Book of Vile Darkness

[Ristamar]

Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball might contain see-thru swimsuits and even full frontal nudity, with pubic hair, and still retain an M rating. In the article I read, they weren't yet sure how far they were going to go, but apparently you can show anything short of actual depictions of sex and still be rated M as opposed to Adults-Only (AO).

I've seen screenshots and movies of DOA Extreme Volleyball (they were all clean, though definitely, well.... you know). Heck, all DOA titles are basically average T&A fighting games (give me Street Fighter or Soul Calibur any day of the week). However, they've never pushed it too far. I was a bit stunned to hear about real stripper footage being placed into Dave Mirra XXX, so I'll be absolutely shocked if they do full-frontal nudity in DOA Volleyball. I'd honestly have to see it to believe it. That would really be pushing the envelope in the North American videogame market, and I know there'd be some mad flak forthcoming... especially if the gameplay sucks.

 

[Dakeyras]

I rarely post since I'm usually incoherent but I'll try to say this clearly .

First to those who say we don't need BoVD because of all the real world evil we can draw inspiration from the evil in the real world. Isn't that kinda against the point? At least in my case when I play a fantasy came I'm trying to forget the real world. Between child murders, suicide bombers, and the stuff of my nightmares concentration camps I would might rather face a DeathKnight at the head of an army of undead then reminding myself of the evils I've seen on the news. Even if I disguise the plot so my players don't know where I got it, I still get to remind myself of the child parents on the news or my trip to Dachau when I was in school, not exactly my idea of fun. I'd much rather have a book I can open and take said DeathKnight make him a worshiper of Asmodeaus and see what benefits he gets from that and if they fit my campaign. Also I can't turn off real life, if this book actually goes too far I can close it and take a break.

Secondly I've only ever met three kinds of people when it comes to our little hobby. Those of us who play it or used to play and understand it a wonderful pastime. Those who don't care one whit about the game. And those people who told me I was going to Hell for playing (and at this point in my life I was actually thinking of entering the Roman Catholic priesthood and living my life accordingly). The first group is us and we already know what our reaction is going to be apparently. I don't really see the second group suddenly rallying against us when BoVD comes out and the third group has already condemned us. So in my case I don't really see how BoVD can be anything but a book written for a game.

 

[Wolfspider]

The comment from Nathanel about graphic, naked and blody art refers to a early post where someone claimed to have been told by their local game shop owner that the artists for BoVD shop their and were told by WotC that they needed to make their art more vile.

 

[Hakkenshi]

I think research will show that the Book of Naughty Bits will be much more controversial than the Book of Vile Darkness. Death, destruction, torture, brutal murder, all these things are fine when there's no sexual content involved. It becomes especially controversial when said sexual content involves the Catlord

(/sarcasm)

Originally posted by Nathanael
They concern rules for selling your soul, human sacrifice, drug use, extremely graphic artwork

You mean the BoVD is gonna have rules for extremely graphic artwork??? Sweet! I never COULD get the hang of it...

 

[barsoomcore]

It becomes especially controversial when said sexual content involves the Catlord

It's not so much the sexual content involving the Catlord. It's the sexual content involving her cats. Mrow.

 

[Hakkenshi]

See, this is type of thing I'd like to see covered in the BoVD: did Tony DiTerlizzi know what he was unleashing upon the world when he painted the Catlord???

A question for the ages.

Another question for the ages would be why it isn't called the CatLADY. Still, some secrets Man Was Not Meant to Know.

 

[barsoomcore]

Another question for the ages would be why it isn't called the CatLADY. Still, some secrets Man Was Not Meant to Know.

Or, possibly, there are some secrets That Are Really Going to Surprise Man When He Puts His Hand Down Her(?) Pants.

 

[psionotic]

This book will not sink our hobby. If it was released in 1982, perhaps there would be an uproar, but 'the evil of D&D!' is no longer newsworthy. Joe sixpack and Sonya Soccer Mom have already seen the 700 Club special on demonworshipping and D&D six times now. Its yesterday's news. People care more about the war on terrorism, corporate crime, and Tonya Harding vs Monica Lewinksy celebrity boxing then some geekboy hobby, anyway.

Mismanagement by certain corporate overlords might be able to ruin D&D, but the Book of Vile Darkness will not.



I'm going to buy it, and frankly I can't wait.

 

[Al]

My comment on the matter is: no big deal.

The fact of the matter is that the so-called 'soccer mums' aren't going to tear down the walls of WotC with their bare hands, lynch Monte and insert a constitutional amendment making playing DnD a hanging offence.

Why not?

1. Most will never have heard of it. Indeed, the overwhelmingly majority won't have heard of it. Most people don't really know what Dungeons & Dragons is. If you were to take a poll of one hundred randomly selected people, I guarantee that nearly none will have even heard of the Book of Vile Darkness. To those that proclaim that a media furore will alert their attention, I disagree again. Ask them about Jack Chick, Dark Dungeons or any of the cases involved so-called 'DnD related' suicides/homicides: most will not have a clue.

2. The media is more liberal these days than the 1980s. Without being able to make more than general allusions, we bear in mind that most of the 'soccer mums' were brought up in the 1960s/1970s, after the liberalising effects that they had; hence, they are far more open-minded and liberal than the 'soccer mums' of the 1980s who were brought up pre-1960 or so.

3. Bigger fish to fry. Nowadays, (unlike the 1980s), there are graphically violent computer games, rising violence and sex on television and in the cinema. The Graduate even has full nudity on stage. If the media is to go berserk, it is unlikely that it would do so over a minor fringe product like BoVD. As to Nathanael's 'graphic nudity', why would this cause an outcry when you can buy porn from your local newsagent? And why has Vampire not caused the hypothesised outrage: surely this would be as 'evil' as anything in BoVD.

4. Hasbro's business sense. Hasbro is a strong brand with a good deal of goodwill. They are NOT going to compromise their younger audiences (Pokemon et al.) by releasing a product which will contaminate their name and undermine the goodwill factor: especially considering that their youth market (e.g. Pokemon) easily outsells DnD. It just wouldn't make sense.

5. Public Perception of Gamers. Of those that vaguely know what DnD is, the perception has shifted. In the 1980s, gamers were a smaller group than today, and were generally associated with being slightly sinister and affiliated with the Goth movement. Today, we are in there with any other type of geeks (Trekkies etc.)

Sorry Nathanael, but BoVD just isn't going to cause the DnD world to collapse around us.

 

[ForceUser]

Actually, I think it would be kind of cool if BoVD was so graphic that we couldn't talk about it here for fear of upsetting Eric's Grandmother. I think D&D is due, I think the gaming community can handle it, and I think that an entire line of "mature" D&D products would be fantastic. I enjoy broaching mature subjects in my games. They're not for everyone, but they are for me.