The Video Game Critic

If people want info on the controversy, here is the info below. It is just sad that a harmless sport game cause controversy in a second world country because of supporting LGBT!

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016- ... propaganda

Since this site is a politics-free zone (and I don't really do politics online anyway) I'll just say I that I hope EA doesn't budge an inch.

velcrozombie wrote:Since this site is a politics-free zone (and I don't really do politics online anyway) I'll just say I that I hope EA doesn't budge an inch.

I did not mean this for political reasons, but it is fascinating that even a harmless soccer game can cause problems.

But then again, it does not surprise me that this is happening, because Russia is no stranger to censorship compared to the rest of the world because of it being a Second World country.

And speaking of Russia, the country has also been known to give harsher age ratings compared to other parts of the world for obvious reasons, and some of these will be surprising to some.

Stardew Valley is rated 18+ in Russia compared to other countries!: https://store.playstation.com/#!/ru-ru/ ... ORDERSIEE0 vs https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-gb/ ... ORDERSIEE0 and https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-au/ ... ORDERSIEE0

Uncharted 4 rated 18+ in Russia, but T rated here/lower in other countries!: https://store.playstation.com/#!/ru-ru/ ... TED4000000 vs https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-us/ ... TED0000000 and http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps4/739573-unch ... s-end/data

Rune Factory 4 rated 18+ in Russia compared to other countries!: https://www.nintendo.ru/-/-Nintendo-3DS ... 42229.html vs http://www.gamefaqs.com/3ds/635388-rune-factory-4/data

The Senran Kagura series in Russia were all rated 18+ in Russia compared to PEGI/USK versions getting 16+ rating on all but the second 3DS game in Germany with a 12+ rating, only the first game was given a 16+ rating in Russia, as it is the tamest in the series.

Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel is rated 18+ in Russia compared to other countries!: https://store.playstation.com/#!/ru-ru/ ... 4HGBENG001 vs http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps4/168956-nitr ... -duel/data

Just an FYI- I was a bit wary of approving this topic but went ahead and did it since I know where Sonicx9 was going with this. Please keep this topic in check. If this topic veers off course, down a dark alley, I'll have to close it.

Thanks!

Trying to stay non-political here by just looking at censorship. Most people are not comfortable with banning things, but there is always a line. Doesn't a country have the right to label, to restrict or outright ban something contrary to their values?

Imagine a game that glorifies or rationalizes terrorism, and maybe even simulates a recent terrorist event in the US or Europe. Most Americans don't want it sold no matter the ESRB rating. In the US, a retailer would be facing massive backlash to even consider it. Even if a small developer tried to put it on Google Play, Google would block it. Politicians might stand up and use the game to promote their own agenda as well, which is what might be going on here. However, in the US, the consumers are more than happy to have something to boycott and tweet against, and the politicians are not needed.

In a country like Russia - and I don't know Russia - they may depend on their politicians to help police offensive content. We might disagree with their reason for disliking this game, but countries should have the right to make those choices themselves.

scotland wrote:Trying to stay non-political here by just looking at censorship. Most people are not comfortable with banning things, but there is always a line. Doesn't a country have the right to label, to restrict or outright ban something contrary to their values?

Imagine a game that glorifies or rationalizes terrorism, and maybe even simulates a recent terrorist event in the US or Europe. Most Americans don't want it sold no matter the ESRB rating. In the US, a retailer would be facing massive backlash to even consider it. Even if a small developer tried to put it on Google Play, Google would block it. Politicians might stand up and use the game to promote their own agenda as well, which is what might be going on here. However, in the US, the consumers are more than happy to have something to boycott and tweet against, and the politicians are not needed.

In a country like Russia - and I don't know Russia - they may depend on their politicians to help police offensive content. We might disagree with their reason for disliking this game, but countries should have the right to make those choices themselves.

I think in the scenario you describe, the game wouldn't be stocked for fear of a consumer backlash. I would be fine with that, as long as the video game wasn't banned and alternate ways to acquire the game were available.

I can't see this topic lasting long walking the "political" line, as there's very little to be said otherwise, but here goes anyway.

First, the best comparison here is to compare to content in games banned here for sexual content. The "terrorist" comparison is a bit more like if this were a game glorifying killing Russians in WW2. This is about banning based on a country's sexual mores. This is more like all those stations going dark on the episode of Star Trek where there was an interracial kiss, except that was the choice of the stations, not the Government.

So, for comparison in North American game culture, this is like when politicos were trying to get GTA off shelves for the "Hot Coffee" mod.

Here's some information for people who have forgotten it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Coffe ... gal_action

So, because one could mod a game to display really embarrassingly bad sexual content, a future Presidential nominee and others stepped into the ring to have their say.

Similarly, Jack Thompson tried to make a case against Bully for gay content. Again, for those who don't remember, the boy in the game could kiss another boy, so Jack Thompson demanded the ESRB change the rating, which they did not.

I'm not making any statements on anything politically. I'm just saying there are plenty of direct comparisons here. Generally, the gaming community has come out in support of the games over the censors. I think perhaps it would be interesting to see if gamers in Russia view these particular politicos the way we see Jack Thompson.

I'll try not to step over boundaries, but we've just got to accept Russia has different views than America does on certain issues, and this is one, and we should all respect that. It's like Wolfenstein 3D in Germany. Only the SNES version was released there, due to the German government banning Nazi symbols. Now Russia wants to ban LGBTQQIAAP content from FIFA. Odds are, the game will just be edited, and life will go on.

Maybe Russia just wants to preserve the image of the rainbow as a phenomenon of nature rather than seeing it become a symbol for homosexuality.

Wait a minute, I thought Russia was known as the human rights capitol of the world?