Oblivion: Violence & Porn
I posted a while back about my objections to paying for Oblivion add-ons and my dislike of MMO style patching and additional content purchasing, after which I was decapitated and burned at the stake by most of my MMO playing acquaintances. I recanted a teeny bit following my adventures in Guild Wars where I could at least begin to see how episodic content would appeal to some people. That new insight took Bethesda off my annoyance list (except for the horse armour thing), but they’ve landed themselves on the naughty side of a much bigger and more powerful fish than I.
Apparently Elder Scrolls: Oblivion has been re-rated by the ESRB. Where once sat a comfortable T for Teen rating, the hack’n’slash fantasy adventure has been rudely marked up to M for Mature. According to the ESRB, Bethesda neglected to accurately detail the amount of violence and gore in their latest release and conveniently didn’t mention a locked out skin for nudity, in the same vein as the Hot Coffee fiasco from last year. Oddly, Oblivion is published by the same company responsible for the GTA fiasco: Take-Two.
Bethesda has argued that the art file is not part of the game unless by third party (read here: bad players! bad!) mods are installed that allow gamers to access it. The ESRB didn’t seem to care much how it was accessible, the fact that it was there at all that raised their rating ire. On Bethesda’s behalf, I really do feel that it is unfair to punish a developer for third party mods that players create out of a need to see nipples in every game they play. It would have been done whether or not the skin existed initially. I have seen nude mods on games that really…should not have them, it was just disturbing.
The company responded to the new rating by saying that they will willingly accept the new rating and will not contest it, but stated that it considered Oblivion “is not typical of Mature rated titles, and does not present the central themes of violence that are common to those products”. They also countered the accusations of inaccurately representing the amount of gore and violence bysimultaneously patting the rating board on the back, and pointing a finger at the ESRB’s rating system:
With regard to violence, Bethesda advised the ESRB during the ratings process that violence and blood effects were “frequent” in the game - checking the box on the form that is the maximum warning. We further advised that the game contained occasional torture, vulgar acts, and gore. We gave accurate answers and descriptions about the type and frequency of violence that appears in the game. We submitted a 60-page document listing the explicit language, acts, and scenes in the game. Oblivion packaging already contains warnings for “Violence” and “Blood and Gore.”
We value the role of the ESRB and believe the rating agency plays a valuable role in regulating our industry. As always, we will continue work in good faith to comply fully with the ESRB’s standards and policies.
On the nudity side of things I would like clarification on exactly what was accessible by this mod. By the way the ESRB makes it sound, the nude art was just sitting there, courtesy of Bethesda, waiting for someone to hack the archives and make it visible. If that’s the case then shame on the sex-deprived employee that thought it necessary to sneak those files into the game. If, and I think this is more likely the case, the mod allowed access to the character modelling so that third party folks could tinker and create their own nudies from scratch, then I don’t see how any of this is Bethesda’s fault, nor are they guilty of lack of disclosure on the nudity warning.
[Edit: Okay so I did a little more digging, and it appears that the files were infact included by Bethesda and only required minimal tinkering (like removing the undies that the developers had covered everything up with) to see boobies galore). So says the person claiming responsibility to the mod.] Care to see it in action? Click the image in this post to see an example at GameVideos.com. NSFW obviously, there are breasts involved.
On the violence side, it looks to me that Bethesda did everything by the book and waded through the ESRB paperwork in good faith. If they did submit a 60 pager on the nastiness in the game and checked off the highest level of blood and violence…I have to wonder how it escaped the initial rating with a Teen. Not that the ESRB would ever, ever be in remiss. No.
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POSTED IN: Clips and Pics, Links, Mods, News, Online Gaming, RPG
14 opinions for Oblivion: Violence & Porn
ELDER SCROLLS JUNKY
Jul 11, 2006 at 2:24 am
Wow you are a dumbass you know it isn’t the co.’s fault that a nude mod was released it’s lame people who like to see pixilated skin and shit and esrb is dumb too cause they don’t have anybody who really knows how to design software casue it’s a simple rule if the game can access the web or has someway of getting add ons from the web then guess what… there will be modifications to the damn game
You Have No Clue Erin
Oct 2, 2006 at 6:38 pm
Elder Scrolls Junky that posted before is correct. Bethesda did not include this in their original programing. It was third party gamers that created this mod for their own amusement. The ESRB made Bethesda increase the rating to M just to avoid potential lawsuits. By the way, Rockstar made Grand Theft Auto not Bethesda (makers of Oblivion). I suggest you make sure you have all of your facts straight and have some sort of clue of what you are talking about before writing an article.
Erin
Oct 4, 2006 at 1:18 pm
Point taken that the mod was not something that Bethesda included. I hope that the date on the post (May 4th, 2006), shows that this piece was published just after the news came to light, but before any conclusions had been released as to the source and nature of the mod, and the responsibility of the developer.
As for comment number 2, I wuold suggest that you make sure you do your research before accusing someone of false reporting. Rockstar did indeed make Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the source of the controversial ‘Hot Coffee’ mod, but they, with their suite of studios, is in fact a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive. Please see their legal statement (http://www.rockstargames.com/legal/) for confirmation.
2K Games, the publisher of Oblivion, is ALSO a wholly owned subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, making Take-Two intricately involved in the development, marketing and retail processes for both games.
Some Guy
Dec 5, 2006 at 5:35 pm
I do find that it is stupid, the re-rating… It is like we cannot have sex organs because minors are around…It is fine as long as they can’t see but then there is always the posibility that some crazy person will pull your pants down…and then what happens?? it is not your fault that the lil kid saw it. But hey it is laws that a person youger that 18 cannot see certain parts of another human body, when they have the same thing under their clothes….Just saying, it is not that many people that make pass 18 with such an inocent mind, you always have internet, and your girlfriend.
I guess they should reconsider about the re-rating, but it is not likely to happen, for they dont give a damm about us players opinoins…and if they do they hide it well. It is jut enough to look throug the internet and see how many people are on favor and otherwise.
Tante Gusti
May 17, 2007 at 5:18 am
Vow,
my dear American fellow beings, please mind exactly what I have to tell you:
Never ever travel to Europe and visit an art - museum. Your health could get seriously damaged by all this nudity you might see there. You know, we Europeans are perverts by nature. We think human bodies are the most beautiful shapes which exist on this planet. That is why that early perverts (then known as artists) like Botticelli, Rubens, Hyronimus Bosch, Albrecht Duerer, and what have you, did it: they painted nude bodies. Trying to convince us it was art. Suckers!
Michelangelo even painted half naked bodies into sacral buildings. What a rudy!
I am sure that if Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa would be copied topless, Leonardo would go to jail in the USA. Why did he paint breasts - covered though - and forgot to make sure that nobody could add nipples afterwards?
Well, I believe you rating agencies should be called Inquisition, but damn, thats again a European expression!
Jason Almighty
Jul 26, 2007 at 10:42 am
There are reasons for there being laws against nudity and I happen to agree with them. You who are bashing the nudity laws aren’t perceiving the whole situation completely. You need to think of certain situations where, if there were no laws against it, people could get away with their wrongdoings. What if some sick old man decides he wants to have sex or “play” with a young child and he shows himself to him or her? Is that not “wrong”? According to some of your logic, it might be ok. Or if someone tries to rape another person and starts to get naked or expose himself, should that person not be punished for the initial thing they must do to actually rape? This is why I agree with laws and things such as this, to clear the board of any chance that someone could be doing wrong by saying nudity is wrong in the first place. People need to think of the whole picture before posting their unevolved ideas and influencing others.
OutsidersViewEverythingRealism
Aug 18, 2007 at 9:20 am
Honestly, in all truth if I had to argree with someone here whether or not the CO was responsible I would have to say who they hire to review the products ditributed is lays heavily on their shoulders, therefore they must overview things closely, which some do not do, due to the fact that the profit made by the product regardless or for the ‘mistakes’ created would benefit them, so in any case a rotten employee was involved and of course if this was created and allowed or even spectacularly ‘ignored’ by the other employees then obviously something was intentionally made and missed by ESRB. I really wouldn’t agree with Ender Scrolls junky or his friend “You Have No Clue Erin”, most possibly the same person, I would not even go there… really both are either the same person, or just as devoid of any f*ck*ing intelligence whatsoever. The reason why it was re-rated was obviously because someone decided not to inspect the content of the game correctly or the mods being distributed, so when the mod was within the pack and the joke was intentional. You ignorant retards should review this post before making detrimental comments (pathetic ones) towards the one who created this post. Your morals are low and you deserve a swift death, unlike Erin here who is making sense and should really be commended for telling us promising consumers. We pay for what we asked for, and nothing less, and in this case we were given less than expected, we were given some trash along with our purchase. Thanks Erin, don’t mind these idiots. Also, if any one of you morons would like to spew more crap, I will be glad to flame the living shit out of you, or better yet I’ll give you a ventrillo or TS channel so I can talk to you personally along with a few other friends.
OutsidersViewEverythingRealism
Aug 18, 2007 at 9:25 am
Jason, I also have to agree with you, my morals are high, I am a sagitarius, so I really have no choice :( so yes, the laws are created and should be inforced, and when they are broken those who have broken them must pay a price. If anyone here should be bashing anyone, its those who have intentionally displayed trash on our societies front porch. This is no different.
OutsidersViewEverythingRealism
Aug 18, 2007 at 9:27 am
Not to be too skeptical, but honestly this is why Europe has such flaxed laws, also why there are so many more gruesome and disgusting organizations in Europe willing to catch you, use you, manipulate you and get rid of your being as quickly with a little knowledge of the situation leaked to law inforcement as possible.
Mr. Darkness
Aug 18, 2007 at 6:43 pm
of course, we could also just outlaw rape. we could also realize that morality is nonsense, and not worry about it.
acdeck
Sep 4, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Hi Erin,
My advice to you is to not buy or play Oblivion. Also, it may be good for you to find a job, or find a good hobby. Perhaps a non-computer hobby. Maybe camping or working to save the enviroment. These are of coarse are just exaples of ways to spend your time other than complaining about what other people are doing. You will find that if you get a jod, hobby or even a boy friend, perhaps you will be more into your own life and not care about what you can’t control.
someguy
Sep 6, 2007 at 12:23 pm
wow man thats pretty harsh. But i wonder, whats this gotta do with u. I mean if u were “more into your own life” as u suggest, u probably would not go messing into other ppl’s life. However this is a discussion about y Oblivion should not be rated “M” for mature, instead of suggesting others how to live. :)
porn and oblivion
Oct 11, 2007 at 8:30 am
you know what nudity is just another thing in life. as someone said before you see it all the time and it is even allowed in other countires.if u go to a beach in europe it is topless girls evryware. it is no big deal.
MF
Jan 3, 2008 at 10:21 am
The main problem with the ESRB is that they, more often than not, are the ones who actually bring to light things such as nudity patches or secret vulgarities that the average consumer wouldn’t know or care about. I have played games such as the GTA titles, Oblivion, World of Warcraft, The Sims, etc., and never even knew about any kind of naked body skins until it was brought to my attention by the ESRB. If someone wants to put in that much time and effort just to render some pretend nudity, then so be it. It doesn’t hurt anyone in any way. It’s not like some big named Orc is going to jump out from the computer screen and start sexually assaulting children. Besides that, most parents that would actually care about the whole nude patch thing are probably monitoring their children’s gameplay at least enough to notice whether they’re running around in a virtual nudist colony or not. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing for kids to see what men and women have underneath their garments so that they don’t become raving maniacs when they see a nipple slip out of somebody’s dress. Unfortunately, as history has shown, there will always be periods that are lax and periods that are uptight, as any of the wonderful artwork and sculptures that were defaced with fig leaves prove, and we are in a particularly uptight phase. Those in charge need to stop worrying about silly, inconsequential things like video game nudity and start paying more attention to the issues that are actually plaguing our world, like disease, mass genocide, the raping of our planet, etc.
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