Most offensive content in a video game

[0ni0n]

Parents: Severed heads in games bad for kids; sex is worse
In a recent poll, people were asked what would be most offensive in a video game: a severed head, men kissing, usage of a harsh profanity, or heterosexual sex. The sex between a man and a woman was considered to be the most offensive thing at 37 percent, with two men kissing coming in second at 27 percent, and a severed head at 26 percent. The F-bomb wasn't as bad, according to parents: only ten percent would have found that most offensive.

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/1...mostoffqr1.jpg

[Antithesis]

Yes because you know, two guys kissing is sooooooooo much worse than a decapitated head.

[Kiro]

Offensive content? That bitch in Fallout 3 in Megaton lead me to believe I'd be getting some poontang for 100 caps. BUT NOTHING HAPPENED!

[Deejay]

Holy shit lol.

I was working yesterday and this lady came in to return Gears of War 2. She said that she didn't really have a problem with all the chainsaw murdering and other gratuitous violence; but it was the constant cursing and foul language that lead her to returning the game and switching it out for something better suited for her 11 year old.

[_chuchu]

Offensive content? That bitch in Fallout 3 in Megaton lead me to believe I'd be getting some poontang for 100 caps. BUT NOTHING HAPPENED!

Oh you. <3

[Dimmauk]

Holy shit lol.

I was working yesterday and this lady came in to return Gears of War 2. She said that she didn't really have a problem with all the chainsaw murdering and other gratuitous violence; but it was the constant cursing and foul language that lead her to returning the game and switching it out for something better suited for her 11 year old.

What did she get in return?

[Kiro]

Team Fortress 2 I bet.

[Deejay]

What did she get in return?

Need for Speed: Undercover.... poor kid.

I could imagine them sitting in the living room:

Mom: Good job billy! You severed that alien in tw- no wait, 3 peices!

Cole Train: Yeah, WHOO, bring it on sucka. This my kinda shit!

Mom: Heavens to betsy! What did he just say!?!?!? BACK TO THE STORE WITH THIS GAME!

[Olo401]

Here's what I find offensive in a video game...

[Dimmauk]

Need for Speed: Undercover.... poor kid.

I could imagine them sitting in the living room:

Mom: Good job billy! You severed that alien in tw- no wait, 3 peices!

Cole Train: Yeah, WHOO, bring it on sucka. This my kinda shit!

Mom: Heavens to betsy! What did he just say!?!?!? BACK TO THE STORE WITH THIS GAME!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Understand.jpg

[_chuchu]

Some parents found SE not revealing AV's strategy offensive

[Dimmauk]

Here's what I find offensive in a video game...

That link deserves its own thread.

Even Jack Thompson didnt like the game. LOL

This is hilarious!

Missions typically consist of attempting to convert as many people as possible to the Tribulation Force, through the use of "Recruiter" units to raise the "Spirit Level" of civilians. The player can train these new converts, termed "Friends", for a variety of occupations to help further their goal of spreading "The truth behind the disappearances." These converted "Friends" include builders, musicians, and soldiers. Eventually, the player will have to fight the GC, who will use various forms to propaganda as well as conventional combat to reduce the Tribulation Force's numbers. Using physical combat to eliminate GC units and being exposed to the GC's various forms of influence (rock music, secularist propaganda etc.) will lower a unit's Spirit Level, which can eventually lead to the units switching sides unless they pray to increase their own spirit level. There is also a multiplayer mode available, in which players can control the GC or the Tribulation Force. Among the GC's units are rock musicians, "Secularists" and cult leaders. Many of the enemy's units, including Rock Stars, Gang Bosses, Cult Leaders and heavier front-line soldiers are described as being trained in "College". Between missions, the player is also provided with articles about Christianity as well as general articles.

[Elesirdur]

Alluding to a post I made about that suicide case on Justin.tv, I would be interested to see that poll conducted in Canada, Mexico, Japan or in any number of European countries. Given that the poll was only conducted on a website, it's hard to gauge how reflective that is of greater societal views on "offensiveness" in video games.

My guess is that the parents who would be visiting that site would be doing so because they are either hyper-protective of their children or are genuinely interested in the media their children are consuming. (Betting that the former group vastly outweighs the later, but I'm just a huge pessimist when it comes to "parents" as a huge group) The former group may be more socially conservative, hence the abhorence to sex and intimacy, which overrides their distaste of violence.

The thing I don't see coming up much is how it's assumed or implicit that kids or people in general are better able to distinguish violence as fiction, and therefore not as harmful, than sexuality. Violence like video games depict it is not something the average player will run into on a day-to-day basis, or even in their lifetime unless they're in the military or involved in emergency services and see traumatic accidents and the like. However sexuality and intimacy are part of daily life, as much as social conservatives like to publicly descry it and deny it, and therefore it would be "easier" for kids to get "confused" about what is real and what is not.

The retarded irony of it all is that the content in video games that has the most bearing on people's lives, that of a sexual and intimate nature, is considered the most taboo and offensive. Why people can deal with severed limbs and gibbed up human corpses (which would be truly appaling and traumatic in reality) better than they can with a homosexual kiss (and I won't even start with the lesbian double-standard here) is beyond me.

[Epical]

Polls like this are what fueled my mini-rant in the random rant thread... why are people so opposed to sex? Fucking infuriating.

[Avanarius]

Clearly they're jealous because they're not getting any after having kids

[Kohan]

Clearly they're jealous because they're not getting any after having kids

No, they just don't want those kids to repeat their mistakes and make babies.

NSFW

Spoiler: show

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/5...ookawaypc6.jpg

[Dimmauk]

Polls like this are what fueled my mini-rant in the random rant thread... why are people so opposed to sex? Fucking infuriating.

I agree! I fucking love fucking.

[Elesirdur]

Polls like this are what fueled my mini-rant in the random rant thread... why are people so opposed to sex? Fucking infuriating.

I would say it's a generational thing, but I really don't think that it's the case. If you happened to be raised in a religion, not just a part of Christianity specifically but could be any in the world, where the body and sexuality is somehow taboo then this will keep happening.

Bit of a tangent, but a funny and related story nonetheless. Recently, a French-Canadian man won an appeal to one of the superior courts of Quebec for being fined for cursing at a a pair of officer after being stopped on the street and asked for ID, specifically saying "fuck" quite a few times. The (francophone) judge upheld the appeal and threw out his tickets because he determined that "fuck" was not offencive.

In French, and in Canadien French, English-based curse words hold no real power since all the French swears are related to the church. If, however, the judge contended, the defendant had said "merdre tabernac" or "chalice de tabernac", then indeed he would have been justifiably convicted. The above phrases loosely translate, idiomatically, into "fuck the tabernacle" and "damned chalice of the tabernacle." French Canadians are still quite connected to the Catholic church and their choice of curses and epithets relfects that. Even on French-language CBC broadcasts they get away with saying "fuck", wereas on the English-language broadcasts an on-air personality would likely get sacked for that.

On the English side, all of our baddest curse words are related to either the body or sex, reflecting that culture's sensitivity to our corporeal beings and the innate intimacy and physical desires and actions we (almost) all have as humans. Getting back to this problem with sex, all that bottled up and repressed desire from social and religious taboos just creates a wellspring of hate and fear against sex. I'm no free-love hippy, but I firmly believe that humans are sexual beings and need to be free to express that while respecting the needs of others for privacy and emotional saftey.

[BRP]

I find the OP's poll stupid(and olde as fuck, published: April), but for a different reason than anyone else.

This is too much of an easy target and very easy to make it seem like they are MORANZ who think violence is acceptable, but sex is not. I kind of find it facepalm inducing, but then again maybe it is a step up from emo-hating and whatever other target practice.

The scope of the violence or sex isn't implied at all. "Severed head" means very little in videogames even if they imply gore. When a head comes flying off it is usually humorous more than anything else. The question doesn't even mention a head being cut off only that it had been(like a severed head on the ground). Implied sex is very different from showing sex or hardcore sex. These compare very differently.

The poll doesn't even mention how this fits in with the ESRB or rating systems(or even if they are offensive to the answerer or their children). Technically these are all M-rated material, so what does it matter which part is considered the most offensive when they are all held at the same level. Look at the PG13 rating. You won't find severed heads or full frontal sex there, but you will see violence and implied sexuality. If you ask someone what's worse in movies and they can only pick one answer you are going to get skewed results.

And now "HURRR YOU ARE SO STUPID, LOOK AT THESE TITTAYS THEY ARE NATUREL" squad can come in and paint anyone who disagrees with them as some god-fearing brainless prude. Like the picture above, "Oh jeez, I wouldn't want my prepubescent daughters looking at a bunch of dudes' dicks on a street. I must love censorship!"

[fantasticdan]

One thing I've never understood is why blood/gore is so much more offensive than the actual violence itself. If anything, isn't looney-toons style violence without repercussion more desensitizing than violence were people actually get hurt/die?