What does "Mature gaming" mean to you?

[anephric]

I love the word "romp". Especially when married to "bawdy".

[muse hunter]

I personally can't stand the phrase 'mature gaming'

Ask many people what games they play and you get this returned "err yeah, i only play mature games", i then feel the urge to pick up a shovel and smack it over their heads like they do in these so called 'mature games'. It's this kind of pigeon holing that the industry needs to get off its back. 'Mature gaming' is something that teenagers use to make themselves feel more grown up, the whole "i don't like mario because its all kiddy graphix", it gets even stranger when these people won't play mario but will happily watch films like shrek and the incredibles and hail them as masterpieces. Maybe this just shows that the videogame industry is still young and still hasn't been recognised like movies are, that all good videogames in their own rights are masterpieces and can be enjoyed by all ages. The only thing that seperates games are the age ratings, those who are content with playing only 'mature games' can do so but they will be missing out and to me are not proper or true gamers.

'mature games' is a tag that games need to get rid off, as to me mature movie means pornographic movie, and unless the game actually contains said material then it isn't really mature, just another game that the chavs can spunk over.

[Concept]

The term is certainly stupid, but we'll never escape multi-genre classification. It's there to primarily give people an 'idea' as to what games are going to suit their preferences.

When someone mentions a mature film for example, it usually means one that deals with slightly more intelligent ideas than the usual slick action flick.

If definitions can't be removed, then the next best thing to do in my opinion is to alter the perceptions on those that don't really do the medium any favours.

[Kubrick]

I'd say a "Mature game" is something that's too complex/difficult for kids to play properly. Doesn't need to have any sex & violence in it.

[Concept]

Maybe. Personally, it means to me something that doesn't appeal to the lowest common denominator.

Game like Super Monkey Ball or Super Mario 64 can be considered 'mature' in my view, because they embrace their host medium.

[anephric]

Gaming is a juvenile medium, though... in terms of age and the critical "tools" used to analyse them.

Such obtuse labels are still required for many: it took cinema as an "art" 50 years before it had any real critical/appreciatory tools and one might argue that it has even regressed into a mainly puerile arena with Hollywood product.

[Concept]

The tools are there. It just appears, at least on the outside, the academic community are very exclusive and disconnected from the medium's demographic. The true analysis will probably come from gamers growing up with the form.

Gaming is young, but it's not as young as many make out. We're talking 40 years since the medium's initial inception, and 30 'proper' years since things got under swing.

I'd be disappointed if in 10-20 years, the tools to properly dissect where videogaming can go aren't beginning to bed in to a conscious structure that can be used in education, general discussion and the community at large.

[Tetsuo]

'Mature' isn't a term I apply to any games I have. I don't really think that word has any relavence. What is 'mature' film, 'mature' music? There's no such thing, surely? Not really.

Games are what you make. The ones I love....they work in different ways, look different, sound different, they are from different eras even, but I would still credit them all equally with varying degrees of artistry and imagination.

I'll elevate any game above another if it can make me smile, forget myself, utterly thrill me, or make me cry. Few do, and I'm not sure they are seen as "mature".

[MikeRox]

a game can have mature content, but that doesn't make it "mature".

I must have been the only person who wanted GTA when it first came out on the PS1 an PC purely for the free roaming driving aspect rather than the crime bit :S

At the end of the day it's all tile sets and animations I don't see how a tile set should effect peoples opinions of a game, surely thats pretty much just judging a game by it's cover? Personally I'd agree that if any type of game was going to be classed as "mature" it'd be something that is far more intelligent rather than violent, blood thirsty and pervy.