Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Parental Discretion Feature

OMG. Must every idea be debated and fought over?

Think of it like this. Christians were jerks who put lots of moral restrictions on people instead of teaching the truth about what the Bible teaches; freedom in Jesus Christ and love for all mankind. Instead of teaching love and respect like they should have, they oppressed people thinking tough love was the only way to keep people from sin. They made everything about sin instead of about the one who destroyed it through His sacrifice.

So people fought to be free of the tyranny.

Now, the roles are reversed. If I, being a Christian, do not like nudity in games or foul language, I am oppressed by those who want to force me to live as THEY think I should live. "Just stop being sensitive, Prick!". I'm not being sensitive. I just don't want to have to see soft porn pixels in order to enjoy different elements of the game. I'm not asking them to write it out entirely. I'm asking for some censorship option for players like myself who don't enjoy such things. I'm not playing politics. I'm NOT trying to oppress anyone. I am only asking respectfully for an option. If they don't, I'm not going to throw a fit. It's just a gosh darn request.

What is censored and why is more important.


And I not terribly fond of that rating in BG game, or at least how it is utilized. I don't know how BG would be rated, but I played BG1&2 as a young teenager, and frankly it didn't scontain anything terribly unipropriate. IMO BG3 could very easily not be 18+ and be better for it.

The problem I would point out in that reasoning is that "hardcore fetish port movie" is meant to be a hardcore fetish porn movie. Take that away and you are left with nothing. One would hope that there is far more to BG3 then janky digital sex scenes, profanities and bloodsplatters.

The medicine is bitter, isn't it.


Then prove it by not requesting a feature like this instead of just saying that you are not sensitive.

Enough, Firesong.

It's a perfectly valid request to make (and a quite popular one, particularly among streamers).

So please end your tirade and gatekeeping attempts, Firesong. You don't have to shut down a request just because you disagree with it, particularly when if the request would at all be implemented, it'd make no difference to you to begin with. Kind of a benign thing to get all worked up about, isn't it?

Consider this a soft-warning, next time I'm not so patient.

Right, this got out of hand, you're absolutely right.

Back to my favorite topics: QoL / UX and "please make Halsin recruitable".

To add to the use-cases mentioned for this feature...

When my kids were younger, when they were at my house we'd play board games or cards, kick a ball at the park, stuff like that. Now they're older and into video games, but not old enough for some of the content in this game. When they're here these days, mostly we just all play games, and I would *love* the option to take a game from R to PG-13 when they're here, because otherwise I wouldn't be able to play it while they're doing Minecraft two feet away.

Disclaimer: I am not opposed to an option to fade these things out, I might even use it. However:

I am opposed to using "shock language" and "faux outrage" to get a requested feature. Oppression has a very real meaning, and a sex scene, or some swearing in a video game isn't it. What's next, a review bomb on Steam and Meta-Critic?

The complete and total disconnect between "it's an option, you don't have to use it" being acceptable here, and "If you don't like it, don't abuse LRs" being unacceptable isn't lost on me either.

There certainly is ...
Concepts of slavery, canibalism, torture, racism, fanatism, sadism and masochism, explicit showing of inner organs (especialy brains), some could argue that inserting tadpole is methaphor for rape (i heard such theory for Alien and honestly i dont see much difference here) and much, much more ...

Note that i dont argue any of those things could "horribly destroy fragile mind of inocent child" ...
Since i also came from generation of kids who were growing up watching all those "adults only" movies, series, videogames and stuff ... and i dont feel like any of that marked me worse than some other stuff, that no ESRB protects from. :-/

I simply can understand some people wish to be warned those things will be included.
And that is exactly what those ratings are for (at least that is how i see them) ... in the end, its allways parents who will decide if they will listen to this recommendation, or not ... and that makes sence, after all its also them who are responsible for those childern.

In general?
Yes, that is why we are on forum and not on Blog without enabled coments.

Yup, and that's what makes GM4Him's request so obviously reasonable. It's not some moral panic think of the children nonsense, it's "I am a grown-ass human who wants to make choices about the content I consume, and there's a lot in the game I want to interact with, but not this other part of it that can really be very easily skipped programmatically."

Forum does not equal debate and fight. Forum means discussion. It can be pleasant. It can be fun. People can offer suggestions, and others can say, "Oh! I like that!"
Or, they can say, "Mmmm. Nah. I mean, if they want to do that, whatever, but I personally am not affected by it." Or, they can say, "Hmmm. No. Absolutely not. That would ruin the game and here's why." Those are respectful responses.

They don't have to say, "Your idea is dumb and I hate it and the game doesn't need that, so shut up and stop talking, and if you don't I'm going to keep attacking your ideas and suggestions until you finally get so sick and tired of it that you do just shut up. Oh, and let me give you all the reasons why your ideas suck and are stupid, and let me keep telling you why your ideas suck and are stupid because I pretty much just want to bash you into the ground until you either die or you quit making suggestions."

There's a huge difference. I don't mind the first. You have your opinion, and I have mine. You may not like my idea, and you may have reasons why. But you don't have to bash me and completely shoot my ideas down and belittle me in the process. Heck, I'd even understand you shooting something down, if my idea somehow ruins your gameplay. Then I can understand at least the defensiveness behind your position. But these unnecessary attacks every time someone posts anything someone doesn't like, that's what I'm frustrated with. Endless stupid debating and fighting over the tiniest of suggestions and feedback, no matter how small and insignificant. I post something thinking, "Hey. That's not a bad idea. Maybe I can at least ask for it. I might not get it, but it doesn't hurt to ask," turns into me defending myself and my life choices and my own beliefs and religion and all over something that doesn't hurt someone else at all. It's ridiculous!

Sometimes, I want to retaliate the way others treat me. You know, they call me sensitive or some dogmatic Christian who just wants to suppress and oppress, and I want to call them... no... you know what... no. I just won't tell you what I want to call them because that would not be Lawful Good of me.

Well ...
As one of persons who was in the past multiple times acused by you for the same, even tho it was never my intention ... i kinda feel the urge to note that there could be fault on the receiver aswell. :-/

But yes they dont "have to" say that ... and yet they can ...
World is ugly and harsh place, and sometimes you need to deal with dirt.
Do you want my advice? Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life.

In my field we have a principal of system design: always be clear and standard in the output you create, and be generous and fault tolerant when parsing the input you get.

This applies to most human interaction as well, especially online, eh?

To be fair and honest, GM4Him... And I earnestly mean no disrespect in saying this, but you are the one that brings your religion into things here, every time it comes up. It's always you (as far as I've ever seen at lest), who brings it up and makes it an issue, and I do feel as though you've been politely requested to keep religious discussion out of matters before. We understand that your personal beliefs and your religious leanings are important to you, and (possibly, I don't want to presume) a strong element of what makes you who you are... and that's fine! But the topics we discuss in these forums are not the place for those kinds of real world discussions and potential conflicts. So if you don't bring your personal religion into the discussions here, it's a near guarantee that no-one else will either, and then you won't have to feel like you're needing to defend it. - I've never had to defend my own religious position, for example, because I've never brought it up.

If it's a Toggle it doesn't take anything from me. That's just how it is. As long as it's Optional and not FORCED DOWN MY THROAT CENSORSHIP of 2021 TREND by the Typical Fanatical Cults.

Hmm. Fair point, Niara. It is easy for me to bring it into conversations simply because it is a HUGE part of who I am. So, when I make suggestions about things like censorship options, I am doing so because of my relationship with Christ. If I did not have one, I would not even care.

I guess my frustration isn't so much defending my beliefs as it is simply that I am always having to defend even the smallest suggestion. And, of course, he ticked me off. No excuse for my response, but that's what it was nevertheless.

And Ragnarok, I've never called your ideas stupid, as far as I can tell. I've said I don't understand where you're coming from and we often misunderstand one another, but I don't think I've ever said you're an idiot. I certainly don't think you are, and if I ever did say something like that in any way, I'm sorry.

I absolutely do not agree with you a LOT, but I don't think you're dumb. Besides, when do you ever post your own suggestions? You almost always just criticize others'.

Things feel better when we can chat with a positive outlook, even when we disagree. Especially, then, rather.

I would never use any kind of parental feature, personally. I actually... if I'm honest... when I talk about Larian making a firm decision about what sort of scene they want to make, for the intimacies... I kinda actually want them to decide to go full on adult with it, make it erotic, make it overt, make it lurid, support it with writing that fits, and make it steamy and passionate.... I kinda want that. But I want it to be done well, and past that, I want Larian to feel like they CAN go ahead and do that without negative repercussions. That probably means they Need to have a safety switch in for people who want a black fade instead, rather than being forced to squeeze their eyes shut and hit space bar rapidly until it's over... that's not an adequate solution - and if having such a safety switch Allows them to let their hair out and make the flip side of that scene really potent, then, for me, that would be win-win.

This should definitely be added for those who want it. A dialogue option to click if you want to trigger romance similar to DA would also be welcome.

I have absolutely no issues with nudity or sex (although I despise sappy romance crap) but I wouldn't mind having an option to turn this off in game either since I find fictional "romances" ridiculous. I would love for people to stop thinking of nudity and sex as bad but centuries of conditioning/brainwashing isn't going to change just by making people have to deal with it. It would just end up with games being blacklisted in many places and people giving bad reviews because their kid saw a boob or something.

I am not even close to being of your religion but I certainly do not think you are trying to oppress anyone, especially asking for something optional to use.

Well, the toggle option is a valid request in my opinion. I don't mind adult content ( but sappy romance scenes always make me laugh, because they are often so over the top and cringy - BG 3 is No exception), but it doesn't hurt to have the option.

I agree however with some people here, that real life religion should be left out. It doesn't matter, why someone wants a toggle, If personal morals, religious believes or just dislike of certain contents. And no one has to defend their opinion. If OP wants the toggle, then he is entitled to ask for it, No reason necessary. And religion discussions often lead to arguments in my experience.

I understand where you all are coming from in regards to not discussing religion on forums like this. I will do my best. Some topics it is easier, but in others it's harder. For most, religion isn't so ingrained in every part of their life. For me, it is everything.

God is in some distant deity to me. He is a part of me and I am a part of him. So, especially when it comes to topics with morals, it is very difficult to not speak about him especially because there are now so many misconceptions about him. Some would say that I shouldn't be playing a game like this because of its content, which is why he's kind of games are often banned in different Christian circles.

But I play games like this because I enjoy the fantasy and the story and the characters and how game creators like Larian create such impressive looking worlds with such impressive story paths so that each time I play this game I learned something new and it is a different experience. I don't like playing Christian games because they have to work in such limited confines in order to not offend their audiences. However, when games like this give me no real choice to turn off nudity and sex and vulgar language, I am either locked out of various story paths or I have to grit my teeth and do something that triggers my conscience and later makes me regret having even gone down that pathway.

So, it is a simple request and it is one that would make the game more accessible for people like me don't want that kind of content in their gameplay. Yes, it might require a bit of work on their part to censor different scenes, but it would be much appreciated by me and others like me.

And I will work harder to try to avoid bringing my faith into it in the future, though please forgive me if I do since it is so much a part of who I am. For me, it is like breathing. But I will do my best to hold my breath. 😁

Forums are very much for debate. It's one way to exchange ideas, and maybe find flaws in suggestions that lead to better suggestions. Fight is in the eye of the beholder, however. Some posters will go "too far". For myself, I think gaming forums would be a really boring place if someone posted something, and everyone just said "Yeah". As I said in my previous post, I don't object to the addition, and might even use it, but presentation is key. I do find playing a "victim card" to try to dissuade discussion, even if it's discussion that takes it too far, every bit as bad as the people that take their opposition to an idea too far. Things like you claiming you're being oppressed by the existence of sex scenes and profanity, for example. They didn't add anything to the conversation, and they wouldn't make me want to support an idea if I had objections to it. Instead, they make me want to dismiss it out of hand, because I know that they are objectively false. What it does make me think is that we're starting off with it as optional, but it could very easily move into "just remove it". There's a very evident real world example, in Mass Effect. "Alien side boob" was a very real issue, with people trying to claim it was a hardcore sex scene with an alien. If you've never seen it, you should look it up. It's amusing, and terrifying at the same time.