I am currently developing a BxB VN called "The Purring Demon's Love" and have a small question which has been weighting on my mind since a few weeks.
My game contains violence and blood as well as a few other topics, therefor i have decided to give it a rating.
After having read about 16+, 17+ and 18+ ratings i personally think 18+ applies the best, yet would like to hear your opinions on how you would rate a game or if you have any personal experince regarding that.
Small note: I hope i posted in the right topic, if not, feel free to move it to the right one! >//<
Self ratings are essentially useless-oftentimes writers will be too harsh or too light on their work, and the general audience doesn't really care. In fact, ratings in general are unnecessary unless you're publishing to console.
In addition, 18+ is for straight, flat-out porn. The only game that got an 18+ rating for violence had mass genocide. Rating literally anything else 18+ is extremely misleading. Otherwise, 17+ is what most non-sexual VNs will be rated.
Kominara wrote:Self ratings are essentially useless-oftentimes writers will be too harsh or too light on their work, and the general audience doesn't really care. In fact, ratings in general are unnecessary unless you're publishing to console.
In addition, 18+ is for straight, flat-out porn. The only game that got an 18+ rating for violence had mass genocide. Rating literally anything else 18+ is extremely misleading. Otherwise, 17+ is what most non-sexual VNs will be rated.
Thank you very much! The answer helped me a lot. I think i will leave the rating out then and simply mentention that the game contains blood etc.
Kominara wrote:Self ratings are essentially useless-oftentimes writers will be too harsh or too light on their work, and the general audience doesn't really care. In fact, ratings in general are unnecessary unless you're publishing to console.
In addition, 18+ is for straight, flat-out porn. The only game that got an 18+ rating for violence had mass genocide. Rating literally anything else 18+ is extremely misleading. Otherwise, 17+ is what most non-sexual VNs will be rated.
That depends where in the world you live.
In America, "Grand Theft Auto V" got a rating of 17+ because prostitutes and drugs.
Meanwhile, in Australia, the rating given was 18+, for the same exact reasons.
Warning: May contain trace amounts of gratuitous plot.
pro·gram·mer (noun) An organism capable of converting caffeine into code.
Kominara wrote:Self ratings are essentially useless-oftentimes writers will be too harsh or too light on their work, and the general audience doesn't really care. In fact, ratings in general are unnecessary unless you're publishing to console.
In addition, 18+ is for straight, flat-out porn. The only game that got an 18+ rating for violence had mass genocide. Rating literally anything else 18+ is extremely misleading. Otherwise, 17+ is what most non-sexual VNs will be rated.
That depends where in the world you live.
In America, "Grand Theft Auto V" got a rating of 17+ because prostitutes and drugs.
Meanwhile, in Australia, the rating given was 18+, for the same exact reasons.
I second this. Also, America is usually more worried about sexual stuff than Europe, and things that are rated 15 in European countries may get a 17+ rating in USA because of sexual content. At least, that's what I've heard, citation needed :')
I think we decided in another thread that it is best to just make sure you've let the audience know what the game contains content-wise, that way the players can make their own decision on what they are willing to be exposed to. The main thing is you don't what to surprise your audience with possible objectionable content when they weren't expecting it.
Trying to nail down an age range or a hard rating is folly when you are talking about a global audience.
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Aviala wrote:I second this. Also, America is usually more worried about sexual stuff than Europe, and things that are rated 15 in European countries may get a 17+ rating in USA because of sexual content. At least, that's what I've heard, citation needed :')
I remember seeing this comic (from Humon's Scandinavia and the World) about the game Amnesia: The Dark Descent and how America reacted to it (re: the blood and gore, versus that one scene the game has with a nude man) differently than Sweden did (which is where the game was produced).
Because of the internet "flattening the world," culture shock can occur a lot when a game from on country is shown to players from another. So it can be more logical to simply list what your game includes (gore, sex, etc) than to just list an age rating.
In the U.S. you can have plenty of T&A + decapitations/dismemberment galore with an ESRB M (17+) rating. Just look at the Witcher games. 18+ doesn't need to come into play until you need MORE than just T&A + decapitations/dismemberment. Japan's stricter, though- GTA and Witcher are both 18+ here. Brick & mortar stores do sell 18+ here, unlike the U.S. major retailers (Gamestop, Walmart, Best Buy, etc).
