 1930's. Once colour and sound were introduced, the commercial apparatus around them began to balk at the prospect of fully realised hedonism and violence - that's what led to Hollywood's Hays Code. VR, in particular, adds a confrontational culpability to the player: you're looking through the eyes of the protagonist, their hands are your own.
Triple A can be quite disquieting, but their content is mostly disturbing as a work of graphic viscera. Cyberpunk, however, had a mission where you could crucify a convict, which I was utterly disarmed by. I find CD Projekt's approach to morality to be a pretty effective subversion on the inherent solipsism of single-player titles. When the implication is greater than the act, I find its provocation to have resonance. I think indie and VR titles will change the form, rather than challenge it - one for its statement unbound by commercial expectation, the other for the directness of its message.
Do you believe that a stricter code will be created, or people will just be desensitize? I understand that we already have our own ratings, and that it also varies by country. An act without meaning lacks souls, but will do commercially well, sometimes. I've been curious on diving into indie VR titles, as I have no clue how that community is looking.
I think discretion will still be in the hands of the publishers. If they have a particularly extreme product with provocative content, they might bypass traditional storefronts to distribute it themselves. The ERSB - US rating system - is voluntary - since most stores require a rating to sell the game, publishers oblige. They can use homebrew, third-party independent platforms, etc.; PC VR seems like the likeliest frontier for these developers. The consumers will decide whether this would be a viable model, yet it would be a great disadvantage if your game was not featured on Steam.
Has there been any cases where the bypass was necessary and it lead to a commercial success? I know that GTA was wild for its time, but I guess you can't make an A rated game and be a success. Though, I know that Conker was rated A at one point. And regarding Steam, there are a lot of questionable games in that platform if you go deep enough, but I know that they're there because you'd have to go deep to find them.
I thought that the ERSB thing was obligatory.
Just fron cursory digging, I found that there was a title on the DS called '100 Classic Books' that bypassed ESRB (https://youtu.be/9FC5ioaCs2E?feature=shared) - not quite on the scale of GTA, though. I remember Postal 2 was banned in Australia, yet still available on Steam for some time? Now it has a conventional 15+.
Most major commercial titles need ESRB for their console/physical releases. Even though Steam doesn't require ratings for its games - hence why there's such a glut of NSFW titles - simultaneous releases need to conform to the system. Itch.io and similar indie platforms are outside of the mainstream, which would provide the best avenue for full expression.