InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Tracy made me do it!!"

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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dash_dingo
2012-09-18 12:04 am UTC (link)

Yeah; it's ridiculous how an entire game can go under, all because of one or two upset players- or strangers/guests. Unlike IJ, on forum games the players can't take certain scenarios to a friends-locked thread, although some try and hide it via the forum's private message feature.

It'll be cool to see more IJ role-plays incorporating the URPGR system, whether or not there'll be a drastic change in... er, drama, or membercount. It's definitely clearer than the laundry-list method; and right, there are a few forum games with said lists!
Some also have multiple ratings, which is of no help: especially if the staff are not sure on exactly what they want, and so there are major differences between each rating they've shoved into the rules.

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myteeveesays
2012-09-18 12:09 am UTC (link)

Yeah, I think where I'm at with it is that most of my stuff would be 3-3-3, so just saying "M for mature, HBO-worthy" sums it up. I mean I don't want to read someone's fanfic smut but I prefer games with darker inclinations and a propensity for language. The restrictions on MBs is ridiculous though. but so much about those games is. Sometimes I do start to get interested in one and just the whole burden of the graphics and non-writing details annoys the hell out of me. MBs definitely have pros, just as IJ has cons and vice versa.

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dash_dingo
2012-09-18 03:58 am UTC (link)

Exactly- some RPers see R or 3-3-3 as sex! everywhere! w00t! but higher ratings does not exclusively mean sexual themes. I'm much more interested in dark atmospheres/tones/whichever, than in the occasional sexytimes between a pair.

There are many forum games that cross the line, and so there's graphic TOS-breaking content all over the place, but sooner or later they get shut down. Sadly, a lot of forum players are fixated on the look of the site. After all, there's bloody Forum of the Month awards, and so many other contests for graphics.

I've been a member/staff of a few forum games in which the staff cared about the writing, but there's more games that favor graphics over writing. I enjoy making graphics for boards, but I completely understand why some get turned off by it: minimalist designs work best for everyone, but people just can't not... participate in the contests. Or in general, show off with huge graphics.

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