So like I've said before, I started playing games around age four or five, and loved it. But due to reasons I won't expound on here, I quit playing for a few years, and so I am now a few years behind in the gaming market.

That said, here's the issue: I recently went to the store to look at some games, and was disturbed to find that literally every game that fell into my preferred genres (RPG, Action, shooter/strategy, and Horror) were rated for language, sexual themes, partial nudity, nudity, or worse. The problem being I don't like subjecting myself to this type of content. I'm not hating on these games or their fans, I'm just wondering where it leaves people like me. I understand they want realism, but taking it any farther will put me out of gaming, as I'm not into many nintendo titles (Mario and Zelda pretty much sum it up).

Any thoughts? Will the content continue becoming more intense, or do you think we've arrived at the threshold of reality?

earthwarrior : Exactly. I'm ok with some blood and even some gore, so long as it isn't exaggerated to the point that you're sitting there shaking your head and thinking, they were just trying to fit as much guts and gore as possible. Sometimes games like that feel like the developers were trying to make a graphics and gore fest rather than make a game.
At any rate M rated for blood and gore usually isn't even too much of an issue, depending on the approach they take (realistic rather than exaggerated).

I think games are only going to get worse.  Like most aspects of society, it seems that noting is marketable any more if it doesn't feed the most base of human desires.  I've noticed the same: the gaming market is rather limited, and strewn with things you and I would rather not be involved in.  I was just stating the other day my disappointment in the fact that most modern games don't even have a cuss filter.  I finally found ONE which did, and you'd be surprised at which words the developers figured were okay for someone wanting such a feature.

It's saddening, but I think it's a fact we just have to face, and I think things will not get better in this area.

I think we are heading down to the bottom with all of this. All of the blood and guts get more intense as the graphics engines get better and better. The intense language is the companies futile attempt to sell the ferocity of their product. Both of these elements are tools used by the companies for monetary gain.  I don't mind the blood, guts, or the frequency of F-bombs dropped, but there is a line and these people refuse to acknowledge this fact until it's far too late to turn back.

Pipebomb