FM Rating System (i.e. Nudity, Adult Themes) - by WretchedIntruder
WretchedIntruder on 19/9/2014 at 02:57
Like some of you, I play the Thief series with my kid, who is 9 years old. He's very smart (genius level IQ), so I felt he was able to handle the original missions. A while back, we started getting into Fan Missions. There have been occasions, more frequently as of late, when he played a mission that scared the hell out of him. I know that's part of the fun for us older folks, but he played a mission (A Better Tomorrow) and now he will not sleep with his door closed. I usually screen the missions if I can, but lately I've been busy and he knows how to download. I've told him no more missions without my trying them first.
Anyhow, I was curious if there was some way to go in and rate the missions? Especially when there is nudity, or things that might be too scary for kids? Not really for me, but as I said, I know a lot of folks play Thief with their kids. Just a thought
klatremus on 19/9/2014 at 03:42
This is a good idea. :thumb: It would probably be logical to use the MPAA rating system. Of course, it would be judged differently by different authors and in different countries. Or perhaps beta testers would suggest the rating. In the least, there should be a way for players to know whether the mission contains nudity, graphic violence or bad language (equivalent of an R-rating).
WretchedIntruder on 19/9/2014 at 09:03
No, it doesn't scare me but it scared him pretty bad. He finally admitted to me that a few of the missions had bothered him, so we had a talk about it and from now on, I play the missions first.
bassoferrol on 19/9/2014 at 14:53
and you'd better not take you kid to The Louvre or el Prado Museum and many others.
not to mention taking him to a beach in Europe.
bjack on 19/9/2014 at 17:14
Looking at my original Thief II disks, I see that they are both printed with M, for mature. If the original is rated M (17 years +), I would assume FMs based upon the same theme would not be suitable for children too?
So, I have to ask. Why is the OP letting his 9 year old play an M game? Does he play Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto too? :joke: OK, that is a bit over the top, but T2 is not a kids game. Maybe the OP does not have the disks and didn't know?
A warning may spoil cool surprises, like some of the shocking things in Rocksbourg FMs. The only warning that I think is logical is, "This FM is not suitable for children". However, since the original is rated M, would it not be logical to assume most FMs based upon it would be also? Just a thought. :cheeky:
Renault on 19/9/2014 at 17:50
I think that's a bad assumption. Thief is rated M for the content of the game, not the assets. You could easily make a G-rated FM, as much as you could make an X-rated one.
Not sure exactly what the OP is after though - when you say you want to "rate" missions, are you talking about the author putting something in the readme? Are do you just mean putting your own personal rating in Darkoader or something like that? Without any kind of established community standard, I think the first option would be tough to keep consistent.
In the end, especially with a kid that's under 10, the best bet is to just do what you're doing, and play the mission first for yourself. Even if FMs were rated, how could you trust it?
DrK on 19/9/2014 at 19:17
Quote Posted by WretchedIntruder
I know that's part of the fun for us older folks, but he played a mission (A Better Tomorrow) and now he will not sleep with his door closed.
Sorry, my fault :cheeky:
To be honest, the Thief series has always been rated M, so I never really bothered warning people about specific themes like horror and such. I never expected kids to play my FMs, just the same way I never expected kids to play the original games which also deal with horrific material.
Also, I recently discovered that a better tomorrow has a little reputation of its own. I've seen a couple playthroughs on youtube and it's often mentionned here and there. I'm not saying it's your fault or anything, but it's well known it's a scary mission.
nickie on 20/9/2014 at 07:56
We are in the middle of a complete overhaul/update of the (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106781) Mission by Type thread. It won't tell you what's suitable for children but it should give you some idea of what to avoid. It's missing a few hundred missions though but fortuni has just about finished getting an update list together.
There will be a number of new categories but child-friendly wasn't going to be one for a number of reasons. We might look at it again if you make a list.
As for nudity, maybe some kind of warning of the outrageous sexism in some missions would be a good idea - it's always a naked woman in the shower! Bunch of Norman Bates wannabes. :)
Otherwise, I don't think there is such a thing as a content rating system for fan missions but there are links to reviews and videos in the Links thread so you can check something out in advance.
fortuni on 20/9/2014 at 08:31
im currently going through all of 'ricebugs' walkthroughs, Darkfate screenshots, and the reviews on the mega thread, as well as the read me files of all T2 mission in order to classify everything into a no of new sections for the 'mission by Type' thread. however i can only remember coming across one FM that was noted for being unsuitable for children, but such a section could be discussed again.
at the moment the 'horror' section of the 'mission by type' thread will be vastly increased, mainly because im not a horror fan genre and don't really understand the difference between horror and scary, so any mission that is described in any of my research sources as either horror or scary are ending up in that section
as for nudity/adult themed as i have said above i have only come across 1 FM described as such, and most nudity is usually a rather comical AI in a shower, such an image is so short within the game it more often or not is not noted in either the mega thread or the walkthroughs, but if anyone posts a list of any FM that they know off that contains images of nudity/adult themes in this thread, we can see what numbers we're talking about.
