Yesterday it was reported that the US and German versions of Age of Conan would be censored to meet rating requirements. [ more info ] The German version will lose all excessive violence and Gore. The US version would be censored to remove nipples from female models. Amidst gamers crying foul, an update was released stating that the game had received an M rating from the ESRB with nipples intact; so, the US version of the game would not need to be censored after all.
Source: Age of Conan: Community Forums [ more info ]

I have come to accept the oddity that is US game rating system where naked bodies are considered to be "more mature" than ridiculous levels of violence and blood. So the initial reports of censored nipples in AoC didn't surprise me. The reversal was unexpected. Now if we could get politicians to stop blushing and giggling like ten year olds when it comes to the topic of "boobies", maybe we'll make some headway in the maturity department. Not to trivialize anything but they are "just" nipples.

Now, I know that some of the ladies in the crowd may well have cringed at the strip, and I apologize. But keep in mind that, despite the physical presence of a female in the comic, the nipples being snipped were technically digital. Still... sorry for any discomfort!

Cringe? Heck, I'm actually considering playing the game, now.

I think he was more concerned about the idea of nipples being snipped off by a pair of scissors... hell, that made ME cringe and I'm a guy

So for the Germans it is losing the gore and violance. It would be extremely easy to make a silly german-joke about this, but that would be silly.

I always thought Conan = gore and extreme voilence, therefore Age of Conan - gore and violence = zero.

And you americans just crack me up with your extreme silly behavior when it comes to female nipples. It is just funny that the difference between M and a lower rating is the removal of female glands.

"You Americans" is an unfair generalization. And I'm sure the other american gamers in the crowd agree that we do not all think like the prudish politiciana that guide the US rating policies.

You also misunderstood. It was reported that to meet the M rating the nipples would have to be removed. Not that there were being removed to get lower than a M rating.

Yeah, when Woody told me what the comic was going to be my hands immediately went up over my boobs. Ouch. Of course, my awareness of my nipples could be directly related to the fact that there's a baby attached to them 75% of my day.

I find it amusing (and sad) that violence is ever considered more acceptable than the exposure of human skin. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Boobie power!

Is there a listing some where for stuff like this? What is or is not considered "Mature" as far as game rating levels is concerned? I'm curious to see what it takes to meet a "Mature" level of rating.

And along the lines of AoC, I try to browse their forums a bit. People arn't even talking about nipples, or extreme violence. They are talking about some of the great innovative ideas that AoC is bringing to the MMO table. I think that's a huge step towards disolving this image that certain people have of gamers. We don't play games because they have sex and violence. We play games if they are good. BMXXX was a good example. Politicians tried to use that as an example of the mindset of the current gamer generation. But can any gamer honestly say they even played that game? For more than 30 minutes? If any one bought it, it was just for the hilarity of owning it, not because of it's play value.

I am missing a important detail here.

Were the formentioned nipples covered (protrustions) or are we talking about bare chested women here?

On subject of Blood & Gore, there really has not been a MMORPG since Ultima Online that actually included it. It is nice AoC is going "old school".

There is a Game Ratings & Descriptor Guide at the ESRB website.
Source: ESRB.Org [ more info ]

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Zwildstar...
It's Conan, so I can only assume we're "talking about bare chested women".

Originally Posted by Dawn White:

Cringe? Heck, I'm actually considering playing the game, now.

Ditto... though I think I'll wear breasplate armor for protection. >.<