Japan M Rating, change West from T to M please

Preface

"The average age of Final Fantasy XIV players is generally considered to be in the mid-20s to late 30s, with a significant portion of the player base being adults. While many fans of the broader franchise are older (around 42), the active MMO player base is frequently cited as being younger than that, often in the 20-30 range."

Argument
If this is done I hope it introduces more mature topics, blood and overall better stories that appeal to the adult audience of this game rather than pretending it's a game for teenagers.

This has never been a game for teenagers, in fact, given the online interactions everyone talks about here I think a child would be in a safer environment playing GTA and running over prostitutes while escaping law enforcement.

Point is, doing this is going to free up the development team to do whatever they want, and the facade that this is a game for kids is 100% fake and everyone knows it.

We had mature stories and things like dismemberment for many years, and even 7.0 had stupid attempts at dark moments like the dead baby pit. The age rating isn't to blame for a conscious decision from the writers and the people above them.

The age rating should change, for no other reason than to let me say "fuck" on chat when I want to.

They should just change it everywhere. If they aren't going to actively deal with the reason for it being changed, and we all know exactly what they were referencing, then it needs to be changed world wide. I will warn them now however, you're opening a gate that didn't need to be opened...because you were too lenient and/or lazy. So go ahead and change it but, I want to see blood and decapitations in game after this....we'll discuss dismemberment after that. o7 goodnight.

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Originally Posted by VeyaAkemi

The age rating should change, for no other reason than to let me say "fuck" on chat when I want to.

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You can say anything you want in chat now already? However, there's a risk, like it's the same as free speech in that anyone can say anything, but there's a risk it will be reported if there's excessive profanity for no reason or harassment.

Inb4 a random person coming here to say they were banned for using profanity once ever, and I doubt that because you can report anyone, but the GM is the final person who decides who gets a warning or not. Also, I've never been reported before for just chatting in NN, shouts, town, LL, FC, and in all kinds of parties for different dungeons or trials.

Yup, put it to M and allow us romance with some of the characters

One country's M rating is not another country's M rating. I don't know about Japan's system but it's already M in Australia but that's because it's just the "recommended for 15+" rating.

Raising the rating isn't going to make it more mature in any way I'm interested in seeing.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

One country's M rating is not another country's M rating. I don't know anbout Japan's system but it's already M in Australia but that's because it's just the "recommended for 15+" rating.

Raising the rating isn't going to make it more mature in any way I'm interested in seeing.

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It's literally so they don't have to censor the /gpose function.

https://jp.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...32951b34db6e0d

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Originally Posted by Astronis

It's literally so they don't have to censor the /gpose function.

https://jp.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...32951b34db6e0d

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Intriguing. What would they have had to actually censor that can be achieved with the /gpose feature as it stands now? :D

Asking for a friend.

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Originally Posted by Cidel

Intriguing. What would they have had to actually censor that can be achieved with the /gpose feature as it stands now? :D

Asking for a friend.

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I looked at a translation of the CERO website, and it looks like one of the factors for ratings is "Underwear exposure". So I assume they'd have to have added black shadows and strongly restricted the camera. Just guessing, though. Japan and East Asian countries take digital upskirts pretty seriously.

I'm sure people can also get pretty creative with emotes, so they may have had to restrict those as well.

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Originally Posted by Astronis

I looked at a translation of the CERO website, and it looks like one of the factors for ratings is "Underwear exposure". So I assume they'd have to have added black shadows and strongly restricted the camera. Just guessing, though. Japan and East Asian countries take digital upskirts pretty seriously.

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Well, seeing as players have all sorts of freedom to expose underwear simply by wearing something like 2B's bottoms and a high enough top/no top at all, then I guess the change was warranted, /gpose or not.

They've always explored plenty of mature themes, but they can be more overt about those things with a higher rating. I don't suspect much would change.

The idea we could properly romance the NPCs with this change is a neat suggestion, though.

Apparently it about gpose. They would rather raise the rating than place restrictions on what players can do with gpose. Nice.

NA, and EU ratings aren't changing according to translations as well.

So game companies don't set their ratings, while they do have some control over it via the content in the game, that's about as far as it goes. ESRB in the US controls what rating a game will get in the NA region.


I think it's best just to leave the game alone in terms of more graphical sexuality/violence. Perhaps go play TERA if you want more sexuality or violence (combat is pretty damn good too, or at least it was when I tried it out many years ago)

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Originally Posted by VeyaAkemi

The age rating should change, for no other reason than to let me say "fuck" on chat when I want to.

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You can swear as much as you like. It's just that the profanity filter is opt out rather than opt in. It's in your chat log options.

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Originally Posted by Astronis

I looked at a translation of the CERO website, and it looks like one of the factors for ratings is "Underwear exposure". So I assume they'd have to have added black shadows and strongly restricted the camera. Just guessing, though. Japan and East Asian countries take digital upskirts pretty seriously.

I'm sure people can also get pretty creative with emotes, so they may have had to restrict those as well.

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They did, in a way. With the dungeon portraits - They force you to have your face in the image now because people couldn't stop putting cleavage/buttshots in them.

So in a manner, this is a change made solely because players cannot stop being degenerates.

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Originally Posted by CCheshire

You can say anything you want in chat now already? However, there's a risk, like it's the same as free speech in that anyone can say anything, but there's a risk it will be reported if there's excessive profanity for no reason or harassment.

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Originally Posted by jomas_45

You can swear as much as you like. It's just that the profanity filter is opt out rather than opt in. It's in your chat log options.

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I know you can just swear and I often do in closed chats, but like Cheshire themselves acknowledge, it is against ToS, I think that's stupid and shouldn't be there at all, if the chance for as much as a warning from me saying something innocuous like, I dunno, "I am real fucking tired", is greater than zero, I don't like that, and I really think it should be gone.

Also I want to make clear this isn't an attempt to say I should be allowed to say slurs, far from it, it's just, it's the internet, I feel there needs to a clarification about that unfortunately.

It changes from CERO C, which ist 15 and above, to CERO D, which is 17 and above.

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Originally Posted by Cidel

Well, seeing as players have all sorts of freedom to expose underwear simply by wearing something like 2B's bottoms and a high enough top/no top at all, then I guess the change was warranted, /gpose or not.

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Or just start the game as a female miqo'te and do something like walk. Flahsbanged instantly.

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Originally Posted by CCheshire

You can say anything you want in chat now already? However, there's a risk, like it's the same as free speech in that anyone can say anything, but there's a risk it will be reported if there's excessive profanity for no reason or harassment.

Inb4 a random person coming here to say they were banned for using profanity once ever, and I doubt that because you can report anyone, but the GM is the final person who decides who gets a warning or not. Also, I've never been reported before for just chatting in NN, shouts, town, LL, FC, and in all kinds of parties for different dungeons or trials.

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It doesn't even take profanity to get banned. I've been banned for 10 days from here before for voicing an opinion that someone didn't like, and it contained zero profanity. You are correct, the GMs and their loosely written, vague-termed rules allow it to happen to any poster about any post that gets posted. Because it's a private company that can do what they want with this content.

Higher rating = smaller market. M rating used to be considered pretty much a death sentence a couple decades back because it meant Walmart would not sell your game.
(It might be less of a problem in our current era of mostly digital distribution but still)

Anyway ffxiv has proven that you dont need a M rating to tell a compelling story. (And they nonetheless do get away with including pretty mature themes such as suicide)

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Originally Posted by Arrius

They did, in a way. With the dungeon portraits - They force you to have your face in the image now because people couldn't stop putting cleavage/buttshots in them.

So in a manner, this is a change made solely because players cannot stop being degenerates.

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Yeah, pretty much. Putting the kind of restrictions portraits have onto /gpose would be completely onerous and more or less destroy the feature, which they didn't want to do. /gpose isn't made explicitly to show other players in-game like portraits either, so no one can be reported for their degenerate /gposes, it's a fully out of game thing. So, instead, ratings increase.

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Originally Posted by Kemiko

Or just start the game as a female miqo'te and do something like walk. Flahsbanged instantly.

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There are some mount + glam combos I don't use because I'm terribly uninterested in my avatar's tighty whities.

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Originally Posted by YumieYumiki

Higher rating = smaller market. M rating used to be considered pretty much a death sentence a couple decades back because it meant Walmart would not sell your game.
(It might be less of a problem in our current era of mostly digital distribution but still)

Anyway ffxiv has proven that you dont need a M rating to tell a compelling story. (And they nonetheless do get away with including pretty mature themes such as suicide)

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It was never considered a death sentence. In fact a ton of the undeniable sales success and gaming GOATs from that era were M. Also, Walmart isn't the primary way to get video games anymore.

Examples of Essential Mature Games (Early 2000s)
Action/Open-World: Grand Theft Auto III (2001), Vice City (2002), San Andreas (2004), True Crime: Streets of LA (2003), Dead to Rights (2002).
Horror/Survival: Resident Evil 4 (2005), Resident Evil Remake/Zero/Code: Veronica X (2002-2003), Silent Hill 2 (2001), Fatal Frame 1-3 (2001-2005), Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (2002).
Shooters/Stealth: Halo: Combat Evolved (2001), Half-Life 2 (2004), Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (2005), Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3 (2001-2004), BloodRayne (2002), XIII (2003).
Niche/Controversial: Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001), BMX XXX (2002), Manhunt (2003), Killer7 (2005), Drakengard (2003).

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Originally Posted by Ath192

It was never considered a death sentence. In fact a ton of the undeniable sales success and gaming GOATs from that era were M. Also, Walmart isn't the primary way to get video games anymore.

Examples of Essential Mature Games (Early 2000s)
Action/Open-World: Grand Theft Auto III (2001), Vice City (2002), San Andreas (2004), True Crime: Streets of LA (2003), Dead to Rights (2002).
Horror/Survival: Resident Evil 4 (2005), Resident Evil Remake/Zero/Code: Veronica X (2002-2003), Silent Hill 2 (2001), Fatal Frame 1-3 (2001-2005), Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (2002).
Shooters/Stealth: Halo: Combat Evolved (2001), Half-Life 2 (2004), Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (2005), Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3 (2001-2004), BloodRayne (2002), XIII (2003).
Niche/Controversial: Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001), BMX XXX (2002), Manhunt (2003), Killer7 (2005), Drakengard (2003).

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Y'know, I'm really surprised God of War wasn't on there from 2005.

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Originally Posted by Kemiko

Y'know, I'm really surprised God of War wasn't on there from 2005.

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For real haha. Nice find! The most shocking thing for me was remembering that a new GTA was coming out every year/2 years haha.

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Originally Posted by Ath192

It was never considered a death sentence. In fact a ton of the undeniable sales success and gaming GOATs from that era were M. Also, Walmart isn't the primary way to get video games anymore.

Examples of Essential Mature Games (Early 2000s)
Action/Open-World: Grand Theft Auto III (2001), Vice City (2002), San Andreas (2004), True Crime: Streets of LA (2003), Dead to Rights (2002).
Horror/Survival: Resident Evil 4 (2005), Resident Evil Remake/Zero/Code: Veronica X (2002-2003), Silent Hill 2 (2001), Fatal Frame 1-3 (2001-2005), Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (2002).
Shooters/Stealth: Halo: Combat Evolved (2001), Half-Life 2 (2004), Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (2005), Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3 (2001-2004), BloodRayne (2002), XIII (2003).
Niche/Controversial: Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001), BMX XXX (2002), Manhunt (2003), Killer7 (2005), Drakengard (2003).

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You left out Dead or Alive: Beach Volleyboobs

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Originally Posted by SkankyRoe

You left out Dead or Alive: Beach Volleyboobs

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I. . .actually forgot this came out in 2003. That it existed on the XBOX.

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Originally Posted by Greyhawk

It doesn't even take profanity to get banned. I've been banned for 10 days from here before for voicing an opinion that someone didn't like, and it contained zero profanity. You are correct, the GMs and their loosely written, vague-termed rules allow it to happen to any poster about any post that gets posted. Because it's a private company that can do what they want with this content.

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TBH I've played other games and MMOs which all have a similar TOS that it's their game and if they want to warn or ban anyone, it's within their rights to do so because everyone has agreed during account creation.

Also, depending on the actions they have a strike system here: https://support.na.square-enix.com/f...=68098&id=5382 like if it's that bad it can skip steps ofc but they also have a decaying penalty points for accounts which is rare too.

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Originally Posted by Astronis

I looked at a translation of the CERO website, and it looks like one of the factors for ratings is "Underwear exposure". So I assume they'd have to have added black shadows and strongly restricted the camera. Just guessing, though. Japan and East Asian countries take digital upskirts pretty seriously.

I'm sure people can also get pretty creative with emotes, so they may have had to restrict those as well.

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Lmao, so my guess was actually correct that some, probably very old, japanese guy saw a catgirl with one of the flattest butts in existence and had a heart attack.

As for the actual rating change, it probably has 0 impact anyway. MMOs are already an aging genre and you're not getting a ton of 15 year olds signing up to play this game.

Devs would ban you for saying small words that aren't even offensive just because 10-30 of them reported you on purpose. But they wouldn't ban you if you were to cheat, use hacks, teleports and so on. Those people are let go. It's incredible I know.

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Originally Posted by Astronis

I looked at a translation of the CERO website, and it looks like one of the factors for ratings is "Underwear exposure". So I assume they'd have to have added black shadows and strongly restricted the camera. Just guessing, though. Japan and East Asian countries take digital upskirts pretty seriously.

I'm sure people can also get pretty creative with emotes, so they may have had to restrict those as well.

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From what I'm seeing, this is basically it.

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Originally Posted by MayuAmakura

Devs would ban you for saying small words that aren't even offensive just because 10-30 of them reported you on purpose. But they wouldn't ban you if you were to cheat, use hacks, teleports and so on. Those people are let go. It's incredible I know.

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It's time to look within yourself if 10-30 strangers all reported someone, if this person is you, like all online interactions are not rated for all multiplayer games in the first place and the GM agreed their reports were valid too.

This whole premise that the developers choose the rating is ignorant. You think they want a higher rating in any region? Absolutely not. If anything it will incentivize them to tone things down to lower the rating back down to maintain the largest possible audience.

As far as ESRB ratings go, this game is solidly in the T rating and if you want a game that pushes an M rating go find something else. This ain't for you.

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Originally Posted by Korbei

This whole premise that the developers choose the rating is ignorant. You think they want a higher rating in any region? Absolutely not. If anything it will incentivize them to tone things down to lower the rating back down to maintain the largest possible audience.

As far as ESRB ratings go, this game is solidly in the T rating and if you want a game that pushes an M rating go find something else. This ain't for you.

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Man it's almost like they just bumped it up to a higher rating and they were not incentivized in Japan to tone things down. If only this weren't so fundamentally wrong we may have had a good conversation here. Either way, developers do choose the rating, because they design with certain standards in mind to achieve a certain rating, if its not them who slap the label on personally.

Seeing as the cat is out of the bag in Japan they may as well break their shackles and stop caring about maintaining a T rating in order to build a better game. Due to its online chat room nature and mostly adult audience T is a false characterization anyways.

Hey maybe now we can get bare feet?
(Preferably not through mog station)