26 odpowiedzi w tym temacie

[dinobot100]

I recently posted this on my blog, and I wanted to share it here as well.

 

 

An Open Letter to Bioware,

 

Your games (specifically the Mass Effect and Dragon Age Trilogies) are among the finest action-RPGs on the market. In anticipation of Mass Effect: Andromeda, I feel compelled to write openly on behalf of a minority demographic your team may not be aware of: players who love the story and action elements of the game but don’t care for the explicit content. I’m asking on behalf of myself and others for you to add a feature in the settings of your future titles allowing players to set which explicit content they want displayed in the games—namely language, gore, and sexual content.

 

Please understand that I am not advocating censorship, but merely choice. I am a writer myself, and I know I don’t want anyone telling me what is or isn’t appropriate for my own work. Instead of trying to control the content you put in your games, I’m simply asking for the choice to customize my experience for maximum enjoyment. Videogames have the unique providence of being a medium built around individuals. I can already control gaming aspects like difficulty, subtitles, and graphic and auditory settings, so why not what explicit content I see and hear? Choice is a key aspect of Bioware games, it is one of the attributes that truly make your titles stand out, so why not extend that choice further into the real world, embracing players who want to play the games without the explicit aspects? Of course those of us who want to limit our own exposure to explicit content already have a choice: to not play. But I hope you’ll give us a third option: to play without the content we hope to avoid in media.

 

I have seen countless forum threads where gamers have asked if X game has an option to turn off explicit content, and the answer is almost always the same: no such option exists. The replies on these threads then usually go on to mock the gamer in question, attempting to emasculate the player (regardless of whether they are male or female), telling them they need to “grow a pair” etc. I don’t see any need for this kind of mentality in the gaming world. Bioware games champion the fact that different kinds of people, leaders, and problem-solvers all have a place, e.g. you can be a renegade, you can be a paragon, etc. I don’t think Bioware needs to limit its fan base to those who enjoy explicit content. My reasons for wanting to limit my own exposure to explicit content are personal. Strangers don’t have to understand my reasons for them to be valid.

 

I know I’m not the only one with concerns about what kind of content will be in ME:A. The first Mass Effect game had no strong language, very little gore, and very brief partial nudity, while the most recent Mass Effect game had strong language at times, gore in the form of heads exploding when sniped, and the most recent Dragon Age game had much more explicit nudity. It leads some of us to wonder what the future holds if in such a short period of time this much new explicit content is introduced.

 

Let me reiterate my stance that this is a personal choice. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong for any other person to view or enjoy this content, but that as for myself I know I want to avoid it, and that I can enjoy your future action-RPGs much more without it. I hope I am not opening myself and others up to derision by asking for this concession, but I hope you will seriously consider implementing three separate toggles in the settings of your future games to control language, gore, and sexuality. Some games have given these options in the past, but I challenge you to set an industry standard by doing this with your A-list, flagship titles. Show that you care about all of your fans, not just the majority, and other companies will follow.

 

Regardless of what you choose to do, please accept my gratitude for making some of the best games I’ve ever played.

 

 

EDIT: Some commentors here don't seem to have read the letter carefully, which might be my fault because it's kind of long. But just to be clear, I'm not in any way asking for them to reduce the language, sexual content, or gore from future games. I am not making any attempt at cencorship. I'm simply asking for the option to turn off explicit content when I play, and I know I'm not alone in wanting such an option.

 

EDIT: "Gore" and "violence" are not the same thing, please be aware of the distinction.

[Bryan Johnson]

I'll copy and paste in what I wrote on Reddit

 

Alright this comment is my own personal opinion, does not represent BioWare, especially because I am not a content creator. I generally work on technical aspects. I also look at the cost of making some type of content, so that is the avenue I will work on.

So in the open letter there is a focus on three things: Language, Gore and Sexual Content.

 

I will start with Sexual Content: I believe this is something that wont really be touched because it is a set of avoidable content (of course you have to somewhat know whats coming, but in essence something like romance scenes you are aware they are coming because essentially if you flirt enough you get a scene. Even something like DAI where there was a different scene for Cassandra and Sera if you bought the Japanese verison of the game, required additional code development and quite a bit more testing. IE how do you properly detect you are the japanese version (it is more challenging than you would think).

 

Gore: I believe in DAI there is an option to turn off majority of gore, since the games generally involve blood it is a pretty targeted to turn off.

 

Language: Herein lies the major challenge. First you have to decide "where is the line" do you consider "crap" explict? Is a simple switch like 'f**k' being replaced by frack (BSG style) acceptable? Do you take the ESRB definitions (what about PEGI)? After you have decided that, do you do a completely different conversation or just a single line? If it is a single line you have to ensure that it makes sense in the context. Now with that single change, if it is the hero speaking it you have at least 2 additional recordings (male/female) if it is DA it is now 4 (british/american), does the line have any plot dependencies (ie sera romance style with pet name) 2 (british/american) x 6 pet names. So that is a lot of additional writer/actor/qa time. Also there is a disc cost, ~14% of the disc is VO (for a single language) and there is a limit to how big things can be before your cost goes up quite a bit.

 

Like anything for a business it does come down to money, so is the cost of the feature likely to recover cost, and ultimately make a profit. A feature like this I don't believe would be able to recover its cost, since I dont believe the size of the market is that big (but could be wrong).

[Bryan Johnson]

Bryan, I think you probably killed the thread.

Why is that? I am certainly capable of being wrong.

[Bryan Johnson]

What was different in the Japanese version? 

Full clothes for inquisitor and Cassandra/Sera

[Bryan Johnson]

Thank you for answering.

 

Kind of wish I got the Japanese version of the game now. 

 

I know you probably can't answer, but compared to other Bioware games with this material where would you place Mass Effect: Andromeda?

I do not work on Andromeda, and my exposure has been severely limited (talking seeing less than an hour of it in the last year). Even if I could answer that question I would not because I dont know

[Bryan Johnson]

Lets get back on topic here please

[Bryan Johnson]

However, the Cassandra romance in DAI, I could not  skip past it.  So in order to have that love story, I had to take a topless scene along with it.  Certainly not as gratuitous as what would find in one of the Witcher games.  But the option would certainly have been nice.  I'm sure it bothered others a lot more than it did me.

Thank you this is something that I had not considered, and something that I will add as a "feather in my cap" to watch out for in the future.

[Bryan Johnson]

Honestly, universally skippable cutscenes are not a terrible idea. The introduction to ME2 is usually my exhibit "A" for this, considering how many restarts it took to get my face right.

 

(Though, if I were the one responsible for making the cutscenes, I might justifiably feel differently.)

Sometimes unskippable cut scenes are used to control streaming

[Bryan Johnson]

I am 30, if there are to be age comparisons, I am please I am in the middle

 

/inner Solas

[Bryan Johnson]

So looking at developing just a language filter, this is everything you're looking at:

 

> First you have to decide how you're going to go about doing it. Do we want to record new lines with non vulgar language or bleep things out?

> If recording entirely new lines, that's a lot of extra lines to record. Voice actors are not cheap. If you are doing this then you have to do this for EVERY language you support the game in, too.

> If bleeping them out, then you have to develop the system to detect and bleep those words. Pretty much all dialogue in the game is subtitled and those are stored as strings, so you can probably use that as an easy detection method.

> Then you need to develop the system that checks which setting you have and gives you the appropriate lines.

> Finally, there is testing it. It's worth noting that testing usually does not include just making sure that the switch is working for 1 or 2 lines and assuming that means it is working everywhere else. This is not the kind of feature you want messing up and turning off due to a bug.

> Fix any bugs you find during testing that you consider to be show stoppers, and then repeat the testing step.

 

Compare the cost of that against the number of purchases your marketing department believes you will gain in sales by adding in these features(minus whatever the retailers take). One has to image the people so offended by such content that they are not buying the game is a pretty small pool to begin with and even if you market that you have added such a feature(which costs more money) not everybody is going to know about it. A number of people will simply see the M rating and think it's unavoidable because they haven't been following the game's marketing.

 

The ESRB is not going to lower the rating just because the content is optional.

 

(and yes, I am a software developer =P)

Thanks for expanding on my point

[Bryan Johnson]

Have already answered about my personal choice here, and that would be a Silence toggle with blanks or * for vulgarity. Have the Devs look into it, and if viable and possible, create it.

Overall, I would prefer the content was not included, and given a T rating, but that is another thread.

So that once again creates 2 recordings, since the lines are generally in the form of something atune to a wav file, you would either have to hand edit each of those; break up your recording and have to re-assemble it back with a delay; or have 2 versions of the line, which in the case of something like DA's inquisitor is a minimum of 8 recordings.

[Bryan Johnson]

Based on the prior ME games, they already are doing multiple recordings for gender and background choices, as well as the possible Paragon/ Renegade decisions. And if ME:A has races, that also boosts the included work.

If placing a silent moment is too 'problematic', then I can accept that, but am seeing that such content is already a priority for Bioware games, and adding an additional option that can widen the appeal appears to worthy of the research.

I had made the assumption that what you were arguing was it would not be too much work to add this. But what I am saying is if you want a "profane" and a "non-profane" version to exist then you would need to double up all your recordings. Yes there are things like background/gender choices but those allow for a different type of experience. IE calling someone a knife ears (youll notice this is generally from an NPC where it is only doubling up 1 line of dialog) is a unique experience and changes the context of the content instead of having something where there is the exact same line, just a pause or a bleep.

[Bryan Johnson]

If placing a silent moment is too 'problematic', then I can accept that, but am seeing that such content is already a priority for Bioware games, and adding an additional option that can widen the appeal appears to worthy of the research.

Can you provide me a place that such a community exists? 

 

What I mean is how would one search this kind of thing out? 

[Bryan Johnson]

Kickstarter a research survey? ... seems to work for just about everything else these days :|

I think I would be sad if it raises less money than potato salad

 

See, that's how I look at it. I don't think anybody needs to justify their like/dislike of a feature any more than their food preferences. I hate the color Orange. I would love it if we never had to see Orange in a Bioware game ever again.

 

It's more that I just think it's not going to happen in a million years, simply in terms of fan demand, much like my own desire to see Orange eradicated. 

These kinds of things, generally do come out with things like focus testing (yes we do them), and to a degree they do cause changes in the content. 

 

/sarcastic cheeky response Orange tested high with males 18-35.

[Bryan Johnson]

I have no idea how one would look at the current data to see if it were viable. More surveys?

But one only has to look and see some of the examples such as parents that would not have to chase children away to indicate a possible need for such a feature. In my own case, I prefer greater control over the content:

* Make all cut-scenes Esc enabled.
* Continue to place the nudity in the Romance arcs.
* Keep the Gore toggle.

However, language is both an audio and visual problem; not to mention it can possibly break immersion. In DAI, the use of the f bomb even deviates from the lore. Would prefer to not hear anything at all (current mode of control if playing Omega DLC), so silence or in game cultural substitution is preferable, if possible.

What chases away children is Age Ratings and Parental Controls.

 

If you create an account on PS4 for your child, you can set parental controls to allow content even been accessable (DAI is a level 9 (Mature) for example).

 

Also some cut-scenes exist as an overlay for streaming, so not all cut-scenes can be skipable. I believe nudity will be kept to romance arcs, but cant guarantee.

 

The gore trigger likely mainly exists because of the regional requirement for it to be there.

 

As for the choice of language generally that is up to the writing staff, who are the source of lore. 

[Bryan Johnson]

Not certain, but certain countries now ban software, and some already demand censored games. These are extant markets that could be re-examined.

I believe, Germany requires low gore, and japan requires low female nudity. Which we conformed to.

[Bryan Johnson]

What are the parental Controls for the PC?

And the ratings help dutiful parents to know beforehand that the game is unsuitable for children. A Toggle could alleviate the problem of being in the next room overhearing content, parents leaving the room for some coffee, etc.

Being single myself, it is the difference between recommending games or not to family and friends. And as mentioned, skipping the game completely if deemed excessive.

If you are running a windows based PC you can view them using the family safety settings, to set them for an account.

 

You can control what they are allowed to played based on a number of different age ratings boards. You can set it so they can only play those games during the hours of 5-6 if you wanted to as well.

 

Also I have absolutely no idea what ME:A is doing

[Bryan Johnson]

                                                                            <<<<<<<<<<()>>>>>>>>>>

 

Political debates? Where?

That would be the approximately 2pages of hidden posts you dont see.

 

Anyways enough on this topic.

 

Regardless for this topic, you can see my posts on the matter by clicking "Show Only BioWare posts". 

 

For the tl;dr (and this in my own personal opinion):
The amount of people who would actually want this is minimal; the cost of recording an alternate line is not singular it could be expential (ie 2 genders, 2 different voices etc (dont forget this is only English, so multiply by 3)); This increases the size of the game (which also costs money); Likely never to recoop cost since you would have to get new business to offset it (which means strictly word of mouth because no marketing team is going to spend money on trying to acquire this market (partially because I am going to assume everyone is going to consider it niche)); Everything is contextual (whose definition do you take).

[Bryan Johnson]

True, but I cannot fathom as to why those that do not want them to look into the option are so vocal against it, esp if it 'so unlikely' to occur. Personally believe it is a grand idea, and hurts nobody by looking into it, or using it or not.

Cut materials are just that; is doubtful if the Toggle would be labeled, "As brought to you by 'Cut-scenes for Merchants'...".

Video game development does have a budget, so when you look into something, or prototype you are using some of that budget. (not just money or time).

 

Also yes such a thing would affect the release product from the player perspective, unless there is a solution to not having to record additional VO, you will have a bigger game to download. 

 

Anyways I believe, I have contributed all I can to this conversation.

[Bryan Johnson]

DLC, according to the ESRB website, is rated separately from the main game. Perhaps, Mature or AO content (gore, explicit sex, swearing) could be sold separately, if a lower rating for the primary game is important.

Ill chime back in, this is now even more expensive than the other solution. Because now you have to convince first party to allow for a free download pack (because bandwidth costs money). Or of course you could charge for this and get absolutely roasted by the public. You then need to create a seperate pipeline to filter these 2 types of content out into separate packages, one for DLC and one for main game.

 

Plus once again I have to remind people there is far more than 1 rating board in the world

https://en.wikipedia...t_rating_system

[Bryan Johnson]

..."Yes, in our minds the game is a better experience without filtering but it's still a great game with filtering turned on," he said. "And, at the end of the day, if these types of filters mean that a larger number of players get to experience our game then it is certainly worth the effort...."

I am going to bold the key word in that quote.

 

Gears of War was also made on the Unreal Engine,

Unreal Engine is made by Epic.

Epic made Gears of War.

Most of Epic's money comes from Licensing Unreal Engine

What sells Engines? Features.

What is this toggle? A feature.

 

/my 2 cents

[Bryan Johnson]

Am willing to have Bioware/ EA make the needed study to see if this can be added to other engines. The current one did not used to have horses and other multi-legged creatures until someone made them; believe this feature deserves the chance.

I doubt such a survey will exist, once again it is not a free thing. There needs to be at least some significant foundation for the question to be raised. Would you care to start a straw poll?

 

Horses existed in Dragon Age Inquisition had at least something to be based upon, and that was Dawn of the Seeker.

[Bryan Johnson]

There is a current survey from Origin that I mentioned the possible feature. And have no idea what Dawn of the Seeker did for horses, but DAO had a lack of profanity and is still held in great regard by many gamers. A Toggle could possibly restore part of that experience for those using a filter.

No straw poll, as stats can be made to dance by whomever. And I do not mind being in the minority if that is the case; does not equate to being wrong or incorrect. But it would be rather sad if the idea was shrugged away by opinion; not objective research and study.

 

You are fine doing a "write in" campaign what I am saying is I doubt you will see a survey of "should we do this y/n". As for what Dawn of Seekers did for Horses, that was the first time for Dragon Age IP that horses were a part of the the franchise. I never stated you were incorrect, I am stating that the resources and the potential gains (in my opinion) are not worth it. 

 

My opinion in this thread, is there is not too many people that support this thing based on the arguments that are had. I could objectively see how many in this thread said yes and how many said no. The difference is based on my opinion I would not pursue that action because if there was a majority for it, my opinion would be swayed to that of yes. The "punishment" for doing this objective search is that I would have used my time (aka resources). So if you wish to make the argument otherwise then you are claiming my opinion has a bias, which would be an entirely different statement.

 

You cant say "people loved X and X didnt contain Y, Y would be a step in the right direction to restore it" if that was the case people could argue that GTA should go back to a top down view because people remember GTA2 so fondly. (I think there was an xkcd post that illustrates this about a page back). Causation does not equal correlation 

[Bryan Johnson]

I cannot see a down side to this; simply work for the Devs, but given what is known of game deveopment, that is the usual standard.

More work aka more money aka more time is a pretty huge downside. This kind of argument could be made to support any kind of argument.

 

For example: There should be 100 companions in DAI. Since it will increase the appeal of the title, make it a more fulfilling experience and gain a wider audience. There is no downside but it will cause the devs to do more work.

[Bryan Johnson]

It may require more work initially as it is a new feature, but this was the case to everything that had to developed for the first time And as I understand, many features had to be re-designed on the new engine; nt simply cut & pasted from other past engines.

If more work and cost were the determining factors, then few features would be include. And the game itself would not evolve due to increased economic concerns, yet DAI is an example of progress; not regression (eg; nine Companions, larger than DAO and DA2 combined, 2 VO's per gender, mounts, etc).

I suggest you go back and read my earlier posts of what I imagine would be the actual work of implementing this type of thing. Then please tell me what of that work would actually be reusable. Short answer this is not a 1 time do it and its done. The reusable part, UI element, and hook to say enabled or disabled (this isnt a ton of work to begin with). The work that does take a lot of time, is setting up alternatives (would have to do for every line), re-recording (would have to do every line). We also know how hilarious bad voice recognition can be, so that is certainly not an option to do it dynamically.