Well I can just start by saying that this will be a very uncomfortable entry for me. As by the end of it I’m going to be viewed as being disturbed no matter where my opinion lies. Anyway lets start with some back story, last year the game “The Witcher” was released around the world. The main draws for me to get it are the combat system and playing a different kind of hero. The game was censored due to sex scenes and some very detailed playing cards in the US but the international version was uncensored. Now I was planning on picking up the uncensored version but around the time that I was planning on getting it, an enhanced version was announced with changes and improvements so I decided to wait for it to come out. Let’s stop right there to get my opinion out of the way.
As I’ve commented on in the past, I am incredibly thick skin and have yet to turn off any game for moral reasons. I can understand the viewpoint of critics and there have been some moments in games that have made my skin crawl, but nothing to make me turn off the game in outrage. On the subject of sex in video games is where I’m stuck, I was raised with a pretty clean mind. I’ve grown out of that phase that most young men get into about wanting to constantly see the other sex (which I can thank art class for in college). I consider myself a highly mature person and if the scenes make my skin crawl for whatever reason I will happily just skip them. So with my clean mind out in the open, it should be a no brainer to play the censored version of The Witcher and call it a day right?
This is where the other part of me has a problem, I’m not a fan of censorship of any kind. I don’t like it on TV, and I don’t like how it has happen thanks to the ESRB. I subscribe to the George Carlin point of view (RIP), that it’s up to me and no one else to say what I can and cannot watch. Even though the idea of watching animated sex is not something I want to make a habit of, I don’t think that anyone has the right to tell me I can’t watch it, and that I’m not mature enough for it. As I mentioned above if I don’t want to watch the sex scenes over and over again I will just skip them, even though that is what would be happening in the US version, this time it will be by my choice. Another belief of mine is playing the game that the developer wanted, I’ve always had trouble downloading mods to games as it always seemed like breaking the design the designers wanted.
Well this has been a long strange trip hasn’t it? As we come to the end, I’m still interested in picking up an uncensored version of it. Which as of today has been made available for preorder. I know that some people didn’t enjoy the viewpoint of The Witcher, but if I’m going to render a verdict on it I’m going to have to play it myself.
Josh
