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Diablo 3 Lead Designer: Gore OK for Kids

By - Source: Tom's Hardware US | B 34 comments
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Diablo III lead designer Jay Wilson says that the game's over-gratuitous gore is OK for his 9-year-old daughter.

It's hard not jumping on a soap box in regards to gaming violence, children, and the ESRB ratings. But when Blizzard's Jay Wilson says that he allows his 9-year-old daughter to (presumably) play M-rated titles, and publically admits it, the soap box begs for a few preaching feet. Wired actually stumbled across Wilson's wife and daughter at BlizzCon while they played Diablo III, then later tracked down Wilson himself and grilled the lead designer about his daughter and what she plays.

So what was his answer? Basically, Diablo III isn't quite as personal as games with guns or first-person shooters with violence. He boils it down to choice: is the game suitable for the child despite the ESRB rating plastered on the box? Ultimately, he hits the nail on the head: games children play depends on the final verdict of (hopefully) educated parents. A T-rated game for one child may be suitable for one, but not for another of the same age group.

"Well, I feel like for every parent you have to make a choice about what kind of content is appropriate for your child and at what age," he told Wired. "At a certain age, I wouldn’t have let her play a game like Diablo because of the violence. And honestly, I paused before letting her play."

According to Wilson, as a developer, it's hard not to share his work with his daughter, especially when she wants to see the progress on his latest project. "I don’t really want to deprive her of that," he said, adding that he knows his daughter well enough to know if she would  have any problem handling certain content.

"To do my official company line, too, one of the things we intend to do is add parental controls so that every parent can make their own choice about what’s appropriate for their kids," he said.

On the other hand, don't expect Diablo III to appeal to a wider, general audience. "Diablo is our Mature-rated series, and it’s important for us that it be that. It’s our goal, and that’s where we want it to be."

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Top Comments
  • 28 Hide
    frozenlead , August 24, 2009 10:28 PM
    The title should read:
    Diablo III lead designer: Gore OK for HIS kid.

    Other parents may object, but they better not object to the developer. If you don't want your kid playing it, don't let them get the game.
  • 25 Hide
    Kaiser_25 , August 24, 2009 10:34 PM
    I was raised on video games, and im a sane, fully functional member of society and live a happy successful life...i dont see a problem with what he lets his daughter play.
  • 21 Hide
    coonday , August 24, 2009 10:22 PM
    I think I turned out just fine...think being the key word of course.
Other Comments
    Display all 34 comments.
  • 21 Hide
    coonday , August 24, 2009 10:22 PM
    I think I turned out just fine...think being the key word of course.
  • 5 Hide
    mlcloud , August 24, 2009 10:22 PM
    Why is this making news? In the end it's all about the relationship between the child and his/her parent(s). Has America fallen to the point where this needs to be publicized? Common sense doesn't exist anymore, right?
  • 28 Hide
    frozenlead , August 24, 2009 10:28 PM
    The title should read:
    Diablo III lead designer: Gore OK for HIS kid.

    Other parents may object, but they better not object to the developer. If you don't want your kid playing it, don't let them get the game.
  • 25 Hide
    Kaiser_25 , August 24, 2009 10:34 PM
    I was raised on video games, and im a sane, fully functional member of society and live a happy successful life...i dont see a problem with what he lets his daughter play.
  • 4 Hide
    elbert , August 24, 2009 10:36 PM
    Jay Wilson lets his child play the game now. The games rating content is ok for children. Single player in other words. The problem however is interacting with others. No child should play this game online.
  • 4 Hide
    Major7up , August 24, 2009 10:52 PM
    mlcloudWhy is this making news? In the end it's all about the relationship between the child and his/her parent(s). Has America fallen to the point where this needs to be publicized? Common sense doesn't exist anymore, right?

    In response to your question, because there are a whole lot of overzealous idiots out there (you have heard of Jack Thompson???) who don't agree with the rational point you have made. And to some extent, parents don't pay enough attention to what their kids play to make a decision of any kind. Go into any game store and sit there for an hour, you will see this first hand. Common sense does exist but I think that it's in short supply.
  • 12 Hide
    cryogenic , August 24, 2009 10:56 PM
    I was raised with video games, I'm a gamer from the age of 7, used to play Pong on the "original console" and lot's of games on Amiga ZX spectrum, and played lot's of games since 286 pc's era, violent or non violent.

    I've never had any violence issues (except for minor fights as kid, that are inevitable), and guess why? because of my education. My father told me to never hit a girl in my life because the day I do that I won't be a man anymore and I never did it even when I was a child playing with children, my father told me not to mess up with the wrong people and never do what they do, and I listened, because I had great respect for him all my life ...

    So, its' not the games, it's the education, a good childhood and nice parents that determine how you act on violence, not the games ...


  • 3 Hide
    tomasz , August 24, 2009 11:14 PM
    Sometime i feel like restictions should not be based on age but rather maturity of people - parents in that matter and how much attention they pay to their kids. But how can this be mesaured...
  • 9 Hide
    canadakickass , August 24, 2009 11:14 PM
    yeah... i hate misleading headlines like these. The title is obviously false since its generalizing one`s parent relationship with his child. It reminds me of why i no longer read yahoo`s new :S
  • 1 Hide
    viometrix , August 24, 2009 11:31 PM
    i have no problem with my 8 yr old son playing games like ut 3, crysis, prototype, most first person shooters in general, and other games featuring violence... he knows he cant do these things for real, and does very well... i do not let him play games like gta4 that feature heavy drug use, use of language, and sex.... not that he wont learn about these things in time, but i do not believe he would know how to interperet these things.... some may say the same for violence, but he sees that on the news every day.
  • 3 Hide
    Anonymous , August 24, 2009 11:47 PM
    And yet if a game (or movie) contains a naked boob even in a non-sexual context all these "enlightened parents" would cast it out as the most heinous thing on earth.

    But dismemberment and intentionally causing physical pain is perfectly fine for the tweens ...
  • 0 Hide
    Anonymous , August 25, 2009 1:17 AM
    VioMeTriXi have no problem with my 8 yr old son playing games like ut 3, crysis, prototype, most first person shooters in general, and other games featuring violence... he knows he cant do these things for real, and does very well... i do not let him play games like gta4 that feature heavy drug use, use of language, and sex.... not that he wont learn about these things in time, but i do not believe he would know how to interperet these things.... some may say the same for violence, but he sees that on the news every day.


    Actually I have a problem with your son "playing" Crysis. Can't play tech demos!
  • 1 Hide
    IzzyCraft , August 25, 2009 1:35 AM
    Never understood how people could say super fake gore at almost comical people exploding full of blood in movies and video games make people more violent, let alone how changing the color from red to green or purple or something would decrease that effect on the mind.

    I'll consider it to have a real effect on violent dispositions when people in games and the blood etc looks real and not more comical to me at least, parents don't want their kids to be violet consider talking to your freakin kid and playing games with him instead of leaving them in their room with a computer or something for 9 hours a day.
  • 0 Hide
    masterjaw , August 25, 2009 1:55 AM
    A premature article generalizing the whole kid population's views with just a single nod from a kid. Unless you've done a survey or research, statements like "Gore OK for kids" cannot be assumed.
  • 1 Hide
    Anonymous , August 25, 2009 2:00 AM
    If intentionally killing people is cool, then I suppose that harmless personal behavior like having sex with one's girlfriend or smoking a joint or even choosing a word like "shit" instead of saying "poop" or "feces" is even cooler. I don't have a problem with violence in video games, but the people who decide what should be censored in this country ought to be taken in for a psychiatric evaluation.
  • 0 Hide
    tacoslave , August 25, 2009 3:07 AM
    blaming violent video games is the only thing crappy parents do instead of blaming themselves for the way their kids turn out. As for me both my kids are killing each other on hl2 with my wife and their really nice kids,crazy wife though (god damn i love her.
  • 2 Hide
    lifelesspoet , August 25, 2009 3:59 AM
    I played the american and euro version of the Witcher, the only difference between them was once you have sex with a girl, the sex card that you get(a portrait) for the act sometimes has a nipple. Its a sad world in which the drugs, alcohol, prostitution, violence and gore in that game are trumped by something you would find in an art book at the local library.
  • 0 Hide
    anamaniac , August 25, 2009 5:33 AM
    kaiser_25I was raised on video games, and im a sane, fully functional member of society and live a happy successful life...i dont see a problem with what he lets his daughter play.


    I'm not crazy, am I?
    Haven't killed anyone due to the extremely violent games I've played since I was 5 (duck hunt!).
    I also haven't raped anyone due to sexual content (hot coffe anyone?) or straight up porn (saw my first playboy when I was about 5).


    HOWEVER...
    Some people are quite impressionable...
  • 0 Hide
    alert101 , August 25, 2009 7:59 AM
    My favorite games during my early- and mid-teens were Soldier of Fortune 1 & 2 and Fallout 1 & 2. Probably lots of other violent games too, just can't remember them anymore. However, I also enjoyed point-and-click games like Day of the Tentacle and Flight of the Amazon Queen (those were the days =). And yes, I've also played Duck Hunt when I was around 6. Still haven't killed anyone though. There's probably something wrong with me. *sarcasm*
  • 0 Hide
    pwndcake , August 25, 2009 9:03 AM
    Over-gratuitous? Isn't that redundantly redundant?
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