InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "FREEDOM!!!!!"

Rob Dingo (dash_dingo) wrote in rp_tutorials,
@ 2012-09-17 08:51:00

Current mood:	busy
Entry tags:	question: game creation, resources: game creation

Has anyone...
heard of and thus use the "Universal RPG Rating" system?

It's popular on Invisionfree/Proboards/Jcink/otherboardhost RPGs, but I've yet to see it being implemented on journal role-plays outside of my own sandboxes. (As far as I know, I regularly browse ad communities.)

Personally, I find it does the job perfectly: the 'job' meaning what is and isn't allowed in a game, concerning language, sexual content and violence. The order is Language, Sexual content, Violence, and is colour-coded for our convenience. It's ranked in stages: 0, 1, 2, 3. You rate your game according to what levels are acceptable. Green 0 is the lowest level, whilst orange 3 is the highest. It's a simple matter of clicking 3 tick-boxes, one per category, and copy/pasting the supplied banner code into your game ad- or wherever you think is best to display your rating.

When I come across a game rated 2-2-3, 3-2-3 or 2-1-2, I understand what the game will entail. I either dive into the game links, or I hit the Back button.

On the other hand, with a typical game that's proclaimed as R, PG, NC-17... What constitutes an R or MA rated movie (or RPG, in this case) changes with each individual game. To me, R means zero censorship. That said, I'm somewhat lost when I find a game that's R, but I'm not permitted to write gore, swear, or explore substance abuse. This should've effectively lowered the R rating.

I've long since learned that R simply means that you have to be 18yo in order to join- the rules themselves may require players to keep profanity and graphic violence to a minimum.

What do you use to rate your game? Are you interested in the Universal RPG Rating system?

I am curious, and I want this to be a constructive mission. At the end of the day, I'd like to have a tally of yes and no answers. I do not want personal life stories; a simple yes or no is good enough! The feedback that will be most helpful to me are answers like "Yes, I use this system because it's concise and crystal clear, instead of opting for the MPAA system which I think is inappropriate for role-play." , as opposed to "The MPAA system sucks! I like ______."

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	foreverdoll 2012-09-17 03:46 am UTC (link)
	I don't run a journal game atm but I'd definitely be using the Universal RPG- it's very clear, very handy, and awesome in general. That aside, before URPG system came about, I would stick MA (Mature Audiences- a rating they put on video games) as the rating, because so many 'R' sites seem more like 'slightly relaxed PG-13' and that wasn't what I wanted my games to be. (Reply to this) (Thread)

dash_dingo
2012-09-17 10:08 pm UTC (link)

I find that URPGR also cuts down on the length of the rules, also; rather than repeat what's often explained for graphic content limits, these three numbers explain everything. =D

Back when I ran public games regularly, I used the R rating, or This is for a mature audience: adult content is prevalent.

And you're right about that: a lot of games I find turn out to be PG. There was an old discussion at RPG-D on ratings; high ratings are popular because some staff use it as it makes their RPG more 'elite'. The game's more appealing and attracts more members if it has a shiny R: For mature audiences only label, as opposed to a PG/PG-13. Which implies it's for kids, it's squeaky clean, which is far from the truth. You can get away with 'a lot' of graphic content on a board host, with PG-13.

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