Russia gives the Sims 4 an "Adults Only" rating

[Gahars]

After much argument and dis-Putin, the Russia ratings board has designated the Sims 4 to be an "Adults Only" title, completely prohibited for sale to those under 18.

Why? What's so saucy about the Sims? Is it the door-deleting, house-burning gameplay? The vulgar Simlish? Well, actually....

The Russian Federation has placed an 18+ rating on the upcoming release of The Sims 4, marking the game as "prohibited for children" due to a controversial law restricting the promotion of same-sex relationships to minors.

News of the rating comes via a tweet from the official Sims Russia account, which was later followed up with an explanation to a curious player. "18+ [rating] has been assigned in accordance with the law number 436-FZ 'On the protection of children from information harmful to their health and development,'" the tweet reads (via Google Translate).

That law, passed in September of 2012, has already drawn widespread controversy around the world for seemingly criminalizing the mere mention of a person's own sexual orientation and encouraging violence against Russia's LGBT community.

Arstechnica
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"Remember, no homo."

So, yeah, it's Russia being Russia yet again. I never would've guessed that we'd have the Sims, of all things, rated alongside titles like Grand Theft Auto but, hey, there ya go.

Now, let's have a calm, pleasant discussion in 3... 2... 1...

 

[Foxi4]

Appropriate. Nobody should play The Sims 4*.



*With the rare exception of trained professionals who do it for comedy streams, god bless those brave souls who subject themselves to a game that has no "game" in it.

Spoiler

Google it.

 

[AlanJohn]

Doesn't matter really. Nobody cares about age ratings in easturn europe.

 

[Arras]

Eh. When I saw the title I already knew this would be the reason.

 

[Hop2089]

Piracy will circumvent this problem.

 

[Foxi4]

Piracy will circumvent this problem.

I don't really see this as a "problem" to begin with - Russia has a conservative stance on same-sex relationships so they rated the game appropriately in regards to their own law. For all intents and purposes, they're actually lenient here since they could've demanded that same-sex relationships are to be removed from the game altogether or else it won't be released at all. Australia and Germany ban ultraviolent games because they go against their social rulesboard, this is the exact same case.

 

[Celice]

man fuck the rest of the world that's not America, am i right

 

[Reploid]

Всё равно это ни на что не повлияет. Meh.

 

[Super.Nova]

I'd still give it "Sadists Only" if it was up to me

 

[calmwaters]

Why is this important again? People are upset their elders won't let them play an adult-only game because they're teenagers? Then again, most older people don't care about what their young people play. At least you have to show a picture ID showing you're over 18 if you want to get into a brothel or a XXX store. Of course, you could always lie by making a fake ID, but that's not acceptable behaviour in most societies. Listen to me, moralizing on a *cough cough* pirates' site.

 

[Foxi4]

Why is this important again? People are upset their elders won't let them play an adult-only game because they're teenagers? Then again, most older people don't care about what their young people play. At least you have to show a picture ID showing you're over 18 if you want to get into a brothel or a XXX store. Of course, you could always lie by making a fake ID, but that's not acceptable behaviour in most societies. Listen to me, moralizing on a *cough cough* pirates' site.

Faking ID's is not "unacceptable behaviour in most societies", it's illegal, it's a felony. Forgery is punishable by imprisonment. Prostitution isn't legal either in most civilized countries either, both on the provider's and the client's side of things. Your suggestions are literally more illegal than just downloading the game. That, and GBATemp is not a "pirates' site", we haven't dealt with pirated content since the GBA days.

 

[nl255]

Faking ID's is not "unacceptable behaviour in most societies", it's illegal, it's a felony. Forgery is punishable by imprisonment. Prostitution isn't legal either in most civilized countries either, both on the provider and the client's side of things. Your suggestions are literally more illegal than just downloading the game. That, and GBATemp is not a "pirates' site", we haven't dealt with pirated content since the GBA days.

Not necessarily. For example, in Australia importing a banned game is no different than importing a machine gun or explosives and is quite a bit more illegal than forging an ID. There are different kinds of felonies (or equivalent) and some are worse than others. In fact, in some places possession of that game by any means is punishable by death.

 

[Foxi4]

Not necessarily. For example, in Australia importing a banned game is no different than importing a machine gun or explosives and is quite a bit more illegal than forging an ID. There are different kinds of felonies (or equivalent) and some are worse than others. In fact, in some places possession of that game by any means is punishable by death.

You misunderstood what I actually said. What I said is that forgery is considered a felony and a criminal offense, so is prostitution often times, wheras illegally downloading copyrighted content for personal use (not distribution) is most often considered petty crime or a minor offense. You will get into infinitely trouble more commiting the first two in comparison to the latter. That, and you missed the "civilized countries" part of my post - in a civilized country you will not get the death penalty for owning a video game, no matter what that game might be.

As far as Australia is concerned, importing banned goods is not an offense as severe as forgery of officially issued documentation. In the case of video games it ends with seizing the item in question and in the event that the item poses some sort of danger or breaks the Australian law then there might be prosecution involved. This is not the case with video games, so it would probably end with seizing the item, destroying it and dropping the charges.

 

[Magnus87]

Mabybe with new rating. It could be include more things than "teen stuff"

 

[Ericthegreat]

Well, I could see kids if very young kids (too young to be playing the Sims anyway), played they could get the wrong ideas about how sex is usually performed.

 

[bluejon]

Wow...these laws are just getting so much better...why should a persons orientation determine a damn rating of "Adults Only" like if there isn't gay teens over there or even kids...people need to develop some brain cells...

 

[WiiCube_2013]

If only this were what Russians had to be worried about.

 

[Foxi4]

Wow...these laws are just getting so much better...why should a persons orientation determine a damn rating of "Adults Only" like if there isn't gay teens over there or even kids...people need to develop some brain cells...

Children don't have a "sexual orientation" - interest in matters of sexuality develops through the process of puberty. For all intents and purposes, a child doesn't have a sexuality to speak of. Sexual orientation does have some biological roots, this much is correct, but it does not surface earlier than puberty.

Again, Russia is a conservative country. Along the rules of behaviourism they believe that "promoting" homosexuality leads to crippling the developing sexuality of minors and as such they consider it inappropriate material... and by "promoting" they understand "featuring in any shape or form". Whether we like it or not, that's their law and they feel comfortable with it.

 

[bluejon]

Children don't have a "sexual orientation" - interest in matters of sexuality develops through the process of puberty. For all intents and purposes, a child doesn't have a sexuality to speak of. Sexual orientation does have some biological roots, this much is correct, but it does not surface earlier than puberty.

Again, Russia is a conservative country. Along the rules of behaviourism they believe that "promoting" homosexuality leads to crippling the developing sexuality of minors and as such they consider it inappropriate material... and by "promoting" they understand "featuring in any shape or form". Whether we like it or not, that's their law and they feel comfortable with it.

I disagree with your first comment because I know a couple of kids that are not attracted to the opposite sex

 

[Foxi4]

I disagree with your first comment because I know a couple of kids that are not attracted to the opposite sex

No kid is attracted to the opposite or otherwise because they don't have sexual attraction at all - arousal requires hormones that stimulate libido, they are not present in the body in sufficient quantity to trigger it during childhood because the glands that produce them have not matured yet. A child needs to reach sexual maturity to even understand the concept. You can disagree with me, but this is biology - you're arguing against scientific fact.