My Plea For Rated M For Mature Gaming

Ever since Grand Theft Auto III I have been an avid fan of the franchise. It is one of the games I will always buy because I know a lot of talent went into making the game, and I will be entertained. As a youngster playing Nintendo and Sega, I dreamed about a game where you could play as a customized character, and just do what you wanted like it was real life without the real consequences. The Sims was the first game that kind of came close to the type of idea I had, except it was confined to the household. It certainly peaked my curiosity in simulation type games.

Then Grand Theft Auto III came along and the bar was raised a bit. The idea behind the game was more of what I had envisioned, an adult oriented game where you could let loose, and do what you wanted. You could carry weapons around, steal cars, ram people of the road, and create mayhem on the streets. It wasn’t quite the all encompassing game, but it was getting close.

The game I really want to see made is a mix of The Sims and Grand Theft Auto. You start out with a customized character, go to school, go to college, start a career, and spread your seed for future generations. At the same time having the freedom to do what ever the hell you want. I guess it is sort of like a virtual reality game, except it doesn’t have to go as far as being hooked up to some simulator.

I had this idea over 10 years ago. Why aren’t games progressing towards this territory at a faster pace? And why are so many games these days complete crap? It seems like you have to wait several months, maybe even years just for a truly enjoyable game to come out.

Gaming companies should know what works these days. We don’t want half-assed games put together just to keep the industry going. We want epic games. We want games that create a real buzz in the gaming industry. Gamers like living an alternate lifestyle, where we can pretend to be someone else and do things we would never do in real life, and at the same time being real life. We like simulation, excitement, and real life scenarios wrapped up in one.

Gaming should take on the proportions of the movie industry, where a truly great movie uses the absolute talents of producers, directors, actors, and technology. When I buy a game, I want to be entertained for the next couple of months. I don’t want to pick up a game and be bored after 10 minutes.

When I download a demo and realize how completely horrible the game is, I wonder why in hell the game even came out on the market. I play for 5 minutes and decide it is a completely horrific game, and wonder why anyone will even buy it. Then I feel sorry for the people who wasted their time making the game.

The gaming industry should start a new segment oriented towards adults. The generation of Nintendo and Playstation has grown up, and we want entertaining games. The only games I have bought in the last 5 years have been rated M for mature. Anything else is like watching Saturday morning cartoons. I wanted rated M for mature when I was 10 years old. I was a smart kid, and knew the rated M for mature genre was where games would be the most successful. They are successful because people like doing things that are taboo and knowing they don’t have to worry about it.

The very reason why I don’t own a Nintendo Wii is because I know the games are targeted towards preteens and senior citizens. Nintendo type games were fun when I was 10 years old.

Please for the love of gaming, stop producing utter crap in the gaming industry, and concentrate on truly epic rated M games, so that the older generations of gaming can be entertained. If I have to wait another 2-3 years for a Grand Theft Auto + The Sims game to be put on the market I will cry!

July 27, 2008 at 5:36 pm | Misc | 2 Comments