The negativity behind an ADULT CONTENT rating

Meta
22

I suppose having to buy the game is something of a threshold for age though, isn’t it? Teenagers have money to do that, but that’s not the age group people are really worried about, even if we call something 18+. I’m much less concerned about a 16 year old reading something than a 9 year old whose parents aren’t watching closely enough.

Unfortunately guidelines are always just that, and they’re never perfect. Its impossible to make a list of everything that might constitute an adult content warning, so we just have to use our best judgment and keep in mind that norms and expectations evolve over time

That’s true, but I think this problem is ameliorated (though not solved) by the fact that these games have regular WIP threads for updates and and announcements as well as the other table of contents post. At the end of the day these games are probably going to lose some readers, but I think the greater good (content warnings, keeping it from young children etc) is worth the potential sacrifice, but I understand that not everyone will agree

5 Likes
23

I searched adult content…i am sure itll come up in adult search as well

24

The link is available via the welcome to the forum post, you can also find it here

2 Likes
25

Definitely.

I’m a big fan of the existence of adult section, not arguing against it in any way.

4 Likes
26

I don’t personally think there is any much of an issue like the others has stated before due to the explicit content that these stories has, and let’s not forget that there are users on this forum that are considered to be minors by their country’s law, so I do agree with the Adult Section being hidden for that reason. However, I do have concerns about them being able to access the adult contents due to the fact that you can simply just join in.

3 Likes
27

The adult section was in before book 3 at least, yet the thread is still in normal section. Just like with SoH3, Through Broken Lenses existed before the WIP moves (I’m not referring to the start of the adult section, but before the move that started last month) and was moved to adult section; why not SoH3?

Hopefully it’s not because this is a high profile title — this standard should be followed by all games.

How would that work for games that are like ZE:SH though? Because it works all in one thread since the new releases are merely updates to the main game. If ZE:SH was suddendly found to be worthy of the adult section, would the thread be moved?

This is unrelated to the point of having an adult section; that’s just a consequence of these games costing money. Even then the demo of the adult content game is posted on the thread and playable without requiring to pay anything.

5 Likes
28

2nd posting - forum ate my original:

The adult section did not have a WiP sub-fora for Hosted Games until recently after book 3’s release was deployed.

Originally the Adult section was created exclusivly for the Heart’s Choice label which is in the very long process of being rolled out.

If somehow ZE:SH turned XXX on us, then its main discussion thread would be moved, yes. I do not see the need to move closed threads however.

The same would happen to Cataphrak’s series, eventhough his games are released seperately, his discussion thread is a combo thread.

4 Likes
29

I’m not sure I agree. If the point of the adult section is to keep games with adult content out of the hands of a younger audience, and charging money for games keeps adult content out of the hands of a younger audience, don’t these two things work together? Even if they’re not expressly for the same purposes?

I think the demos of published games would have to be evaluated to determine whether they contain adult content before saying that releasing their demos publicly (published games typically have a 3 chapter demo, iirc) defeats the purpose of having an adult section.

As @Eiwynn mentioned earlier, the adult section is fairly new, and our ideas of what it is and should be are changing, and we’re working out the kinks (pun intended). Have any WIPs that started in the adult section even made it to publication yet?

2 Likes
30

To me that’s a bit of cop out as a reason not to move. With the same reasoning I could argue that WIPs that were created before an adult section was made (if there are any) should not be moved to the adult section out of principle, regardless of their content.

The reason the games are products that require payment are to reward the author and company for their work, it’s not to keep games out of a younger audience — that’s a consequence.

Plenty of other games sold by CoG that are non-adult are priced products as well, possibly keeping out a younger audience that cannot afford them. That’s not because they want to keep young people from buying them, it’s because the company needs to make money from their products.

4 Likes
31

They don’t even have a path to publication as of yet for works that turn out to be explicit.

It is my honest feelings that the majority of the titles will be deemed non-explicit once submitted.

Those legacy threads are being asked by moderators when they are made aware of such possibilities.

The only possible legacy work that might rise to this level (but is not there yet, according to the author) is Monsters by @Shawn_Patrick_Reed and if I am not mistaken, he has been asked already if his work belongs there or not.

1 Like
32

This is what I was hoping for…I didnt understand the representation, and now I do. Thanks so much for your input!

33

Well, I started off as a lurker. There were a couple of WiPs that eventually led me to create an account here… one of which being Through Broken Lenses, who’s now on the Adult Content section - which means I’d never have seen it back in the days.

So, it’s possible to miss out, I think.

EDIT: actually, I just checked. My very first post was made on the Through Broken Lenses topic. Meaning that if the invisible Adult section had been a thing back then, it’s quite possible I wouldn’t be here arguing with you guys!

8 Likes
34

For me personally I haven’t seen a hole lot of negativity, the only issues I have seen is on some wips in the adult section people complain about the “adult content” in the game. To me that is the only issue with the Adult Content rating, for me I believe if it is in the category it should be allowed to have as much sex, violence etc as the author wants.

2 Likes
35

I agree with others in that it’s come from authors having their game moved and if they weren’t in adult readers didn’t know where it’d gone, and fear over a decreased audience since it’s an opt in forum, however lately I think that’s changing? I’ve seen some people actually suggesting their works should go there? Could be that it’ll make them easier to find if you want an adult rated game now that the adult section is more well known.

2 Likes
36

I think the Adult Content category can work both ways.

On the one hand, yes it could cut off some of your potential audience.

On the other hand, (as Jacic suggested) having your WiP be in the Adult Content Category could give it easier accessibility since it doesn’t have to compete with the other thousand WiP threads since it’s pinned at the top of the page (I think) and is advertised as having adult content.

Meaning that if someone’s in the mood for adult content, they can go the pinned thread and find something to their specific tastes without having to comb through the thousands of other WiPs.

1 Like
37

I think their are some genuine reasons to be fearful about a loss of viewership, and or, potential viewers.

I don’t think I realised that I actively couldn’t see adult threads for weeks before I actually noticed, then read, the forum stating how adult content is now a thing. It then took me about one more week to be bothered to make an account. This is all assuming the threads life was actually this long it could have been one I don’t know.

And when I did make this account and actually joined the readers section there was an extremely small amount of people joined!

Like only a few thousand I think. I will check in a moment to see if this changed but compared to like the badge I got for making a profile which like 17k people had. So let’s assume that their were 17k active readers, I know this is extremely unlikely as dead accounts exist but it’s for the sake of simplification, that means 14k people now do not actively see the adult games being updated. And if a games starts it’s life with the adult tags out of a potential 17k readers that has been slashed to not even a quarter of that total, and this isn’t including lurkers which are uncountable, could be thousands among thousands of the fuckers or there could be 12 who knows.

And I don’t know about you guys but sometimes I may see a game updated like 30 times before trying it out so if a new user didn’t join adult readers they may never even give a fuck. This is all assumptions though. And also humans are remarkably lazy creatures so lurkers like what I was who enjoyed simply lurking and never posting/making an account who simply wished to wait for the games release will now be unable to follow the games develeopment. And if they are particularly oblivious like me they may take a fucking while to notice that adult games thread or just ignore it while going
“Man I wonder when X will update again…”

I personally don’t mind the adult section existing but it was annoying that I had to join the adult readers to simply know that the games still happened to exist, and yes I know the thread update says when the game updates which I quite like, and having to make an account and all that to be able to access these threads again was like “Gawd Dammit” but it does make sence I suppose… kinda. Since I mean nothing is really stopping youths from accessing these threads besides their commitment.

But again I don’t mind the adult tabs existence, lets me find mature content easier and the adult thread itself is deliciously neat which I love.

But I do see how the whole hiding thing could effect the growth of new games, older games could be argued that they have already reached around their peak but I personally disagree with that notion.

Sorry if I didn’t add anything new to the conversation, I read a good few of the beginning posts and then some at the end and saw that the one above me mentioned viewer ship and I was like “Aw yeah cool man I can join in and feel like a big boy :D”

(Btw there are 3296 member in the adult readers group and the badge that 17k people have is the “Basic” badge)

5 Likes
38

Actually the adult content section has been around for a while. It’s been listed in the “welcome to the forum” post that’s pinned since June 2017 and I’m pretty sure announced on the forums that it had been created at about that time also. (Although it does still say for access to “Heart’s choice” adult content stories. I’m guessing that’ll get updated now that more HG’s are being moved there. But the link to join isn’t a new thing at all :).)

39

Wow I think i have gone past oblivious and I’m now just a Fucking idiot. I’ve been using this forum for like over a year .u.
Wait are you talking about the category itself or the thread? I’m talking about the thread you use to find out what is adult content. I knew about the tag though.
@Jacic

40

I think a lot of people don’t read the welcome message with basic info when they join.(Too many other threads to jump into!) It’s good that the adult section now has it’s own game list post now :slight_smile:

Edit: Yep the thread is new. The adult section isn’t and occasional HG’s were being placed there (I think that one about the man with a beak has been there for some time hasn’t it?)

2 Likes
41

Nah I read that I’ve only been a user for like a week.
I didnt have an account for like over a year of active lurking however, I’m one of fuck all people who have actually read the community guidelines :smiley:
(The man with the what?)