Maybe one has to be immature to enjoy mature content

by Shawn Schuster Jun 1st 2008 at 9:30AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Business models, Culture, Economy, Game mechanics, New titles, Opinion

That title is a quote from the latest entry over at Tobold's blog, concerning the success of Age of Conan. He believes the combat system itself is one of the main draws of the game. While appearing somewhat similar to other MMOs, the combat system seems to make more sense in regards to its speed, intensity and overall enjoyment.

Some other points he makes include the content of the game, and the enemies you encounter. LotRO made good use of its license in regards to the mobs, zones and quests, but Tobold feels that in regards to AoC, most of the content could be from any other random fantasy game. In addition to this (hence the interesting title) is how Tobold doesn't believe the mature rating drives sales too much, despite the fact that "Age of Conan nudity" is the top search phrase that leads people to his blog. Hey, that's how we found it!

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, funcom, hyborian-adventures, sales, success, tobold

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Alarie said on 10:44AM 6-01-2008

Then they need to try DDO. That combat is far more advanced than AoC.

It just doesn't have the PVP as AoC does so it doesn't intice the kiddies, and thank god.

Ghen said on 12:32PM 6-01-2008

I appreciate your search techniques. Continue with the good 'work' =) Don't forget, blog your results!!

ikel said on 1:32PM 6-01-2008

Deep plot, moral engagement, wit - this is mature content. Tits and curses are childish at best.
Therefore i disagree with the title :)

Drunken Pandaren said on 2:37PM 6-01-2008

Meh, the man has been qqing over AoC. We know he doesn't like it so does he really have to complain over every little thing that happens?

Insignificantgamer said on 5:48PM 6-01-2008

Mature games are designed to appeal to people of older ages, such as the events a character goes through in the story line. You need to be mature to apprecaite the fine aspects of the story line. And yes tits and curses are for the young ones who got a chance to play the game.
http://insignificantgamer.wordpress.com

ScytheNoire said on 1:50AM 6-02-2008

I don't think that guy gets it. It's about having a much darker and grim gaming world that isn't so Disney Land like WoW is. Sure there is nudity and gruesome fatalities, but it's also a much more dark world in general. It's much more like the real world. There's just things I've seen in AoC that you won't find in other games. Heads on pikes, rotting corpses, bodies torn in half, cannibalized corpses, etc. It's just a more interesting world than WoW's theme park.

Syme said on 3:30PM 6-03-2008

"It's much more like the real world.... Heads on pikes, rotting corpses, bodies torn in half, cannibalized corpses, etc."
I'm glad I don't live in your neighborhood.

And I agree with the title of this entry, at least if I take "mature content" in the way it is usually used and not as meaning things that require actual maturity to appreciate.

Tony said on 12:04PM 6-03-2008

Heads on pikes and rotting corpses don't make an interesting world all by themselves... at least for me. WoW is certainly not as violent or visually gory, but the game certainly deals with just as many gruesome themes despite its more cartoony exterior. Personally, I almost have a hard time taking some of AoC's violence seriously when blood sprites are appearing on my screen when doing a fatality lol.

I don't know how I feel about AoC right now. The combat is fun to some level, but having to look down at my action bar to check which of the three attack directions is highlighted quickly becomes frustrating... I'm constantly looking there and not seeing exactly what the enemy is doing or on which side their defense has increased/decreased.

Then of course there's PvP, which doesn't really feel that rewarding yet... and for many people has just become a way to spawn elsewhere on the map with little repercussion.

Still, I won't pretend a lot of this can't be fixed. Many of us are quick to forget many of WoW's tribulations at first.

AoC certainly looks good and I'd say it has its own share of personality, but it's true... a lot of it could be pulled from anywhere. The thing is that, at this point (largely because so many other stories are built from its template, much like it was built from even older stories), the same could be said of a Tolkien inspired title. I think what makes this more evident is that far more people are aware of the LotR universe than the Conan universe.