Hi Dark, Sure. Scary sounds can be just as disturbing as blood, guts, and gore. Sometimes more so. However, it all depends on the person of course.
I can't really judge myself as an example, because when I grew up my parents didn't really put a lot of restriction on what I watched. As a result by the time I was 10 or so I had watched Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Halloween, Poltergeist, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, and a number of other horror movies that were suppose to be for adults and they didn't really bother me much. I think the only movie that did give me nightmares was Night of the Living Dead, but eventually I got over the fear that any time I went into a graveyard a dead hand would pop up out of a ground and grab me or something. Lol. Anyway, the point is I realize I was a bit unusual and a lot of that has to do with the fact I was exposed to horror movies as a child and I learned to not let it bother me. In fact, I went on to read books by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and similar authors as a teenager because I found I enjoyed spooky and disturbing stories. However, I have known many young women and even some guys who won't watch a horror movie with me or read a good horror novel because they claim it freaks them out. So it really all depends on the person. Getting back to the issue of games that is why it is sometimes hard to put an age restriction on a game. That is why the rating system that the mainstream market uses is really only a recommendation. Everyone is generally considered to be family safe games such as football, baseball, Trivia games, and so on. Teen contains some violence and may have some profanity in the dialog that is considered unsuitable for youngsters. Mature is any game that has adult scenes or adult situations such as nudity, sexuality, or scenes of blood, guts, and gore. Over all I'd say the rating system is reasonable in its assessment and right now is the best system available for an audio game developer to judge weather or not a certain game like Shades of Doom is age appropriate for a child. Based on the existing rating system I'd give it a teen rating because of the violence and sound effects. Cheers! On 4/17/13, dark <d...@xgam.org> wrote: > Hi Tom. > > Well, on the atmosphere front I would still be concerned at a child of > around eight playing a game a game like shades of doom or swamp since I > could imagine a child becoming quite bothered at that point. it was the > horror atmosphere in shades that really grabbed my attention when i first > played it myself. Also bare in mind an audio death with lots of squishing, > crunching and bloody sound effects isn't any better for not showing the > blood. > > Interestingly ennough, i've seen several people cryticize the doctor who > audio range on this front, since some stories have audio representations of > > very gorey deaths, for instance one that got really slammed was necromantea > > which involved someone getting first his tongue, then his heart wripped out > > by a psychically empowered covern of alien witches, so just because there is > > no visible blood it still has an effect. > > of course, it depends upon the age of the child as you said, and it's not > something I'd ever set a ban over, but I would suggest parents considder > viewing a game like shades or swamp before showing it to kids under ten. > > Beware the Grue! > > Dark. > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. > --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
