Now this one might be a little heated, but an example of this happening is the game Stellar Blade, whilst it is still a good game, there was also a sex appeal to it which they cut out the jiggle physics and sultryness out of the game before release.
Personally, they could’ve left it in as an unlock or as a second option in case people were uncomfortable seeing a good looking woman fight monsters and jiggle about but that’s just me.
What are your thoughts on censoring games? Does it not remove the original version of the lead developers? Maybe because of cultural reasons in your country?
I’d like to know!
It depends on what the vision is supposed to be. If the dev was making a hentai game, but had the scenes censored, then that fundementally destroys the purpose of the game and ruins the point.
If it was a game like Stellar Blade which seems like it has a lot more going on in terms of story and worldbuilding, combat and death, then the sexual parts seem almost more exploitative and distract/clash with the primary themes. I have not played it and cannot say absolutely, though, in this case.
Then there are games like the Witcher 3 where sex plays a moderate part in the life of the protagonist and adds to the realism and grit of the world, and so sexual imagery actually adds to the game in that way.
So, I think it all depends on execution and perceived intent.
Edit: none of this is to say I support censorship, I think as long as content is clearly marked it should be up to the player what they want to see, I’m talking about what the censorship impacts in the game experience.
The first Witcher encapsulates Geralt’s (many) sexual conquests in collectible cards. And almost none of the encounters have any bearing on the plot. Having a hard time not calling that exploitative.
Much of what’s going on, especially lately, is simple xenophobia. There are arbitrary restrictions on what can be sexualized when Asian character designs are used.
I’ve only played Witcher 3 and found a lot of the interesting parts of the world to be the darker parts you don’t see in other fantasy games, a lot of the themes of the quests are very heavy, like the bloody Baron’s quest as an easy popular mention.
Therefore, the addition of places like whorehouses or other quests related to that deepen the realism of the world in a way that something like Skyrim would absolutely never, and if those bits were ever censored out it would reduce the immersive realism of the world, to me
The sex cards in the first Witcher were particularly egregious. One of them is a woman who sleeps with you as a reward for saving her from being raped.
I suppose I’ll edit my comment to only mention the third