GDC 08: Developers In The Crosshairs (Day 2)
The continuation of yesterday’s “Developers in the Crosshairs” was even more heavily attended today, which led to a lot of interesting discussions even though the suggestion of possible solutions to backlash and scandal were only briefly mentioned.
This time around, there were a lot more developers on hand who were working on upcoming games and were curious about what they could do to dampen possible problems with their developing games (I noticed a number of folks from the team working on This Is Vegas).
The first topic of discussion was actually the Mass Effect sex scene scandal created by that bastion of journalistic integrity, Fox News. Since a couple of people from Bioware were in the room we were provided with some facts that weren’t really obvious during the events in question. One of the first things that was explained was that Bioware didn’t directly respond because there’s the threat of legal ramifications if you do any sort of official response. Not only that, though, but Bioware suspected that someone would have a problem with the scene, so they toned it down a lot before it the final version of the game was released; they kept the scene in, though, because they’re big believers in pushing the boundaries in terms of storytelling. Besides, “everyone has that one Star Trek fantasy, right?”
After that, a lot of the time was actually spent discussing working with the ESRB, partially because some of the developers in the discussion today haven’t worked with the group before. Based on the questions I heard, they were particularly focused on how Rockstar was so “shocked” when Manhunt 2 was originally handed an AO rating. The veteran designs in the group explained that that was most likely a publicity stunt because the ESRB is very good about providing feedback if you go to them with your games before you actually submit them for an official rating (I can’t say I disagree, either).
However, what I was surprised to hear about how picky the ESRB can be with the context of objectionable content. A developer from THQ who was involved with both Saints Row titles and The Punisher had a rather entertaining comparison. During a number of the interrogation sequences in The Punisher, the ESRB told the development team that they needed to change certain aspects in order to avoid an AO rating (apparently torturing someone with a knife wasn’t OK, but pressing a button and just stabbing them to a table was). Meanwhile, Saint’s Row had no problem getting an M-rating at its first go, even though it’s content was far more scandalous than anything Frank Castle did.
On a sidenote, I remember talking with one of the developers at E3 and being told that the ESRB said the amount of gore coming out of a woodchipper -after it’s used in to interrogate an enemy- was way too much for what a human body would’ve provided (I immediately wanted to know what kind of research the ESRB had done to validate that claim, which is still a mystery I have yet to solve).
The final few moments of the roundtable were spent suggesting possible solutions, during which time Daniel Greenberg –the host of the talk- voiced something which I thought was totally brilliant. In a manner of being proactive instead of reactive, Greenberg suggested the idea of having the IGDA providing its members with media training so they are better prepared to weather the storms of controversy if someone ends up coming after their product.
Based on the enthusiasm and attendance, I wouldn’t be surprised if this forum returns to GDC next year, especially since controversies surrounding games are becoming all the more commonplace.
Boy of Tomorrow
Posted to GDC, Hot Stuff, Miscellany on 21 February 2008
· Comments (1)
Other stuff like this: controversies, development, discussion, esrb, game developers conference, GDC, gdc 2008, mass effect, saints row, scandal, the punisher
Very interesting! That's one session I wish I could have attended.. (among others hehe)