Do you ever turn off nudity/blood/gore?

[Frindis]

A lot of games have the option to turn off blood or gore, even change the color or make bodies pixelated so the private parts are not shown. I think Rust is the only game where I might just pixelate other people if there were excessive gymnastic exercises or worse similar going on. What about you?

 

[Johnway]

nope. I don't turn it off. i'm mature enough to experience the content. of course it really depends on where i play tbh. Perhaps if i was playing in public for the sake of everyone around me i might consider turning on filters. Then again, i'm not one to play games on public transport as its far too cramped/distracting to do so. I spend more time reading/studying then playing games.

 

[ZedClampet]

I remember there was a gif of someone's head exploding in slow motion in that recent Sniper Contracts game. It was pretty extreme. Not sure I would turn it off. Might depend on my mood. There were bits of bone and brain and scalp flying off. It was the most realistic game gore I've ever seen.

But as of yet, I've never turned anything off except for the one time I bought a hentai game (Crush Crush) and didn't want anyone around me accidentally seeing it. I bought the $5 nudie dlc to support the dev (game itself was free) and never even saw nudity lol.

 

[mainer]

Never have. I feel I'm mature enough (as Johnway said) to handle anything a developer includes in the game, I don't like censorship in any form, especially games. There are games I won't buy or play, but we've discussed that in another post, and in games I do play, I like the mature content whether it is mega-violence or nudity. Now if I were playing where there were a lot of children around, I would consider turning those controls on, or more than likely just choose another game.

 

[Brian Boru]

Hot pixels? Ooh yeah!

Around others, I'll play something else, but on my own I'm totally fine with nudity and sex.

Blood & gore is different though, I really appreciate games which have an option to turn it off.

I love the Far Cry games, but I detest the wildlife skinning animations. Not the content itself, but that it happens EVERY FREAKIN' TIME!! I can easily have a wolf pack at my feet—in Primal, often a dozen—and have a choice between foregoing the economic and/or skills value of the skins, or spending 30-60 seconds skinning. Very bad game design, unless annoying delays are meant to be part of the experience.

Same with those exploding heads—how long do they take, 5-10 seconds? That adds up when trying to snipe out a lot of a base. But the main thing is that it's so immersion breaking, it's the equivalent of a short commercial break—ie totally unnecessary and irrelevant content— in the middle of executing your plan.

Apart from the bad game design aspect, I don't find blood or gore attractive in a game. Always strikes me as similar to a comedian relying on fart jokes, ie a cheap shot guaranteed to get a reaction I've done enough marketing to not be a fan of being emotionally manipulated.

So yeah devs, make such content optional. Options are always a good thing!

 

[Colif]

Green blood? oh wait, too many Nintendo games

No. can't say I ever have. Most of the games I play don't have any nudity in them you would notice, but gallons of blood & plenty of chunks fly around. Games like Diablo & the like would be almost unbelievable without some gore... oh, I cut you up with 2 swords and you hardly look marked... that wouldn't work. You need some reaction.

Nudity on the other hand, I often wonder why everyone isn't naked. especially outside in warm climates.

Skin cancer? Haven't you noticed the people who live in the hottest areas wear more clothing?
its to create shade, to not be so hot all the time.
Fremen stillsuits from Dune is why, to conserve water.

 

[Pifanjr]

Around others, I'll play something else, but on my own I'm totally fine with nudity and sex.
[...]
Apart from the bad game design aspect, I don't find blood or gore attractive in a game. Always strikes me as similar to a comedian relying on fart jokes, ie a cheap shot guaranteed to get a reaction I've done enough marketing to not be a fan of being emotionally manipulated.

To me it always feels like nudity is only added to make games "sexier", not because it serves the gameplay or the story in any way. I don't think The Witcher, Mass Effect or Dragon Age series would be worse if you didn't see any (explicit) nudity.

And while blood and gore are often superfluous, there are plenty of games where it enhances the story or the gameplay. Dead Space for example wouldn't be the same game without being able to dismember enemies. Horror games in general can use blood and gore to set up a certain atmosphere, as can other genres that want to include some horror elements.

 

[ZedClampet]

To me it always feels like nudity is only added to make games "sexier", not because it serves the gameplay or the story in any way. I don't think The Witcher, Mass Effect or Dragon Age series would be worse if you didn't see any (explicit) nudity.

I remember finding The Witcher 2 sex scenes hilarious. They were so stiff (no pun intended) and janky that they made me laugh, which I don't think was the intended result.

 

[Brian Boru]

while blood and gore are often superfluous, there are plenty of games where it enhances the story or the gameplay

Oh yes indeed, I agree—same with movies. I don't play horror or hack n slash, so they weren't what I was referring to—I should've made that clear.

To me it always feels like nudity is only added to make games "sexier", not because it serves the gameplay or the story in any way

No surprise there—again, same with many movies. I need to get out more, because I haven't met any such in the games I've played, with the exception of mild nudity at the end of Far Cry 3—where I think it did actually fit with the story.

 

[Frindis]

I remember finding The Witcher 2 sex scenes hilarious. They were so stiff (no pun intended) and janky that they made me laugh, which I don't think was the intended result.

I always found them a bit cheesy in games. I guess some of the scenes from Mass Effect 2/Witcher 3 were ok, but the majority are just eye candy. Kind of strange though, as both games are for adults, but when it comes to intimacy, oooooh no, we can't be showing too much. Come to think of it, I guess ME2 is rated a bit lower, but then again, the whole age rating industry is a big joke.

 

[McStabStab]

I have never turned either off, same with profanity. I don't play any non-G rated games with my kids around. Usually when they're in bed is when the gaming happens so I don't have to worry about them experiencing something too violent or too risque.

 

[Sarafan]

I also never turn them off. I have no reason to do so. I support however the implementation of options that allow to disable such things or avoid certain situations through selecting the appropriate dialogue options. I'm completely aware that there are people who simply don't want to watch this kind of content while still being able to play the game. I'm against implementation of such choices in games which feature controversial scenes as integral and important part of the gameplay though. In these cases it would be impossible to give such a choice and keep the game faithful to what it was before. For example in The Witcher 3 you have a choice whether you want to watch sex scenes and it's ok. But imagine Postal, Manhunt or Doom Eternal without its brutality. It doesn't have sense.

 

[Pifanjr]

But imagine Postal, Manhunt or Doom Eternal without its brutality. It doesn't have sense.

I think Doom Eternal without the brutality would still be a good FPS game. The brutality is only the dressing on top of a good game, as far as I'm aware.

 

[Sarafan]

I think Doom Eternal without the brutality would still be a good FPS game. The brutality is only the dressing on top of a good game, as far as I'm aware.

Maybe you're right when it comes to Doom Eternal. There are other are games which rely on controversies and stripping them from it would destroy the whole project. Of course one could argue whether games which rely only on controversies are good enough to play them in the first place. I see a form of artistic expression inside them however. Controversial indeed, but still an artistic expression.

 

[Alm]

I don't ever turn it off. The only time I remember it being a problem was MGS5. I've played games with equal gore and not had a problem but I didn't get past the intro here. I think it was tedium as much as unnecessary levels of gore. Crawling for ages through blood just got boring. Maybe I was just in a bad mood I don't know

 

[Ryzengang]

No, I never turn it off. Though it is always nice to have options, so a toggle should be present. I just never understood why things would get censored these days, to be honest. Especially on the nudity front.. like I can literally do an single internet search and see absurdly deviant stuff. With the prominence of the internet, it doesn't really make much sense to censor this stuff. If people want to find mature content, they will have little trouble doing so.

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

Never. Neither I was (am) a feint of heart, but also never had to try and hide a piece of game content from someone's prying eyes.
But it's good such options are there for the people who need it, obviously.

Actually that made me curious what are the % for games having these features. How many people actually end up switching gore off at least once?

 

[Brian Boru]

MGS5 … didn't get past the intro … tedium … Crawling for ages … just got boring

That's a mirror of my experience, quit the damned thing after ~45 minutes, haven't gone back. I have no time for a dev who feels he can impose such a big slice of boring tedium on me. Definitely made me wary of Kojima, I won't be Death Stranding anytime soon—form follows function in my design philosophy, perhaps best expressed by Antoine de Saint-Exupery:
"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

what are the % for games having these features. How many people actually end up switching gore off at least once?

That's a good Q, I feel some research coming on

 

[Zloth]

Never have. Gimmie my gibs!

It would have been good to have back in Phantasmagoria when my character's head was getting split open over and over and over because I didn't have the key item I needed to solve the puzzle and didn't know it until I tried everything. Even as fake as it was, it got painful to watch dozens and dozens of times. Other than that, though, I never wanted such an option.

(If they ever make one of those smell-your-game systems work right, though, I will definitely be wanting some options on that thing. Those gruesome areas we get into in games may look kinda nasty, but smelling them would mean losing my lunch and probably my keyboard.)

If people want to find mature content, they will have little trouble doing so.

It's for the people that don't want to find it.

 

[Colif]

how much sunblock do you have to wear before its socially unacceptable again?

example of too much?

The weather isn't predicatable. You might go out dressed in sunblock for a warm day and instead it rains and you leave odd puddles wherever you go. even in Australia, there are only some areas where you can guarantee it won't rain, and many areas where its not hot enough to just wear sunblock all day, clothes actually come in handy. Where I am, there would only be a few weeks a year I would be happy dressed like that, and last year it didn't really happen at all. Year before we hit 44c and its too hot to go outside.

 

[mainer]

(If they ever make one of those smell-your-game systems work right, though, I will definitely be wanting some options on that thing. Those gruesome areas we get into in games may look kinda nasty, but smelling them would mean losing my lunch and probably my keyboard.)
It's for the people that don't want to find it.

That would just be bad (not "good" bad, but "bad" bad). Similar to the old "scratch & sniff" decals you could find years ago, hopefully those aren't made anymore either. Way too many applications for the old smeller glands.

 

[R3quiredd]

I prefer game to be more mature so it makes it more fun and adrenaline ig