Over the top with mature themes.

[Orko]

So what about opressing minoritys?

I would like to see some moral choises about that ingame.
Where ever one group gathers they mostly pick another to opress. I also like to see some wifes getting opressed/hit alot and you have to choose to support that man or help the woman. Content like that get's you on the edge.

[faecrool]

A big YES for hard moral choices and psychological stuff from me. Same for drugs, sex, blood, you name it. Stuff like this really gives the game a mature feel when done the right way. Don't add it just for the sake of adding it, gamers really notice stuff like that.

[kurosawa]

if i hear mature content for games, i think of "bioshock". so many games promised mature content and offered only more gore effects. nothing against some gore but bioshock offered a deep and philosophically story (that ayn rand stuff) with good written conversations. thats, in my opinion, mature content.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

I'd say it would be unusually if Wasteland 2 prevented you from killing anybody, including children.

Wasteland 1 had a whole town of children you could kill. In fact, one of the first quests you could do likely results in you having to kill an enraged child that is seeking revenge for his dog.

And who can forget "pistol-packing babies"? Yes, you can kill babies in Wasteland 1. "I am a Topekian!"

[thatfool]

These so-called "mature themes" should be in the game where they make sense, not just for the sake of having mature themes in the game. I'm not quite sure where that designation comes from anyway, I would have thought it'd be more mature to not insist on having sex or violence against children in the game just for the sake of having these two ideas in.

I am, of course, in favour of realism when it comes to deciding what to show and what not. Violence involving children will probably happen in a post-nuclear wasteland. It's safe to say that sex is happening too, or the world would be empty. But I don't really need this brought to my attention constantly, I am capable of imagination.

[Arne]

I can think of three different types of Maturity:

Maturity 1: Half-nudity, shootin' and gore. Gears of War, Mass Effect. Sex is two half-nude people hugging and... cut to black. No restraints on gore though!

Maturity 2: Difficult themes but perhaps family friendly. A French film about a crippled orphan boy who finds an old accordion on the beach of Normandy. Inside he discovers a faded name tag, but manages to track down a German soldier, now an old man, who lost the accordion during World War II. They develop a friendship, and together they struggle to repair themselves and the accordion, while doing tax declarations (to pad the man's poor pension) and reading snippets of Kant. The breakthrough comes when they find and watch an old VHS copy of Grave of the Fireflies. The ending has been taped over with Fort Boyard, so they make up their own ending. They smash the finished accordion in a fit of symbolism! But not before the old man plays a final melancholic song.

Maturity 3: The writer doesn't care what people or publishers may think. Anything can happen in the story, for effect or because it belongs. I've heard that the Berserk manga is... unashamed like that.

Wasteland might be a bit of each, but strong in type 3 I think. Some of the more open games out there are inherently, but passively of this type ("if it happens it happens"), but Wasteland actually throws the whole Rex & Bobby situation on the player, to name just one. It has no intent of bringing the situation to a moralizing conclusion either. "You could have done A or B, and look at these hard-coded outcomes, engineered to preach a certain point of view (as if part of the fabric of the universe)!"

Of course, the gruesome parts of the story telling in Wasteland is done with text, and text has a different impact than images. Nowadays games are expected to be more visual, so I don't know what kind of problems this might create in terms of self-censorship for our developer here.

[owenmp]

Serious and straight-forward. I agree. This is what I was thinking when I made my comments regarding rape on another thread. Focus on violence in combat and less "mushy stuff."

[tootboot]

I don't really give a crap about mature themes, especially sexuality which never fails to make me cringe when it's shoehorned into a video game. Get your jollies somewhere else, creeper.

[Pharo]

Anyone ever play the Binding of Isaac? There are many ways a game can go over the top when publishers aren't involved with (in that case) brilliant results. Also Steam doesn't give a shit if you're rated by the ESRB or not.

[Azriel]

I don't really give a crap about mature themes, especially sexuality which never fails to make me cringe when it's shoehorned into a video game. Get your jollies somewhere else, creeper.

I am pretty sure attacks on a poster is against the board rules. Also, I am not sure if you understand why everyone is excited about wasteland, one reason is that they CAN touch on those themes like sex, rape, murder, cannibilsm, racism, torture,..etc that no other company would touch with a ten foot pole or without having a board room, ok every little thing. This harkens back to the early days when you could broach subjects like this in games without worrying about it offending someone. If you don't like it, just don't buy it. Don't ruin it for those who have no problem with it. It used to be about pushing the envelop, now its about keeping it safe. If we wanted safe, we would all be happy with the turds that come out in games now, but we are not, we want something that has been taken from us. We want creative freedom again, we want to push the boundary and see where it leads us, we want to be excited to see what the next installment of a franchise will bring and where its going and how far they will push the envelope. We want our future back.

[mercy]

Ultima 8: Pagan Underworld from Origin and Richard Garriott let the player kill children in the game. The children were weird in that creepy world and i felt bad after. Still it was an immersive, profound and memorable experience. Ghastly. Gave food for some thought, like what have i done?!

inXile seems to be in the best position now to offer mature, politically incorrect and (within reason) taboo content that is presented in such a professional way that it may actually teach the adult player something about being mature.

[anubite]

Fallout, Wasteland etc.. a harsh world and you have to survive it.

Except, Fallout 3's developers were quoted almost much as saying "blood and explosions are funny!" and then we got a game where dark satirical humor was replaced by decapitations and explosions. I don't like that kind of design. Something can be "edgy" and "dark" without being insulting and immature.

Also, "political correctness" is a term that only functions inside a modern, working society. In a veritable wasteland - social norms fall apart and whoever has power makes decisions as to what's okay for humans to do, act, think and say.

[Wastelander]

Its a wasteland, its not gonna be cute and cuddly, it's survival of the fittest, and the game should reflect that. Dont pull back on stuff like gore, harsh language, drugs, sex. You name it.

[Brother Arm]

Mature themes are a must, but they have to fit the story and setting. Nowadays, companies either try to make their games nice so they don't get an AO and get pulled out of shelves, or they try their best abusing senseless violence and sex appealing to the mainstream public and making up for an AO rating.

But I trust inXile's team has the right measure for that.

[infestor]

there are only 23 titles in the black book (ESRB's AO rating) to this day. i guess it is kinda bad ass to be have that rating since the customers are not kiddies, i don't neither care for AO nor for censorship hordes like ESRB USK or PEGI. AO disqualifies a game from consoles but since the game won't be ported to consoles, no problems there inXile should be brave like this. seriously, it's declaring something like "this is an indie game, an INDEPENDENT game! we don't take kindly to your censorship crap 'round this part of the town". "but retailers won't sell the game?" boo-hoo, this ain't your ordinary christmas AAA game.

but i doubt that the game will be faced off harsh by ESRB, since for them sex is more of a no no. on the other hand, europeans tend to censor violence stuff more. win-lose? who cares.

[BoxMan]

RAPE SIMULATOR 3000

I think I just came up with my next kickstarter project.

[Drool]

RAPE SIMULATOR 3000

I think I just came up with my next kickstarter project.

It would be set Down in the Park, yes?

[BMF]

I miss those days where mature themes were in video games. It seems they have gone now due to huge business' wanting to make money and targeting every audience. We need violence, gambling, sex, you name it. This is what interested me in Fallout, Wasteland etc.. a harsh world and you have to survive it.

Agreed its nice to see a company not bound down by the big man. Bring on the M rating the setting demands it. Its damn near impossable to get a AO rating and you can never get it from gore alone you have to have full on sex scenes with nothing hidden to get the AO hammer.

[alexandergr]

I imagine adults fund it. Make it a game for adults.

[Xerbi999]

I dont want a game which is brutal and splattery just for the sake of getting an adult rating. I want a game which sets an atmosphere that is realistic for a post apocalyptic time. As someone else already postet...its all about survival of the fittest. And that means, that there are only little to none boundaries in how you choose to "behave".

I´m so totally fed up with crappy publishers telling me what a game must play alike, just to make it sell to a larger public and maximise their profit.

I want a game which is evil, adult, full of dark humor...I want to have the feeling of being one of few survivors after the big bang. I want to be constantly confronted with moral decisions...or decisions which may cost my life if I screw it up.