This question is causing us some anxiety: There is a rating system for mobile games, which is based on a number of questions about the content, including violence, nudity, etc. According to this rating system, the game should have an age restriction between 15 and 18 years, depending on country. In several countries, it is not eligible to be sold at all.
This all has to do with the nudity, of course (breasts and genitalia to be specific). The fact that it’s all cartoony doesn’t make a difference to the rating algorithms, it seems.
As you have seen, we have given you a choice to remove nudity in the settings. This is for your convenience, as there may be situations where you wish to play, but you don’t want other people to glimpse nude characters on your screen in passing. Also, if you wish to post images or videos on social media or youtube, it’s good to be able to choose.
The question becomes: Should we force nudity to always be off, when we release the game?
Pro: - no 18yr rating; able to sell the same app in several more countries
Con: - the game simply looks better with nudity on (like it’s supposed to be)
I switched nudity off and I think it would be for the best if this game would not show breasts and genitals at all. The user reach is much bigger this way and you don’t have problems playing it in public areas. But If you remove nudity it would be helpful to have another characteristic showing the gender. Maybe different Hairstyle / length (babies) … Cause I have really problems seeing the gender on children til they grow up
Removing nudity is understandable for a mobile port. If you do remove it, please make it possible to distinguish boy and girl babies. Perhaps some fig leaves or light cloth to cover up instead of the current non-nude option.
Is there no way for parental controls instead? Let’s face it, games aimed at 18 year olds are played by children literally every second of every day, and most parents would be fine with the extremely mild form of nudity in this game in comparison to other adult games that they still allow their young children to play anyway, my sister would allow her 10 year old to play this game, even with nudity on because it’s just a cartoon and let’s face it we all have genitals…
But if it really is an issue then maybe some form of parental control that requires a password to access the nudity settings might work instead? I genuinely think the nudity plays a large part in the essence of this game, seeing as everything starts with an Eve, and Eve was naked… maybe over the top of the genitals and breasts you can add leaves like in most depictions of Adam and Eve? So you don’t actually see any penis/pubes/breasts?
If nudity has to be completely removed something as simple as flower crowns, or even spawning in with cavemen style clothes as the skin instead, so it doesn’t provide any benefit where temperature is concerned would probably work fine…
One thing to keep in mind in the modern times we live in is obviously the sensitive subject of gender, making the babies look overly like one gender than another could cause problems, it’s an issue I’ve seen popping up regarding games so much in forums lately, to be honest something I really enjoy about the way the game is now is the ambiguity of the pre-adulthood models… besides the obvious penis on a boy baby, the two models aren’t all that different in appearance…
Well, this is something I think is a good thought. It’s nice that you are thinking about kids getting exposed to real life. I feel it is very important to keep the nudity in the game for several reasons.
This is not a game for children (in my opinion). I imagine it isn’t what the original target age was. Plus children WILL get this game if you turn it off or not (some probably already have). Not to mention they do the most griefing. Also, and I don’t mean this poorly but, it is not your job to parent. It’s their parent’s job, if they don’t care or don’t pay attention to what their children do, that’s on them. Slap a 17+ sign on it and they can’t complain if they are bad parents. I have two boys and I would and do let them play/watch this game, the youngest being 2 yo.
For the snowflakes that get offended when they download a game that has real life in it… they are big boys and girls and can hit the I undownload button.
All that considered, yes keep the option to turn it off. The first screen should be an Adam and Eve nude and one coverd that says “would you like to turn nudity off?” And a “don’t ask me again” button. I say show them because it’s so cartoony I think people will appreciate the picture showing what the worst nudity it is, and your covered because of the age rating. Maybe add a primitive underwear of sorts. I liked the maple/fig leaves idea, that’s easy. But a bra and loin cloth could work as well.
Thanks for reading my input! You guys are doing a great job cultivating a great game and I’m so thankful to be testing it on moble!
Thanks for all feedback, people! We have considered it thouroughly.
In addition, we got the input that there may be a risk that loud parents could scare either Apple or Google into simply removing an app from their store, no questions asked. An 18-year rating does not prevent this scenario. Even if it is unlikely, we don’t want to take that risk.
So, the current plan is to stick with one version of the game, where nudity is permanently off. We’ll make this change in the next update, and welcome another round of feedback.
If it seems reasonable in the future, there is always a possibility to release an “everything included” version under a slightly different name.
Censor the nudity for mobile but maybe have an opt in?
Or perhaps because if you leave the game component your banned and I would presume a lot of Middle Eastern countries or countries where it is religiously unacceptable to see such nudity.
I would suggest Maybe no nudity but i think its hard to tell the difference between males and females in my honest opinion.
Conclusion: damned if you do and damned if you dont.
Forced no nudity seems fine for people that enjoy the game.
There are lots of suggestions on how to visually separate baby girls from boys. But all the player characters are visually different from each other already. What is the point in adding a more coarse and generalizing look?
Just trying to understand the motivation.
