Server Rating

[DrowChyld]

Our server is PG-13 but the actual game is rated M (age rating 17+)

...People under 13 should not be here and if they are they should expect mature content. Rather annoyed that staff and players freak out if someone says the 'S' word on the forums or posts a mildly (but safe for American public TV) revealing pic on the site; and seeing them get vetoed/deleted/thread erased/ ect. I would like to know why we think our server is 13+ when the violence alone demands ESRB to slap M on the box. If parents purchase and allow a youth access to an online game rated M then I think its very much OK to say a bad word here or there or show some of these pictures that get banned. I mean we run around slaughtering things and each other...stabbing people to death in creative ways...but saying the 'S' word gets us in trouble?

I would like a public statement from staff members (yes plural) explaining why we try to make NWN2 into a Walton's episode.

[Luna]

Just because the game is rated M doesn't mean kids can't play it.
A lot of parents let their kids play this game.

What they don't want is their kids being exposed online to things like rape, graphic torture, cybering, etc, etc.

Does that clear this one up at all?

[ThatPirateGuy]

Online interactions not rated by the ESRB.

[Bulldog241]

I don't think DrowChyld is saying she (he?) wants to run around raping and torturing everyone on the server. But she makes a very good point, in that if the game is rated "M", why do the DM's get upset if we curse?

I mean really, any parent that allows their 13 year old to play an M rated game, online, unsupervised, and then gets offended that someone said "f*ck you" needs to get a clue.

I know it's been said to watch your content because a 13 year old could be on the other side of the monitor, but the fact is that a 13 year old shouldn't be on the other side of the monitor, ever. Nobody under 17 years old should be playing this game, period.

So why are we catering to a playerbase that for all practical purposes can't play here?

[Reaver34567]

I don't think we should be a 13+ server for quite another reason: Kids can't role play worth a damn. What do we get out of them, aside from a few power-gamers who float around speaking with their voicesets? Can anyone on this forum attest to being under 17 AND a good RPer, because I've only seen it once in ten years.

[BlueHero45]

ESRB gave it a T, PEGI gave it a 12+. only Australia gave it an M

[DrowChyld]

Alcohol use, violence, blood, sexual themes or suggestive themes (serious RP relationships are common, though not directly sexual in nature they age like wine and have strong RP communion that creates and simulates such things ) all would point to an M rating though. These things are pretty common on our server.

Rape and cybering would give us an A rating.

The way things are rated by ESRB is E for everyone, T for teen (13+), M for mature (17+), A for adult (strong sexual content), NR for not yet rated.

My question for all staff is what grounds do you think BG:TSCC is a 'T' rating?

[kellendril]

Besides, like I tell my students in high school: synonyms are perfectly acceptable and show that you have enough intelligence to think of them. Excrement, for example, is not offensive to parent whereas another word for that particular item is indeed. I'm no prude by any means, but I really find the use of slang words for things used by people IRL offensive in game, mostly because they are slang and would seem like a totally different language in a BG setting, but also because somehow they look far worse when typed out.

[Katzenjammer]

And, in addition to that, here's a link for you as to the rating:

http://www.nextag.com/Neverwinter-Night ... specs-html

And.. another one:

http://www.obsidianent.com/games.html

And, just in case... one more:

http://www.aspyr.com/software/news/84/163

And... just because I like posting the damned things and I simply cannot resist :

http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=50748

If you look each and every one of these is rated T for Teen. Even the pictures on the boxes say that. Does this clear up anything for you?

Other viewers please excuse my tone, I'm simply responding in a similar fashion the OP. Have a nice day

[muffinFBSL]

Being under the age of 17 myself, I would like to say that I guess adults forget what they were accustomed to when they were 13. I obviously don't have any experience being old, but does it get difficult to remember that you actually matured (in one sense of the word) at a fairly early age? I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with DrowChyld or Katzenjammer, just saying. 13 year olds aren't really innocent minds to be protected, these days at least.

[Luna]

Bulldog I don't think anyone said you can't swear.
I forgot who it was but a long while back there was that one guy whose character swore all the time and I think after that it was frowned upon.
Quite a few people got upset there was a constant potty mouth IG.
Does it bother everyone... of course not.
But it does bother some people.

DM's also have some leeway to in how they wish to enforce the rules.
So some may frown upon it, some may not.

DrowChyld.. I don't know how to answer your question more.
You might have to try asking it differently?

Probably also, I didn't make that rule stating we are PG-13 so I may have a harder time answering that one.

[Katzenjammer]

Personally, I don't care about general cursing. However, I do want to ask what the point is? What exactly do you want? The ability to use such a word in place of a real one? Lack of ability with adjectives or verbs? Or is the desire for greater expression in types of RP? If it's the latter, there are plenty of places to engage in such.

And no, Muffin, I haven't forgotten what it was like at 13. I cursed as much then than I do now. And no, times haven't "changed" the situation, it's no worse or better than when I was that age. The point I have is simply this. Given that there is plenty of such material out there already, must we add to it? And if we absolutely must... why? Freedom?

Another minor thing to remember is that some have children who may be watching the screen on occasion. Young ones. Not teens. Of course, these people can obviously go find somewhere else to play, I suppose. So that everyone will have all the freedom they could ever want.

[BlueHero45]

I think the rating also came in part to prevent Cybering

[Larzs]

only Australia gave it an M

Australia has an agenda against videos period...they ban and restrict ALL kinda of games.

Alcohol use, violence, blood, sexual themes or suggestive themes (serious RP relationships are common, though not directly sexual in nature they age like wine and have strong RP communion that creates and simulates such things ) all would point to an M rating though. These things are pretty common on our server.

Tell me where that is in the ACTUAL game?
It isn't...Also violense, blood, sexual themes or suggestive themes is pretty much something every RPG has...the suggestive themes is almost required these days for it to be an RPG(anyone think of the a hot RPG party chick who's boobs just defy ALL reason...)

Online interactions not rated by the ESRB.

This was any NwN1/2 server is gonna fall under...it is custom content not created by the original staff and there for not subject to ESRB rating as it wasn't apart of there product.

Just like all the extra stuff you can get for Oblivion(which that game SHOULDN'T be "M") people make weird naked add-on and rather depressing stuff like that all the time. People are people, not much can be changed about that.

[kellendril]

Being under the age of 17 myself, I would like to say that I guess adults forget what they were accustomed to when they were 13. I obviously don't have any experience being old, but does it get difficult to remember that you actually matured (in one sense of the word) at a fairly early age? I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with DrowChyld or Katzenjammer, just saying. 13 year olds aren't really innocent minds to be protected, these days at least.

I've got to say, as a teacher who has students of age 13, that protecting them from exposure to things like this is absolutely necessary. They are indeed innocent although some don't really want to be and try hard to shed that perception. Most of them are still quite naive to many aspects of "adult" life, and maturity means more than the ability to cuss and roleplay out being a drunken idiot. It means being able to actually understand the just how serious these things are IRL. The ability to father a child does not equate to maturity. If it did, there would be far fewer pregnant teens.