What Do They Mean By "Suggestive Themes"?

Hello again!! In this post we are going to explore some of the more interesting “Content Descriptors” that will show up with some of the ratings on your games. One of the descriptors that I have always found amusing is Suggestive Themes. What is a “suggestive theme”? Basically, A suggestive theme leads toward very mild sexual innuendo. The kind of innuendo one encounters when they are in the fifth grade and they are encountering dirty jokes for the first time. So suggestive themes are not really that much of a bother when it comes to game content, but apparently they are worthy enough to gain a rating descriptor. Also interesting to be is “Partial Nudity”. For the people who rate games, partial nudity can be anything from showing a little bit of one's breast from the side (I'm not saying what you're thinking, but yes I mean Sideb**b) or completely falling out of one's top, or trying to maintain modesty in a tricky situation when all the female character has is a sheet. And yes, the most partial nudity one sees in games is that of the female anatomy and very seldom is it male. Then again, there was a game out recently that had some male nudity, but I will share that video with you later since it is not really relevant to this post. Another interesting things is that the ESRB finds it necessary to warn people when the characters are going to be smoking “Use of tobacco ”, drinking “use of alcohol” and if they will be doing drugs “drug references”. This is interesting because you certainly don't get this much information outright from the ratings on films. Then again, it is sort of assumed that you knw what the ratings for films mean. But since the content for games is slightly different, it means that more detail is needed so that the player can be informed before they make the purchase. There are also descriptors for “Blood”, “Animated blood”, “Gore”, “Fantasy violence”, Sexual content, and so much more. So when you look at further information about the game, these are all the reasons why the game has this rating. There are reasons for game ratings, and these descriptors are that explanation for that rating. And while some of them may seem kind of odd, like “Suggestive Themes”, and you are wondering what the themes are suggesting, well it's not the suggestion but the reason, if that makes sense. If you would like more information, please check out their rating descriptor information here, where I got all of this information. Thank you very much for reading, and cheers!!

Works Cited

“Rating catagories, Content Descriptors.” ESRB. Entertainment Software Rating Board, n.d., Web.