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In this final blog to this series, I want to speak about when Mature games will evolve to the point that the rating is given for a real reason. While a game can easily get a M rating for blood, violence, drugs and others things on the level of a R Rated scale, I think M rated games need a fresh overlook to them. If developers depend on the same genre’s, storylines, footage, and stereotypical characters, we are going to fault them for not exploring and trying to change.
For example, I would like to play a game about a Cancer survivor who has to take down a tobacco company. It can explore why the corporation maybe shady but it may contain something deeper. Now I know because it doesn’t include any guns or a big outlandish war, let it be a online game that the community has to play and beat together. It would be something to see how Mature gamers play it. It can also include people who work for the company stop the survivor from completing their mission.
With M rated games needing the innovation and evolving ideas to push forward, we as gamers have to voice our ideas and opinions. There are great programmers and indie teams and companies who might and have tried to present stories, games, art, and innovative creativity to us.
I would love to play the Columbine RPG cause I would like to see how I react and feel to it. Sad and truth is different from personal and opinion. Games like these would be something that can help the market. Problem is, that the young gamers can’t ask mom or dad to buy it for them which would be bad for a lot of third parties. Which in turn will force them to continue to make the expect recycle M rated games we have now. That can only last for so long.
In all, we need to address M rated games in general in the future. Not only making them better or exploring new ideas but making sure that these games are sold to a real mature audience than what we see and deal with in retail stores alone. Parents need more exposure and play time themselves while associates who deal with games need the info and be better prepared to inform those parents who only give their child what they want. That my friends, is The Game Change.