How many F*cks makes an "M" rated game?

[Zebulon]

I can understand why they would censor a game, to increase their market base. But as a musician, it kinda aggravates me that the 'pure' versions of a couple songs are not included. As far as I can tell, only "Sabotage" and "Creep" have the 'F' word in the songs. Would the inclusion of four "Fs" rate it as Mature? I mean, it's already rated "Teen". I imagine all teenagers have heard or use the F-word regularly. Just a thought...

[Sigafoos]

As far as I can tell, adding them in on vocals doesn't penalize you at all, which is nice :)

I agree that profanity would be nice, but at least it isn't as bad as the Rage song in GH2.

[Chris_Gonzalez]

The songs are all radio edits. I think the only ones that use f*** are Creep, Sabotage, Seven, and Welceme Home. In Creep and Welcome Home, they're replaced ("very special" and "mucking up", respectively), but I'm not sure about Sabotage or Seven. I think it's just absent in Sabotage, and I don't know about Seven (vocals are not my forte). You can still say the real words (or in Sabotage's case, add it in there), but it won't help or hurt you.

[ZkDotNet]

I'm pretty sure one f-bomb would make it M.

[Rock_Starman]

It used to be 3 for movies,not sure if that still holds up. Probably 1 for games. They've said the DLC can be uncensored.

[HMXDave]

Just swear while you're singing it. Throw in new f-bombs where there weren't any before if it makes you feel better.

Half the fun of singing (in my opinion) is changing the lyrics to be rediculous and still getting a good score.

The game doesn't recognize what you're saying, just how you say it.

[Sigafoos]

Really. That is wonderful news! I don't mind songs without profanity, but taking it out or changing it generally sounds silly (especially in a song like Sabotage where the flow of words is important).

[erickOnasis412]

"how many f***s does it take to make an 'M' rated game?"

that sounds like the beginning of a joke

[xxdeadtreesxx]

they didnt leave out profanity because they where aiming for a teen rated game... lots of teen rated games have swear words but they left out the
f-word so lets say someone (older sibling or parent) is playing with a younger kid. now do you realy want to lose that combo you got on vocals because you dont want to blurt out profanities in front of you child or yourger sister and so on. i wouldnt. so they change the words so you dont have to. and if you dont care then just say the word anyways they just leave the sections with swearing as open fills where you say whatever you want.

and i have nothing against profanity, if no one that i think is a little to young to hear me say swear words is around then i openly swear

[NattyLight]

You don't lose your combo for changing words.

I also don't understand the argument about having children around. This game was never aimed at children. Why do people keep bringing this up? I legitimately want to know where it came from.

[xxdeadtreesxx]

it came from people who have kids or in my case a 7 year old little sister

[NattyLight]

I understand not wanting children to hear curse words. I meant where did you get the idea that the game should censor DLC for fear that children might hear it? This isn't a children's game at all and they shouldn't be considered when the devs are designing content.

[lux_crusader]

I'm pretty sure Seven keeps its f-bomb

[blue_dragonzero]

I'm pretty sure Seven keeps its f-bomb

Nope. I think it says rough instead.

[dfjdejulio]

I understand not wanting children to hear curse words. I meant where did you get the idea that the game should censor DLC for fear that children might hear it? This isn't a children's game at all and they shouldn't be considered when the devs are designing content.

All that really needs to be said is that there are people who disagree with you. It doesn't appear that Harmonix is in complete agreement with you as far as what should be going on. It's clear that some people like involving their kids in the playing. It's unfortunate that this seems to bother you for some unfathomable reason.

[RavagerX]

The answer is five. Reason being is that game makers have a way to keep track of this.

The way they remember is....

Five Friendly F*cks F*cking F*cker.

The Five F's.

Anytime a developer forgets this, there is ALWAYS a fellow co-worker that remembers this, and of course reminds the forgetful ones.

[NattyLight]

All that really needs to be said is that there are people who disagree with you. It doesn't appear that Harmonix is in complete agreement with you as far as what should be going on. It's clear that some people like involving their kids in the playing. It's unfortunate that this seems to bother you for some unfathomable reason.

It amazes me that you people haven't killed yourselves by now. You can't grasp seem to grasp simple concepts. Does it cost a lot to pay people to remind you to eat, breathe, and wipe your ass?

I've said all along that this game was designed and marketed for the teen and up crowd. You mouth breathers said that it is a family game and the the devs should cater to 5 year olds. I was asking where anybody that had anything to do with the making of the game said that they wanted little children playing the game. In what commercials do you see it marketed for them? When you look at wii ads, it's obvious.

If DLC doesn't change the rating of the game, keeping in foul language is FINE because this isn't a game for children. If you think it is, show me where the devs had said so. Just because you use it that way doesn't make it so. I see parents take their kids to R rated movies but the makers of the films clearly didn't make the movie with those children in mind.

[lpunderground19]

I could really go either way with this argument. But since you can say any word you want and still have it count, does it matter what word is shown on the screen? I mean, my friend still says "f***ing up all I do" in Welcome Home. And, parents would be outraged over it, and editing/censoring the word would stop an inevitable argument from happening. Also, the M rating would stop a lot of parents from buying the game. Until my recent 17th birthday, my parents wouldn't buy me M-rated games, and I know there are others out there. It might hurt sales; not much, but they'd suffer some.

But, this isn't a game for little children. That side of the argument reminds me of a local thing a few years ago, where parents were protesting about Adult Swim's bad content, and how it shouldn't be shown. I thought, it's called ADULT Swim for a reason. This game isn't rated E for Everyone.

[toefer2]

It amazes me that you people haven't killed yourselves by now. You can't grasp seem to grasp simple concepts. Does it cost a lot to pay people to remind you to eat, breathe, and wipe your ass?

I've said all along that this game was designed and marketed for the teen and up crowd. You mouth breathers said that it is a family game and the the devs should cater to 5 year olds. I was asking where anybody that had anything to do with the making of the game said that they wanted little children playing the game. In what commercials do you see it marketed for them? When you look at wii ads, it's obvious.

If DLC doesn't change the rating of the game, keeping in foul language is FINE because this isn't a game for children. If you think it is, show me where the devs had said so. Just because you use it that way doesn't make it so. I see parents take their kids to R rated movies but the makers of the films clearly didn't make the movie with those children in mind.

There's no reason to get angry that people disagree. Also, depending on how old you are, you could consider a 13 year old both a teenager (and the "target" for the game) as well as a child. Saying you don't want your kids to hear the song doesn't mean you don't want your little 5 year old daughter hearing it.

I'm glad they censored out the words, because there's no real reason to have them left in the game. Whether you believe it or not, cursing isn't appropriate, and I don't mean to sound like a prude, but does it really hurt you that the words are taken out?

The game is a social game, and it doesn't seem like it would be nice to take it over to your grandma's house, and start dropping the f-bombs like they're going out of style, or to go walking around at BestBuy and listen to some teenager cursing like a sailor, because thats what the game is telling him to sing.

If you know the bad parts, and want to sing them, then fine. Do it. But don't complain that they are taken out of the game, because I think there's a legitimate reason why.

[cuddie]

This game was definitely not designed for kids. Just take a look at some of the songs. Even if they censor the curses, they can't change the song's lyrics. Some are appropriate for younger ones, some are not. If you are afraid of your children hearing curses, don't send them to school. Don't let them hang out with their friends. Do not allow them on the internet.

[SSPWOLF]

What a ridiculous thread. The exclusion of a few profane words in no way changes anything in the game.

The developers chose to use radio friendly versions of the game. I'm not going to claim I *know* why they've done this, but I can allege an opinion on the matter. As a working musician I always send off "edited" versions of our songs as press packages.

Until I read this thread I never heard of anyone getting offended over NOT using profanity but there are plenty of fundamentalist jerks willing to get offended over USING profanity.

So congratulations, you've just joined the ranks of fundamentalist ***holes who think that everything should be there way or NO way.

As a musician and screenwriter (who recently had a script rejected solely because the "F" word appears over 50 times) it's pathetic that anyone could be so elitist as to go as far as insulting people for disagreeing with thier "want" to have profanity uncensored in a game that is OBVIOUSLY going to be played by children.

Leave the picket lines and protests to the soccer moms and westboro baptist church, jerk. There's nothing LESS rock than crying about sh** that doesn't matter.

[xxdeadtreesxx]

What a ridiculous thread. The exclusion of a few profane words in no way changes anything in the game.

The developers chose to use radio friendly versions of the game. I'm not going to claim I *know* why they've done this, but I can allege an opinion on the matter. As a working musician I always send off "edited" versions of our songs as press packages.

Until I read this thread I never heard of anyone getting offended over NOT using profanity but there are plenty of fundamentalist jerks willing to get offended over USING profanity.

So congratulations, you've just joined the ranks of fundamentalist ***holes who think that everything should be there way or NO way.

As a musician and screenwriter (who recently had a script rejected solely because the "F" word appears over 50 times) it's pathetic that anyone could be so elitist as to go as far as insulting people for disagreeing with thier "want" to have profanity uncensored in a game that is OBVIOUSLY going to be played by children.

Leave the picket lines and protests to the soccer moms and westboro baptist church, jerk. There's nothing LESS rock than crying about sh** that doesn't matter.

i couldnt agree more this thread is ridiculous. people who want to swear, still swear the game doesnt read what you say but the tone and pitch of how you say it

stop getting mad at people who are glad its censored and stop getting mad its censored

chances are they censored it for more sales its business people who want the game censored would only buy it if its censored about 50% of the time and as far as people who want to swear they didnt care about you because YOU STILL CAN CHANGE THE WORD TO WHATEVER THEY ARE ORIGINALLY

if you complaining then its obvious you just F*ckin Stupid

(yes i suport censorship and i just sweared)

sometimes i think people just look for the stupidest things to argue about
Ive never heard of people getting mad at not using profanity, until now

GET OVER IT AND I HOPE THIS THREAD GETS LOCKED

[TheGreatKtulu]

My question is simply this:

Why did they pick songs that needed to be censored?

If you've decided, for whatever reason, that you don't want certain language in the game - WHY THE F ARE YOU USING SONGS WITH THAT LANGUAGE?

It's not like Radiohead or the Beastie Boys don't have songs without swearing in them.

[Teh_Nfsjunkie91]

My question is simply this:

Why did they pick songs that needed to be censored?

If you've decided, for whatever reason, that you don't want certain language in the game - WHY THE F ARE YOU USING SONGS WITH THAT LANGUAGE?

It's not like Radiohead or the Beastie Boys don't have songs without swearing in them.

Probably because they thought the songs were good candidates for the game.

[SSPWOLF]

My question is simply this:

Why did they pick songs that needed to be censored?

If you've decided, for whatever reason, that you don't want certain language in the game - WHY THE F ARE YOU USING SONGS WITH THAT LANGUAGE?

It's not like Radiohead or the Beastie Boys don't have songs without swearing in them.

Both of those songs were nominated for grammys, both of those songs were number one on dozens of radio charts.

Terrestrial radio doesn't allow profanity, so how'd those songs get to be number one?

Seriously, people need to view things from outside thier little blackened goggles.

I honestly can't comprehend most people's worldview.

Yes.. profanity is common. No.. words don't hurt people. Yes... kids hear more profanity at school than they'd hear at a Def Comedy show. Yes.. it's

silly. HOWEVER there are still people in this world who get offended by the slightest bit of profanity. A lot of those people have political power. The ESRB rates games "M" based on certain criteria.. profanity being one of them. If Rockband had an "M" rating it would suffer in sales. I won't venture a guess, but I will say that I'm positive that a significant number of Rock Band units will be sold for Christmas to children. It's a simple money game.. I can't fathom what's so hard to comprehend about why Harmonix would rather have a rated "T" game than a rated "M" game.

It's the same thing when you listen to a gangsta rap track edited on the radio. Anyone over the age of 4 knows exactly what the beep is.. and in many cases the beep draws more attention to a profanity than if they'd just let the actual word play through.


Being angry and frustrated at Harmonix/EA/MTV for playing by the same rules that everyone else does is ridiculous.

If I put out a version of my CD that was edited so that it could be sold at Wal Mart and some jackass wrote me a letter decrying my "purity" I'd laugh my ass off and put it on the "fans that are stupid" box.

We don't live on the island of "do whatever you want" we live in the world of "Stupid people can sue Macdonalds for making them fat and for some reason C.S.I. can show any amount of violence they want as long as they don't use profane language or show a LIVING woman's breast."

So until one of you hard-charging political change-mongers get into power and change all the rules (which will, by the way, involve billions of dollars in making up for lost lobbyists donations) the rest of us just nod and smile and say "Sure whatever, I'm not going to get twisted over ridiculous and insignificant battles that mean absolutely nothing."

If it makes you feel any better, you can mute the vocal track and make up your own new profane version of any song in the game.

[xxdeadtreesxx]

lol this is a stupid thread and next person who reads this dont post anything cause honestly nobody care about your opinion :mad:

its human nature to assume that your the right one and the others are wrong

but really nobody is right unless they are me LOL :D

[fatespeaks]

It is interesting to read in this thread that the lyrics were censored. I have been playing through the drum parts and wasn't really paying attention until my 11 year old son decided to do vocals. Last night we were playing the Vagiants song and I kept hearing lyrical phrases that naturally needed F's, though I was pleased that my son wasn't singing any of them. As I was offering "positive reinforcement" (yes, I've become sickeningly politically correct in my role as a parent) for his word omissions, he replied that he didn't see any F's. Well, don't I feel silly after reading this thread. :rolleyes:

So let me get to my point in case anyone is still reading.

Rock Band is the best PS2 game I've played. Just as Guitar Hero blew me away last year, Rock Band truly takes this to the next level. Regardless of lyrics, RB has a more mature feel. I don't say that in a censorship way. Simply that the appeal is more realistic than GH's game feel. And I join the ranks of those who are offended by censored lyrics. Furthermore, I applaud Harmonix for delivering a great game with excellent songs.

Rock Band has clearly hit the target market in terms of song content and I hope future titles are as successful in this respect. However, it would be nice to have "family friendly" (sorry, more political correctness) features as an afterthought. I brainstormed for a while on how this might be accomplished. A "Warning Explicit Lyrics" tag in the menus would be an ANNOYING mis-feature.

:D Perhaps Harmonix could include a parental control option to censor lyrics or disable certain songs in mixed company. Such a feature would not alienate customers, teen and adult rockers with money, but may attract a larger share of the family demographic as well.

Rock on.
Aaron

[kanrei]

I think movies are allowed on "F-bomb" and still get a PG-13 rating. More than one and it is an automatic R. Could be the same for games, but am not sure. Creep and Sabatoge would be two and would bump it.

[RawWS6]

I read the OP's comments being centered more around the fact that the original versions of the songs are not included in the game. I don't see him as being upset that there is not enough swearing, rather that the songs aren't the songs he listened to when he was younger. Music is a form of artistic expression, these artists have had their works changed and he is curious why.

I don't know why the **** everyone is getting so worked up like this guy is ****ing ranting about how it doesn't say **** enough in the game and that pisses him off.

[Chizilds]

they made the Coheed song sound ******ed by taking out the F word :(

[Fee]

You don't lose your combo for changing words.

I also don't understand the argument about having children around. This game was never aimed at children. Why do people keep bringing this up? I legitimately want to know where it came from.


Harmonix knew kids would play the game. Thats even why one of loading screen says

"The high frets on a Fender (TM) Stratocaster (TM) Guitar Controller are a great alternative for kids or anyone with small hands"

So they knew kids would play it

[Superfro]

they made the Coheed song sound ******ed by taking out the F word :(

Agreed. I was playing on drums and heard the change and the sticks immediately flew out of my hands. Oh wait.......I didn't even notice. :p

One word change does not ******ed make. ;)

[Elnino]

Mr. Owl how many f*cks does it take to make an M rated game?

1 just 1.

[monoxidehektik]

Mr. Owl how many f*cks does it take to make an M rated game?

1 just 1.

It works. i'll give this spoof a thumbs-up

[Goldfoot]

"how many f***s does it take to make an 'M' rated game?"

that sounds like the beginning of a joke

One, ah-tahooo, three. *chomp*

Three.

Edit: Man, I didn't read the last page.

[Elnino]

It works. i'll give this spoof a thumbs-up

Good, I thought somebody would have already said it.

[zolon]

This game is in a way considered a public broadcast. Yes I know, it's in the privacy of your own home (Unless it's one of those bar tourneys), but even in the privacy of your own home you can't legally record the S*perBowl. A church was even taken to court because they had a screen over the "EULA" stated size.

All public broadcasts fall under the regulations for radio broadcast. So naturally, they release the radio edits of the songs. As I have heard all of these songs on the radio, and they are edited there, it just makes sense they are edited in the game.

Now, I have to agree with another poster. If they used the parental controls, they could allow both versions. That would resolve the whole issue, you would think. It won't actually, because I have this odd feeling on how they did the songs, they can't just mix and match tracks that easy. I could be wrong.

I am on the band wagon of the songs being released as the original artist intended, but then again, I am of the beleif a parent should actually raise their child and stop letting the public do it.

*shrugs*