A Quick Note About Censorship

I just saw a post on Twitter that I think is pretty indicative of modern gamer culture:

Two things:
1. Design choices are not the same as censorship.

2. Those are definitely not A cups.

Look, I hate censorship just as much as the next person, but let's be clear on what censorship actually is.  If the government prevented the entire game from being released due to the violence, that would be censorship.  If Sony or Microsoft required them to cut a lot of content before the game could be brought to their system, that might be censorship.  Heck, when the SNES version of MK1 had its blood and fatalities neutered, I was one of the people who complained about it at the time.  But that's not what happening here.

If the game had already been released in Japan, and they decided to give the characters more modest outfits in the states, I could see it being called censorship.  Then again, localization choices aren't always censorship either.  A lot of games tweak outfits, backgrounds, and other elements between countries, just to make them more relatable to that country's audience.  Sometimes those choices result in less skin being shown, even if modesty wasn't really the reason for the change.

Look, I'm not offended by nudity in video games.  In fact, it bothers me that nudity is a bigger target for censorship than violence.  It amazes me how American culture is so unfazed by graphic murders, but treats the natural human body like it's some disgusting monstrosity.  You can show a woman getting her breast ripped off, as long as you don't show the nipple.  It's a bizarre set of priorities.

So believe me when I say I'm not trying to defend censorship, or prevent games from showing nudity.  But giving women more realistic body proportions, and designing more modest outfits in a video game sequel?  That's not censorship, that's just a design choice.  Nothing was created then removed, they just didn't create what you personally wanted.

Go find some other stupid cause to picket.