What do you think about censorship, specially games censorship?

There shouldn't be censorship in any kind of media, including video games. The only way I could see that there would have to be a censored version made is if it were made for younger audiences. (ex. Monty Python and the Holy Grail® is available in both a R rated version and a PG-13 version.) But, that should be the only exception.

Censorship in any form is bullshit. But I agree with for example releasing two versions or an option to filter violence/nudity myself.

I think things like censorship have more to do with fear and control over the general population than anything else. The very idea of censorship has existed since we were able to control other people and the power to control is not one that our overlords will willingly give up. Also evil overlords have to feast on the minds of the living because they are slowly becoming more and more undead thus when the need to kill and eat arrives, the huddling masses will willingly go to be eaten. The secretly brain eating overlords/super zombies cannot be satisfied by eating the clever as they often make plans to escape or fight back. For them it like like eating fast food, the food comes fast and does not run away as chasing them would be a waste of time and energy.

The news shows dead bodies, violence and the like... and is easier for kids to access. Last time I check, no one was trying to censor them. Granted, some video games can be needlessly extreme.. but that should still fall upon individual people/parents to decide if they can handle it.

In short, I have no desire to keep censorship around in any form. D:

I think censorship is stupid.
Ratings should be applied as they are, describing clearly on the item what they include and who they are meant for.
The only law should be, giving severe penalties to people selling to kids and people buying in behalf of kids that are underage (not yet 18 or 21, depending on the country), items that require them to be of age (adult by law) and perhaps some minor penalties for items that require age of 15.

If they feel the need to impose censorship on games, please do it on movies as well.

It's no different to media censorship.

I live in Argentina and for an unknown reason i cannot get Fable 3. The government only cares for news censorship, so they don't care if people play that game or not.

I agree with a little game censorship on games like Manhunt, but Fable 3? C'mon!.

U.S. TV is heavily censored in the same way. It is OK for them to show the Resident Evil movies (as an example) during the day, with uncut violence/gore, but you better believe they remove any form of foul language or sex.

Some of the censorship is artistic censorship by the developers. In a similar way not all R rated movies in the US have nudity. Sometimes it isn't needed and wouldn't add anything. If you want nudity for nudity sake then surf for porn. As far as censorship in the US goes it is mostly self imposed to maintain a certain rating to keep the majority of sales. An AO rating for games would mean a major retailer wouldn't carry it, but an M rating is ok. A movie example would be how Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino edits their films for a R rating to get shown in more places.

Censorship to me is just ridiculous, but I think age restrictions should still be placed on games and enforced in stores. You could put porn in games and I wouldn't care less. If parents want to complain, let them. It's their fault they're not controlling what their kids are playing.

Certain censorship is definitely good. You really don't want your child to see someone getting beheaded. From the begging eyes to the gargling and ending with the backbone sawing. So yes certain things should have as limited access as possible. But that goes for TV, since it's open 24/7. With a push of a button.

Internet and games on the other hand. As much as there is content. It's a lot easier to restrict access to a certain age group. So imho no censor. You should be able to get what you want, leaving the responsibility to the elder in charge. Which should be possible considering the PC savvy generation growing up.

No matter really what you see or experience - if it's properly discussed and understood - there's no damage done. Issue is with all the parents leaving the parenting for the monitors. The deepest roots of your personality grow before you hit 7. If you are shown love, empathy and sharing before that age, then no matter what you experience, you will probably have a strong moral ground to land on eventually. Yet so many only learn to hate, repel and take. Maybe everything should be uncensored so everybody will learn about shit, fuck, cunt, blood and guts from an early age. Builds character.

im insane...

STRONGLY IN FAVOR. It's a slipperly slope, and if I look at the US in particular, the moral fiber of the community has really taken a dive. Besides, is it going to really hurt the consumer to have less blood? It might be an annoyance to an adult, but I can't imagine it hurts (and in fact may be best) for younger children.

There doesn't need to be any censorship on a game that is intended for adults. So what if a game has gore and boobs in it? Who the hell does that hurt?

People seem to forget that an M rated game IS NOT FOR CHILDREN. No matter how mature they seem, the content in those games is meant for an adult.

There should be no censorship in any game that is meant for an adult. However, for children, censorship should not be necessary since the games content should not require it.

I personally see no point in censorship; any violence, nudity, or language that gets censored can easily be seen elsewhere and censoring it will not protect those that the government is trying to protect. It's just pointless. If you want your kids to not play a game that is too violent, don't buy it for them. If you want them to stay away from television shows that could influence them in a negative way, don't let them watch it. For christ's sake, be a parent, don't make the government do your parenting for you.

Let me tell a story. A recent story.

In my soon-to-be-realeased story named "Angel", there is a ritual which is extremelly crucial to the plot. In a part of it, the main character uncovers that the "Holy Birth" ritual consisted of four women in their period, wrapped by their legs and arms on a X cross.

Skipping some details about the scene, they are all nude. Their vaginas are completelly sewn and their bellies (in the womb area) are completelly swollen and purple, as if clotted blood was inside. Their wombs are cut open and all the blood spills out and etc. Won't get into it that much here.

The main problem: a horror stories portal was gonna feature my story on it, but they went back ont heir words because of this scene (and I assume they did not even keep reading, as there are much worse things in there). They said the scene was too much for the portal to handle, as it would "cause strong disturbance on the readers". Again, this is HORROR. Not Terror, but HORROR. The idea actually IS to disturb the reader, putting him on the protagonist's shoes. And it makes even more sense when you understand why the X cross, why the period blood on the ritual and things alike.

Art is art. You can be like the website I'm talking about and say "hey, this is way too much for me to handle. Sorry, I don't feel like featuring it." It'll be good. I'll know I reached the part of that specific reader I wanted. But you can't come to me and say "Mr. Lazaro, we are demanding you take away that part of the story. Change the plot if you need to. You don't have an option. You have no choice, just take it away, addapt the rest of the plot and send us the final test, as we can't allow our kids to read your supposedly "18-yo rated story". "

Do you guys get what I'm saying now? The government should just sit their dirty asses and try not to have war. Leave the moral judgement to us.

I abhor censorship, especially in games. There might be situations where censorship is helpful, but you'll always have trouble convincing me to accept it.

"In my opinion, the first reactions must be taken into consideration, because they are not biased, thus have more chances to be the expression of truth."

Eh, I disagree about this. Kneejerk reactions tend to be useless and counterproductive in discussing an issue, as it usually contributes to sinking civility faster than the Titanic hitting an iceberg.

That being said, I'm very much against censorship. Although I think a lot of people are probably confusing regulation with censorship; the two are not the same thing. Not that I'm for the regulatory systems we have now either, they're horrible and broken. But we can all at least agree that some form of age-based ratings and regulation is okay, right? Try and minimize the exposure a 6 year old might have to GTA and all that jazz.

bad just bad

against it. this is what games ratings are for. if a game is 18+ its intended for a mature audience, and a mature audience does not need a nanny looking out for it and deciding what they think is acceptable for it. violent media does not make people violent. shitty upbringing or mental imbalance is what does it, neither of which is activated by violent media.

I'd like to refer to Penny Arcade for this one, which sums it up beautifully: http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/12/24
"It is a very odd sort of patriot that would destroy the First Amendment in order to protect the Second."

Censorship has been attempted on every medium, but as we progress they all fall away. Look at the 50 Shades series - you think that book would be published 150 years ago, even if there were people interested in reading it? It's time we saw an end to trying to stifle people's expressions and rather teach the children to think critically and evaluate the ideas they are inevitably exposed to.

I think that parents are stupid for buying their children violent games. It's just that simple. You don't buy your kids porn, so why buy them violent videogames?

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and troll some 10 year olds in BF3 on Xbox live.

Like others on this post, I'm of two minds on this matter.

On one hand, kids really aren't supposed to be playing most M-rated games, and I think game dealers and retailers should do a better job of enforcing the rating system.

On the other hand, I dislike the fact that such moral guardians such as Jack Thompson and Joe Baca try to punish and condemn video games as a whole and call for ALL games to be banned whenever something bad in the world happens where the people involved turn out to be gamers. A few isolated incidents involving mentally-disturbed people who happened to be gamers does not mean that all gamers are going to be that way, and the rest of us should not be punished for what these few wackos have done...

Haha, censorship in germany is censoring EVERYTHING that "will" make you become a spree killer, a rapist, a driver under influence of alcohol or something else the government wants to hide their and the societys own guilt from :D In Sleeping Dogs f.e. they hide the environment kills, in call of duty were no zombie mode available and the story of the witcher 2 is about 2 hours shorter because of the cuts in all those "sexscenes" ... Yeah, tits are so dangerous. Btw, sex is allowed at 14 here and tits in a game are censored... pretty bullshit huh? :D

awwwww maaaaaan carma!!!! what an amazing game!