Where Have the M-Rated RPGs Gone?
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The gaming world is apparently similarly filled with contradictions, since while M-rated shooters are thriving; similarly rated RPGs have sadly almost vanished. Although I'd like an RPG with a Die by the Sword-type combat system that profoundly demonstrates the skull-bludgeoning power of a mace or a sword's propensity to decapitate, it's not the loss of graphic death animations that I'm bemoaning. The best RPGs effectively draw you into their worlds by making environments feel incredibly realistic, and settings that are completely stripped of M-rated elements are inherently artificial. Temple of Elemental Evil had its NPC children removed when threatened with being saddled with an M-rating if the tots could be harmed. You similarly won't find kiddies running around in the otherwise realistic environments of other RPGs such as Oblivion. Omitting toilets and outhouses may not be an unwarranted compromise to fidelity, but removing all evidence of procreation tends to strain credulity.
Daggerfall was released before the current rating system existed, but even its novels were subsequently sanitized so that its (T)een-rated sequels. One of the Elder Scrolls' most important historical characters is the dark elf, Barenziah, and conflicting accounts of life appear in competing volumes that litter Tamriel's landscapes. The series of novellas that purports to most accurately reflect her life are the (Real Barenziah) books, but the spicy versions that appeared in Daggerfall were censored of erotic content in Morrowind and Oblivion (series bookworms can read the unedited editions at http://til.gamingsource.net/). Daggerfall also featured occasional nudity, but concern over the apparent presence of an errant nipple hidden in other Oblivion artwork generated a patch. RPGs may have occasionally included profanity and sexuality to titillate (in other words, for the same reason shooters graphically gib victims), but a realistic setting can't entirely ignore those elements or any other aspect of human experience. Many of the best RPGs in recent memory have been M-rated because they didn't shy away from including such content. Gothic 2, Vampire Bloodlines, and Fallout were better RPGs because they featured brothels, profane curses and NPC guards urinating against walls.
