Thief 4 RATING - Rated T for Teen?

[tarhiel]

Definitely MATURE- or 18+.

Why? In former thief games (T1 T2, less in T3) were many references to drugs, prostitution, profanity,occultism (Trickcster was devil-like, Order of Hammer Church-like, whole thing with eye-plucking and "BOW DOWN TO THE WOODSIE LORD..."-it was the freakiest cutscene I saw in my life, no exagerating) whole game was postmodern (diferences between good and evil was not that sharp), and that realistic, psychologic fear, you were exposed to... I think nowadays those games would be rated Mature.

[ToMegaTherion]

I only have 3 games in my collection rated 18, so it seems like you can get away with quite a lot before you get one.

Edit: Apparently Fallout 3 has one too, so that makes 4

Edit 2: I am in UKland, of course

[K^2]

Originally Posted by Hypevosa

* Sexual Violence - Depictions of rape or other violent sexual acts - NO, why would it be there even?

I don't know, does blackjacking a maid and subsequently tee-bagging her count?

[Hypevosa]

Originally Posted by K^2

I don't know, does blackjacking a maid and subsequently tee-bagging her count?

only if her head pops up and down like in Halo 3 XD

[DiegoFloor]

Truth be said. Blood, gore, sex, etc ARE for kids! If the target comsummer is an adult, it's not this sort of things that will draw any attention...It's an interesting and complex story and a gameplay that relies more on patience and strategy rather than adrenaline that will do the work.

So the game may even not be rated M, but it should be advertised for a more mature public!

That's my opinion, at least.

[K^2]

I agree that a good game shouldn't be trying to add sex and violence as a selling point, but it shouldn't really avoid these either. Some situations do call for such things, and if developers avoid it out of fear of getting a more adult rating, the quality of the game will generally suffer.

[Helegad]

I found Hot Coffee damn hilarious. It made me about as horny as seeing two Barbie dolls being bumped together would. AO for that? Come on.

[esme]

Originally Posted by Aristofiles

all reting is sick. It should not be up to the state to tell children whats ok to watch and whats not. That should be the parants.

true, but a lot of parents see things like the TV and video games as a means of keeping the kids occupied while they go do something else, a surrogate parent if you like, they don't actually care what their kids do as long as they do it somewhere else, quietly and don't bring any aggravation back to them

in my opinion these parents shouldn't have kids

thus spake esme, the voice of reason, shortly before the angry mob beat down the door and burned her at the stake

[lyssyder]

Thief 4 RATING - Rated T for Teen?

NO THANKS.

It must be a "mature" game.

No Ps3 here, this is Garrett's reign.

[Belboz]

This doesn't really matter in england as the parents here, I've seen them in stores so you can't say am wrong, regulary buy 18 rated games for their 8 year olds, due to they think its only a game it can't be that bad, although it is the equivalent of them buying an 18 rated violent/horror film.

[esme]

Originally Posted by Belboz

This doesn't really matter in england as the parents here, I've seen them in stores so you can't say am wrong, regulary buy 18 rated games for their 8 year olds, due to they think its only a game it can't be that bad, although it is the equivalent of them buying an 18 rated violent/horror film.

I've seen them too, my better half's brother regularly buys 18 rated games for his son who is now 11

my better half took beloved nephew to a game store for a birthday once and offered to buy a computer game for his birthday, the kid threw a right strop when they wouldn't get him an 18 rated game, dismissing all the others as being "for kids", he was 9 at the time

my opinion on this is on record

[ToMegaTherion]

I think that if Thief 4 was to get an 18 rating in the UK they'd have had to put some unnecessarily unpleasant stuff into it.

[esme]

more unpleasant than ripping a mans eye out or killing people so you can experiment on their corpses and turn them into slaves or skinning people so you can absorb their identities ?

[ToMegaTherion]

Yeah, if the original games were rated 18 then I'd be really surprised. According to wikipedia, both Metal Age and Deadly Shadows are 12+ by Pegi. I've noticed that BBFC can be a little harsher than Pegi, but not to the extent to move 12+ to 18.

Like I said, I only have 4 games rated 18 and they have a level of casual viciousness, gore, etc, that is vastly greater than the previous Thieves and greater than anything Thief 4 needs to have.

[esme]

hmm I'm not a big fan of casual viciousness, so I'm with you on that

[jtr7]

Make it with intelligent adults in mind, but in such a way that it can be appreciated by people of all ages. I love how it has horror and enough gore to make the point, but doesn't need to go all out, or show sex, or give in to swearing a blue streak. It seems to have the sensitive in mind, but still goes to dark places that are lauded for their impact. Again, the correct formula works across a full range of people. The fact that it derives material from classics to more modern, and has truth at its heart, makes it accessible to that full range.

[DiegoFloor]

I'm not sure how the laws work around the world, but the idea of a sign on the cover telling wich age is appropriate for that game is good. This way the parents, that care for what their children are exposed to, don't need to play the entire game to check for this things, as someone else already did it.

Of course, I'm not talking about laws 'forbidding' people to play, but an informative tag for parents.

[Platinumoxicity]

I don't see the point in age restrictions. Me playing violent or otherwise "harmful" games hasn't made me any worse. The first FPS game I played was DOOM and that was when I was 8 years old. Shortly after that, I played a very unknown game called Flashback 2: Fade to Black and that game had some of the most violent and disturbing deaths imaginable, such as: Skin melting away from radiation, lasers cutting your limbs off, a giant worm sucking all your blood out and slime vaporizing all your flesh away from your bones. To a strong-minded, intelligent person, violence or disturbing scenes in video games do nothing more than desensitize the person to not be bothered by them anymore. You have to be mentally handicapped or raised from birth to accept violence to start mimicing the actions you see in games.

[DiegoFloor]

I agree with you. I grew up playing all sorts of games and I'm not a violent/disturbed person at all! But there are people and there are 'people', if you know what I mean. That's why I think it's interesting to have such information. Not age restriction.

[Hypevosa]

each child is different, just as each adult is... quite frankly, there are some adults I wouldn't mind not being allowed to play violent games... My biggest concern with kids is not violence, but dependency. The more stimulation a child gets, the better their brain develops. This include tactile, visual, oral, auditory, and olfactory stimulation. The problem with videogames is that they provide TOO MUCH stimulation, so children will become somewhat dependent on them for it, same with TV. My mom once saw a 2 year old who was absolutely fixated on a spongebob episode playing in a DVD player. She was disturbed by it because she said that was the age where kids are normally asking questions about everything in the outside world, and I agree with her that that's what a kid should be doing. When I have kids, I'll probably not want them to play a videogame untilI know they can play and learn and experience life outside the game well first, then let them delve into the fantasy realms forged by the minds of others.

I also think there should be some system of evaluation, where they can determine the maturity of a child.... we've all met that 12 year old who's more mature than most of our friends were in high school, and really that kid shouldn't be barred from content based on the span of his existence, when he can take them for what their worth. But since such an evaluation does not exist, it's left up to the parent to decide how mature their child really is, and what they can or cannot see/interact with. When the test comes we can just all be licensed as able to handle the content, and then we won't have to worry about billy stealing his father's rifle to reenact halo with his friends...

[jtr7]

The best part of the ratings label is the explanation: Simulated violence, some blood, some graphic gore... That kind of thing.

[WhatsHisFace]

Rated "4" for "M3tur4."

[hellwalker]

Good i could not care less about ESRB as a kid

I guess we need M for Thief, But I would not worry about it much.
Where ESRB is concerned Blood, Violence, Eating Brains, Decapitations, Strangling someone with his guts is OK , any Sexual content its M, A or instant ban.

And thief has no sexual content at all, so it can work with T rating no prob.

[jtr7]

...........................

[Hypevosa]

if they show cigarettes in a game or smoking it ups the rating, and may cause people to go on a tirade... some people are just wierd about smoking like that...