U.S. parents are more concerned over
sexual content than violence in videogames?
This is probably not surprising to anyone living in the U.S.
The film media has been cranking out ultra-violent content to such an extreme that any retail videogame would pale in comparison (i.e. Saw vs Man Hunt). Several music genres glorify violence in their lyrics, music videos, and concerts.
But looking at those statistics, calling sexual content more offensive is probably a stretch. If there is something Americans love other than violence, it would be sexual content. Similar to violent content, movies and music has always glorified sex in American pop culture.
I believe the reason why parents allow more violent content over sexual content is due to its availability of mimicry. Kids find violence fascinating and over the top, something that doesn't feel intimately real but more resembling cartoon violence. Sexual content is more easily mimicked especially if there is any in-game interaction involved. Though some cultures have an openness to sexuality, I think American culture has a stronger duality to this aspect than violence.
What is really sad is that they find Gay kissing offensive at a similar level as a severed head. I doubt that heterosexual kissing would be found as offensive to these same people. I don't believe they would think that kids would mimic such behavior. I think they are personally offended by the action more than anything.
How does this affect a gamer?
I would rather like people to be offended by sex than violence. This is due to the fact that games are more fun with violence, but sexual content isn't necessary (at least for me).
-And yeah, sorry I got no funny pictures for you people. Just look up at the two girls punching each other an let it go-
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Meh, you people are a bunch of prudes, I'd rather see my kid mimic a kiss than punch another kids brains out...
Seriously though, I'd like to see more games that deal with sexual issues in an artistic way, like many films/books do. I think Mass Effect attempted that, though I never played the game. Other than that, I can't think of a time where sexuality in a game was for any purpose other than virtual fapping.
I'm not asking for a porno game, I'm asking for a game that explores the consequences of sex.
Hell, let's have a game that explores the consequences of violence a little more instead of just using it to save the world.
But looking at the worlds trends, US is more open towards violence than European nations while Europe is more open towards sexuality than the US.
In a perfect world we wouldn't have such biases, but its not the case in the current world we live in.
I was merely suggesting a reasoning behind this trend, at least in the point of what US parents would think.
I think both should be freely dealt with in games, it was idiotic that Mass Effect was made an issue in this country. But censorship of violence in some countries are pretty stupid too.
I guess I was saying that I'd rather have violent games than games with sexual content. I wasn't pro-violence, anti-sex in anyway...
Thanks for the comments!