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Site Policy: Mature Content

 
This simply isn't a site for a dark/hardcore game. Plenty of casual gamers use this site for PbP, and plenty of young ones as well. I was 15 when Started on the site.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaReaper95 View Post
This simply isn't a site for a dark/hardcore game. Plenty of casual gamers use this site for PbP, and plenty of young ones as well. I was 15 when Started on the site.
Similar situation here.

I can vividly describe eating dinner in a way that may get some people looking away from the screen in order to keep their own dinner down. Comes from being a writer. That said, just because I *can* do it doesn't mean I should. I've seen critical charts that go into loving and graphic detail of what when [insert violent event here]. That's all cool. But not here.
This is a site where younger people as well as older people come to read, play games, get ideas and so on. The site is as inclusive as it can be - and that means there are limits on what you can post. If the only way you can describe what [certain Chaos gods who shall remain nameless] do to their followers and victims is to be graphic and explicit, you aren't giving your players enough credit. They know what those gods like to do - let their minds fill in the gaps. Let them infer what you mean without resorting to the explicit details.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DrMorganes View Post
Again: Psycho vs Saw.
I think this is a great way of summing it up.

I have never felt that any game I've ever run or been a part of was ever too heavily censored for me to get the point across. You can write about anything you want, and YES, that includes sex and violence, but you just can't be explicit. Some people take this to mean 'I can't do anything' and 'wah' but I've come to realize in time that if left unchecked, some of these sort of issues really CAN become bizarre and offensive experiences.

For what it's worth, someone will eventually be made uncomfortable at some point, and to be honest, I can respect that. I've seen examples of games that go WAY too far in one direction and...it actually gets pathetic, not realistic. If I had my own site, I'd probably also enforce something similar.

Again...this doesn't mean you CAN'T do what you want, and it doesn't mean you have to 'limit' your creativity. Just don't cover every single nitty gritty item and you'll be fine. I've seen writers here cover very dark issues, such as child abuse, and do so in a sad but respectful way to the parties involved. Characters were real and well rounded, dark areas were addressed, but at the same time, it kept a respectful, mature tone. Give your players only what they need to know; they can figure out the rest.

Gently implying something, as Psycho does, can actually be a more powerful device anyway. There's a reason it's a classic film.

Every game I run, I use a system I learned somewhere called "Lines & Veils." Simply put, lines are the topics or issues a player simply cannot tolerate and will not be discussed, in game, ever (things like sexual assault and child abuse); veils are those topics that people are fine with but wish it to be glossed over (sex being a big one.)

You can accomplish a lot by just "fading to black" and leaving the player's imaginations to fill in the details. Graphic descriptions don't make horror, they just make graphic scenes. True horror come from scaring people, not grossing them out.

With Black Crusade, for example, you could have your Slaaneshi cultist grab the young Imperial Guard lieutenant they have captured, drag her by her hair into his "pleasure den" and then, with a sinister look to his allies, close the door. Let them know that the screaming continues for hours, until the lieutenant's voice is hoarse. When he brings the lieutenant out, describe the haunted or broken look in their eyes and the way they keep scratching at their skin. Or whatever.

And to be honest, there is no way anyone on these boards could truly describe the horrors the followers of Slaanesh inflict. Without the influence of an actual Chaos god, I just don't think we can comprehend the excess and decadence promoted by that level of worship.

I think there are a few separate issues...

One, society is more tolerant of graphic violence than mild sexuality. In movies or network TV, you can have serial killers eviscerating victims in graphic detail and that is ok, but showing a flash of breast is verboten on TV, and an automatic "R" in movies. So yeah, kind of backwards thinking. MW similarly is "more ok" with violence than sexuality.

Two, the war cry of "think of the children" is tiresome, because really, does the entire world have to be dumbed down to a 5 year old's level? Adults are people too.

But Three, the main point, is that we all are posting on MW's site, and therefore they make all the rules, and we agree to abide by them. If not, we're free to go elsewhere. So whatever rules MW has, we just have to obey. That's pretty much the end of discussion.

Personally, I dislike sexual themes in gaming, I think it gets creepy. To each their own. MW outright forbids it, so it's moot point. I wouldn't try to lobby for exemptions.

Personal opinions on this really doesn't matter, and to a certain degree the admins opinions doesn't either. Ads pays for this site, ads keeps it free for us to use and the ads don't allow for certain content, thus the rules.

Besides as has been said, it's really not limiting, you just write and play around it.

^^^ That. If ads are what's keeping the site running, I'm fine with whatever policies keep this site free.

Easily the best PbP gaming board around. The formatting here is ridiculous.

Trust your readers. If they want to embellish within their own minds from a mere phrase "his head explodes" or "he is shot in the head and dies" then they will. A person can make what they read as graphic and dramatic as they like when they read something, even if the words aren't there. The fact that we don't have to be explicit can be very freeing. Trust your readers. They know the game is dark, they will read it that way even if you are not breaking site rules to point it out.

I do want to jump in and say that a flash od breasts is PG-13, at least in America. However, I agree with the fact that mature content can be adressed without crossing the PG-13 rating. Even sex is adressed in PG-13 shows, generally with off screen moaning and such that implies the sexual act, but does not describe it. I have personally used such techniques myself, as I am uncomfortable with writing a graphic sexual scene.

As far as graphic violence goes, the fade to black and show vague results works well. I have had PCs pass out, only to wake up to find their enemy dead, laying in a pool of their own blood or exanguinated (sp?), which got the point across well enough.

That said, I love the MW site. It is the best site I have seen so far, and I would hate to have to pay for it.




 

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