Question about mature themes/content in the Beta

Hello Britannians! I've got a general content question: Since this game is in Beta, and doesn't have an ESRB rating yet, I was wondering if anyone could comment on the amount of sexual content/mature themes in this game? Specifically, if there is any nudity/partial nudity.

Also, does anyone know the ESRB rating the dev team is targeting?

Thanks,

Sir Nicko

 

There isn't nudity to speak of; the Avatar models are all in underwear, for example.

 

I think we were aiming for the PG13... I've tried to ask for confirmation a few times. Family friendly... thats why the discussion about cannibalism was cut short.

 

I mean, it's not impossible that you might happen upon Avatars in a state of undress (such as it goes) attempting to RP a sex act. It's an online game, and stuff like that happens. How often it happens is beyond my knowledge.

 

More than you think

But player input cannot have a rating... its the rating for the game content and quests that is interesting because PG13 is VERY limiting. Bad guys can't really be convincingly bad without mature content, IMO.

To address the OP...

 

Let's just say Frodo, no bono.

What. It's latin for "little man there are no nipples here."

 

Also remember that ESRB doesn't (nor can!) rate online interactions. https://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.aspx

 

Really appreciate everyone's replies.

So for player characters, there isn't any nudity present. What about any enemies? I continue to be shocked how much nudity is present in blockbuster fantasy games these days...

Thanks again!

Sir Nicko

 

Yes cause most dev studios know that especially for fantasy games, the player base is mostly 25-125 y.o.

Not many people have asked for PG-13, but there was a few who said they probably would get their whole family playing.

It's the same kind of democracy we're stucked with in america it seems...

 

I don't think you have too much worries @Sir Nicko and welcome. The Avatars are not very voluptuous. Here is an example for you of my character at a party. Sorry for the darkness. I'm not the best at taking in game pictures.

 

Welcome Sir Nicko!

 

So "pro bono" means " for a little man there are no nipples here"? That's new to me.

 

I will reiterate what others have said above and elaborate a bit. I have an eleven year old son and the only real concern I have had about him playing this game are the actions or communication from immature adults. Click here for my other feature suggestions.

As I'm sure you know, we have an /ignore feature and a bad language filter. The actual in-game content has been managed very well to provide safe content for all ages 10 and up in my opinion. The only adult content is the occasional reference but they are never in lude taste and they are typically always references to inside jokes which cultivate from our telethons or dev hangouts, so there isn't any risk there for young players. There currently is not any nudity in the game and no plans for it in the future to my knowledge.

If you're worried about content for your child in this game, don't, but as I'm sure any good parent would warn, portalarium cant control the actions or the communications for players, so if you allow your child to play the online multiplayer version of the game, just make sure you are available if he/she has any questions related to content from other players. I strongly believe that well balanced adults come from socially diverse and rich childhood experiences with consistent parental guidance.

 

So you're not worried about people hacking other people to death with swords, or incinerating each other with fireballs... just that there might be nudity?

 

So let's see here.

Unserious response:
There is sooo much nudity. The skeletons doesn't have any clothes at all. The Phoenix burns hers away all the time. All the animals behave like they shouldn't wear anything at all.


Serious response
Can't think of any humanoids that are nude. The humans, elves are all dressed.
The male kobolds are sometimes lightly dressed but they got no boobs or anything else showing and could hardly be called sexy or lude.

Avatars can undress down to their small cloths but those aren't revealing.
The males goes down to boxers.
The females can go down to a bikini with coconut bra.
That is about it.
The "sexiest" stuff there is you can see pics of in the addon store. So that you can decide for yourself. Search for bodice.

The only sensibilities I've seen ruffled are that clothes can be worn regardless of gender.

 

well we could always dress the skellies like this hhehehe running after us hitting us with her handbag

 

Violence vs sex is a common theme brought up when talking about what is appropriate for children, but I don't think it is a good argument here.

Subjecting a child to nude computer characters animated by adults is worse than letting them pretend to be a warrior and slay enemies with sword or fireball.

If there is anyone who thinks it's better to let children play with adults who are roleplaying "adult" stuff, I hope they don't have children of their own and I hope they never get near my own children and grandchildren.

 

You guys have a very black and white vision of the world... I find especially the comment made by @Spoon to be rather sexist because it targets breasts.

Children feed from them, and they're no different from man breasts really.

I really don't think it has anythign to so with "offending" sensibilities because you allow people to cross dress. This is absurd...

To me thats a very outdated religious black and white vision of the world. In shroud you don't necessarly only slay enemies with your sword, the game is made so you can make choices and even PVP, so you might kill a good guy because you thought he was bad and the game will be centered around choices and virtue ambiguity.

Such was for all ultima games, if you all recall what we're drawing from here.

So I guess you guys should prevent your kids from reading Dragonlance and Tolkien, there is some pretty heavy stuff in there.

This is really facepalm material here.

 

???
I'm sexist because I mention boobs?
Nonono. Go back and read that again please. Not only are you wrong but you are double wrong.
"The male kobolds are sometimes lightly dressed but they got no boobs or anything else showing"
Please note the 'male kobolds' thingie. So that would be man boobs there.

Actually there are lots of differences between lactating breasts and non-lactating breasts.
If they were no different then children would feed from both.

Uhm?
You might want to notice that I am not speaking for my own views here but rather for that of others.

Since the OP specifically asked about nudity I thought it wise not to exclude religion being a factor.
The one thing we have seen in the forums were US christians having a problem with cross dressing to the point of harassment. Which is a bad thing.

I do not personally have any problems at all with crossdressing, transgenders, non-genders, nudity, etc. Rather the opposite. I've told plenty of friends IRL about how great I think it is with a game that doesn't limit players in their expressions and specifically allowing anyone to wear (almost) anything. I'm all for inclusion, diversity and tolerance.

I'm from sweden, remember? Our sex ed starts in pre-school with the basics. Swear words are nevered censored on TV or film. Over here nudity doesn't get films a higher rating but rather graphic violence does. I find american sensitivities very strange. Especially the religious parts.
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jun/05/swedish-sex-education-games-mature-debate

However I do recognize that everyone doesn't think like me nor like the culture I come from. So if someone asks about nudity in a game then it felt prudent to assume that religion might be involved and given the US being the majority of players then that sprung to mind as something which has gotten a reaction before.

???
Tolkien is a very strange example to bring here since his texts are very prudish. Not a lot of nudity nor sex there really.
Dragonlance doesn't have much nudity either.

If you would have mentioned a Song of Ice and Fire then maybe you would have had some contextual basis here.

Actually you missed a whole lot of grayscale right there in your post since you jumped to very many conclusions with your assumptions. So in this case you represent the black & white fallacy, not me.

 

Well, since the OP's question has been answered, and since others seem intent on dragging negative stereotypes about religion into the discussion, I'm going to put a lock in place.