Sexual content more offensive to gamer parents than brutal violence

by Xav de Matos { Apr 11th 2008 at 4:35PM }

Family oriented website What They Play recently took a poll on their site for parents asking which content they feel is most offensive in games. The results not only shocked What They Like Inc. co-founder John Davison to W.T.F. on his own personal blog, but they make us epically shake our heads and roll our eyes.

According to the poll parents found sexual content, such as the sex scene in Mass Effect, and two males kissing, which is possible in Rockstar's Bully, more offensive than a sequence that involves a graphically severed human head. Really? Come on. Seriously folks, is it April Fools' again?

[via Joystiq]

Tags: poll, sexual-content, violence

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Sev @ Apr 11th 2008 4:53PM

Id rather have them watch what there going to do when they grow up then a severed head. I would just start crying though

Sev @ Apr 11th 2008 4:54PM

Ooops, my message got cut off,

'if they started reenacting bully'

Captain Obvious @ Apr 11th 2008 4:57PM

I think this is a very, very poor poll. Why don't we take a poll of WWII movie-watchers and ask whether they'd find it more offensive to see decapitated bodies or two guys dorking. Given the subject matter, two guys dorking is probably more offensive. You know what you're getting into when you watch a WWII movie, just like you know what you're getting into when playing Gears of War. (I can't quit you, Dom!)

And really, why do we have to chose only one that we find offensive? Can't we select all of the above and say that we wouldn't let our kids play games with any of the choices in them?

Finally, whether it's right or wrong, society has always been more open to depictions of violence than sex, especially homosexual intimacy. Kids are exposed to violence on TV, in comic books, and at the movies. A little more violence in video games isn't going to hurt them.

Xav de Matos @ Apr 11th 2008 5:00PM

In the west yes, but in Europe this isn't the case most of the time.

Tony @ Apr 11th 2008 5:06PM

I don't think all of those qualifiers really matter. The question is which of these is MORE reprehensible to these people. Even ignoring the homosexual topic (which on top of all of this, wasn't even explicitly about sex), more people still voted for a completely consensual (and barely explicit) sex scene as being a problem.

There's quite a lot of sex in comics and television, particularly in ones that would depict violence involving severed heads.

I think it is pretty remarkable that dying gruesomely isn't a problem to a lot of people (granted this is not a scientific poll to begin with) as long as that person wasn't showing his penis or kissing a boy.

Trekster_Gamer @ Apr 11th 2008 5:05PM

When I let my kids play the violence they know is fake in the game, but when it is sexually explicit they don't get to play, most likely we won't purchase the game.

Charles @ Apr 11th 2008 6:25PM

Really? You know exactly what your kids are thinking? So I guess when they grow up to have all kinds of problems because they were brought up to think sex is somehow more deplorable than severing another person's head, you can blame a video game? I realize this is a very hot topic, and there is no empirical evidence to suggest what effect sex or violence in video games or any other media for that matter has on the development of children, but if I for one would rather have my children desensitized to a woman's breasts or what's under her skirt than fantasizing about what her head would look like on a fucking platter. But that's just me. I hope you have a therapy fund parlayed into that college savings account.

Captain Obvious @ Apr 11th 2008 5:05PM

Xav,

Really? In Europe, kids are more likely to open a comic book and encounter sex than violence? I wasn't aware of that. Is it the same with Saturday morning cartoons and kids movies? I don't intend to be (too) sarcastic, but I can't believe that.

I get that Americans are all uptight about sex and Europeans are so properly open-minded. But that mentality doesn't extend to what the kids are watching, does it?

Xav de Matos @ Apr 11th 2008 5:33PM

You misread.

I was saying that in Europe sexual content is not considered more offensive than violence.

Not that they are more likely to encounter it.

Also, I'm not American so your point has no validity to me or my previous statement.

Personally I wouldn't want my kids to see either (sex or violence), but I think graphic violence can harm them more in the long term.

Xav de Matos @ Apr 11th 2008 5:34PM

Also our reply function is back so the "@ Someone" thing isn't necessary.

ZEBRA NINER @ Apr 11th 2008 7:04PM

@ Xav, Thanks for fixing the replying function. :P haha! @ Everyone, the reply function works.
@ The reply function, I missed you.

Intentless @ Apr 11th 2008 11:18PM

In europe shampoo/soap commercials don't show people only washing their hair and legs... They actually wash the rest of their body in commercials too. It isn't taboo like here in the states. Its more everyday respected aspect. Not something to be hiding in the closet...

diamondxp @ Apr 11th 2008 5:14PM

Violence is preferred over a natural human healthy act? Wow Society is messed up.

Jason @ Apr 11th 2008 5:31PM

What you determine to be a "natural act" is an area of contention for many people. Surprised to hear that you didn't know this. It's as if you have been on the moon for the last 20 years.

Ian @ Apr 11th 2008 8:14PM

How can sex as a natural act be contested? If you don't have sex, the species fails to repopulate, and dies. Sex is a natural act, since you can watch primates to just about everything that humans do. Homosexuality, anal sex, vaginal sex, recreational sex... monkeys do it all.

Jonman @ Apr 11th 2008 5:10PM

@ Captain Obvious

Xav is not only correct, but hugely correct. Witness the furoure over Janet Jackson's nipple at the SuperBowl.

I've lived most of my life in England, and spent some time living in Germany. Trust me when I say that America's uptight attitude to sex is a laughing stock in Europe, especially in light of the hypocrasy of the USA being the largest producer, and consumer, of porn in the world.

That said, that's not to say that Europe is perfect by any means, they just have different things to get uptight about.

ZEBRA NINER @ Apr 11th 2008 5:18PM

Yeah, if we had more porn on TV... then maybe we wouldn't be the largest consumer of it.

Man... I need to get some porn, brb.

Seriously though, this poll is interesting but not surprising at all. Most Americans are uptight about sex, but violence is run of the mill. Now... combine the two, and you've got one hell of a Saturday night.

Then you look at a place like Germany, and Gears of War isn't even sold there... but nudity of TV is A-OK! Oh well, I like my violence... won't ever give it up.

Captain Obvious @ Apr 11th 2008 5:11PM

@Tony,

Why can't we have those qualifiers? If someone asks "Which is most offensive to you: getting hit by a bus, getting hit by a Ford, or getting hit by a Chevy?", can't I say that I'd rather just stay at home and not get hit by anything? But, if forced to choose, I'd choose the Chevy. What does that prove? Nothing.

The fact is, is that parents don't want their kids playing video games where every other word is f***. Just because only 10% found it "most offensive" among the choices doesn't mean that the other 90% are out there letting their kids play these games.

grigdog @ Apr 11th 2008 5:13PM

I think the biggest issue with the poll is that the questions related to the sexual situations give no context. A severed head is pretty easy to comprehend, but when you say a man and a woman having sex, does that mean the implication it occurs or a graphic scene? Additionally there is a good chance that most of these parents have no idea what their kids are playing anyway and would therefore think of the worst case scenario.

At the end of the day the poll is garbage and can't be used to draw any meaningful conclusions due to the fact that it wasn't random and therefore does not accurate represent the target population. Sorry that is my business school statistics coming out.

Captain Obvious @ Apr 11th 2008 5:17PM

@Jonman,

I don't follow you on the Superbowl. My question is whether kids are more likely, when absorbing entertainment designed primarily for kids, to see violence or sex. In America, the answer, clearly, is violence. When a child in Germany or Spain opens a comic book (and not some graphic porn), which is he more likely to see - a naked boobie or some dude getting stabbed?

Jason @ Apr 11th 2008 5:29PM

Most kids grow up watching some sort of violence (e.g. Tom and Jerry wacking at each other with baseball bats), but few kids grow up watching Bert and Ernie make out in the red light district of Sesame Street.

I am not sure why anyone is surprised when sexuality ranks higher than violence in offensiveness. The culture of many nations in history have been this way.

diamondxp @ Apr 11th 2008 5:44PM

Dobt be so surprised. I was exposed to sexual things early in my life and they never freaked me out although violence to this day is always surprising me. I think that if you give the children the education that certain things exists then they can deal withthose things when they come up. Sex will come up but I doubt many kids will see a beheading live.

Again society is really messed up.

James @ Apr 11th 2008 5:34PM

I think (in America at least) perhaps there's a reason the thought of their kids watching sex makes people more uncomfortable than the thought of their kids watching violence. I'm not 100% sure I'd agree, but I think a lot of people would argue that a well-adjusted 13-year-old boy who sees somebody shooting up the place on TV doesn't react by thinking, "Wow, I'd love to be doing that right now", but the exact opposite is true of even slightly graphic sex.

That is to say, people consider it unlikely that watching violence leads to violence (or at least violent urges), but likely that watching sex leads to sex (or at least sexual urges). I sorta-kinda agree with that, I guess.

fragilefilter27 @ Apr 11th 2008 5:44PM

So let me get this straight: Beheading and graphically maiming someone (unnatural) is ok but seeing a man and a woman having sex (which is natural) is wrong.
If the game has porno type sex in it then I can see where it can be offensive but if it's done tastefully then there's no big deal about it. If parents don't want there kids (or themselves) to see it then they should do some research about it.

Jonman @ Apr 11th 2008 5:46PM

@Captain Obvious.

Ok - gotcha.

So in answer to you, I don't think that kid's media in Europe is any more likely to feature sex than here in the US.

However, if they inadvertantly are exposed to any kind of nudity, it's less of an issue. Hence my Janet Jackson reference. Heck, if you go to park in Germany in summer, there's naked folk left, right and centre, and no-one bats an eyelid.

Very healthy, too, if you ask me.

Supercool4 @ Apr 11th 2008 6:54PM

thats a surprise

Anticrawl @ Apr 11th 2008 7:07PM

Yep always been backwards here in the states. Violence is a OK but sex is dirty, filthy and unnatural. We should avoid it at all costs!

Jonah Falcon @ Apr 11th 2008 8:27PM

Ah, but the porn industry is THRIVING here, more than anywhere else in the world. THat's why Europeans call us "Puritanical hypocrites".

Anticrawl @ Apr 11th 2008 9:25PM

Americans are so addicted to porn and so big on porn production because the act of sex in the most basic of forms in our country is viewed as taboo.

JakubK666 (Ninja Defence Force) @ Apr 12th 2008 4:07AM

Yeah but porn makes up about 80% of the internet...and why do you pay for porn anyway? There are loads of free sites.

dylan @ Apr 11th 2008 7:33PM

the really stunning thing is it isn't even sex, it s any sort of nudity, if you show a naked female breast (something you see on most beaches in Europe) parents here will try to have the video game banned, whereas you can show brutal torture and graphic mutilation and slap an M sticker on it and it is okay.

Kalroy @ Apr 11th 2008 8:11PM

It's because sex is sex, and in whatever context it happens to be in, it's still sex. Violence, on the other hand, is always the same. The violence in Band of Brothers will always be more acceptable than the violence in Saw.

Kalroy

Matthew @ Apr 11th 2008 8:16PM

I agree with this poll whole-heartedly. Well, except for the two guys kissing, I would rank that as #1. That's just gross.

Jonah Falcon @ Apr 11th 2008 8:24PM

Kids play The Sims and The Sims 2, and everyone is kissing and Woo-Hooing each other of the same AND opposite sex.

Jonah Falcon @ Apr 11th 2008 8:25PM

More gross than a decapitated head? (rolling eyes) And you wonder how Matthew Shepard or Brandon Teena could possibly happen.

Lavat @ Apr 11th 2008 8:28PM

Its ok to censor violence and sex...Kids get away with watching/playing it anyhow.... I myself get away with alot of things...But arguing over whether you think it affects anyone is pointless...Almost as pointless as a fanboy argument...almost...Get a million people to sign something and send it in to change it. Like stopping Britain,Australia and Germany from censoring every game ad and game that comes out. Do something about it.

TimeWasterXX @ Apr 11th 2008 9:05PM

I think all of it is really up to the parents, but to me Homosexuality and sex are both normal things in everyday life that you should get used to and a severed head may have effects on what the child is thinking, but only if the child is already physiologically then will there be a problem. So in any of these cases I find no problem in the fact of children playing any of theses type of games, but still it is up to the parents of the child.

Trekster_Gamer @ Apr 12th 2008 12:32PM

I think all of it is really up to the parents, but to me Homosexuality and sex are both normal things in everyday life that you should get used to and a severed head may have effects on what the child is thinking

You are so full of SH _ _ Homosexuality is NOT normal you freak, that is the most harmful to kids these days. Society trying to push this unnatural, immoral perversion into society. People should not get used to this perversion, and it SHOULD NEVER be considered NORMAL

Dr Dave @ Apr 12th 2008 9:07AM

Figures,
kids and sex = bad / kids and violance = ok
if you ask me we are one screwed up bunch of people

John @ Apr 12th 2008 3:36PM

The difference is, how many people after they see DOM cut someone's head off with a chain saw think hey maybe I should do the same, then how many people see a make out seen and think I want to go find someone to make out with?

As a gamer they should just let you toggle which explicit material you want\dont want in your game... However if you go buy Playboy Mansion the video game or Call of Duty 4 you should know what you are expecting to see in the game...

my 2 cents... btw I don't want men making out in my games, not that I care what people do on their own time, just don't make me sit through watching it....
OR at least warn me that I might like to leave ahead of time...

bennydesign @ Apr 12th 2008 3:37PM

I still don't understand how Americans "reproduce". Seems more and more to me that they implant something into their severed brains and then, 9 months later they cut it out of their bleeding body. Sorry, but how can one nation deny sex that much! Sex is natural, killing is not!

Someone from Old-Europe

Trekster_Gamer @ Apr 12th 2008 3:44PM

Gee I don't see how you dress yourself you fragging moron, you prolly have sex with dogs

Boff @ Apr 14th 2008 5:32AM

I agree with some of the comments. This poll must have been done in the US where guns are readily available and people seem to think it's their 'right' to have one.

Whereas sex, a normal part of human life and something that is essential to life is treated like a dirty, unnatural act that children should be protected from.

Unbelievable!!