Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris Will See it’s Sexual Content Reduced to Fit “Current Times”

A new report indicates the upcoming Sword Art Online video game, Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, will likely have its sexual content reduced.

The report from VGChartz is based off a Japanese interview with producer Yosuke Futami and game director Satoru Hirayae with Dengeki PlayStation Magazine.

[CrimsonWing69]

I give up at this point.

[rainslacker]

I don't get it. Paid cable channels are ramping up the sexual content, and it's not shied away from on broadcast TV at all, with plenty of TV shows focusing heavily on the sexual attitudes and adventures of their cast. Teen melodrama movies are pretty much all about who they're going to get it on with, and the most popular one's of recent years all have plenty of implied sexual content, and at the very least a sexy best friend who the directors can dress up provocatively.

Yet, in games, it seems like they're dialing it back, even though its never even actual sexual content, except in porn based games, which are pretty liimited in release in the overall scheme of things.

Gaming is a huge industry, with varied tastes, and most players are adults who, like other forms of media, just ignore the stuff they don't like. For instance, my grand mother wouldn't be watching Game of Thrones because of the sex scenes. I thought the idea that gaming was a kids past time had died a while ago, but apparently, it's still in full force, but publishers want to keep the smaller audiences or those who don't even play games happy.

I'm at the point where I think instead of complaining to these publishers that are actively pandering to these audiences, we start complaining to the people who are making a fuss about this content, and tell them that we are adults, and don't need them advocating for us what is proper for us to watch. If these people went and attacked the Cannes Film Festival for that movie they gave the highest award to, which had a rather explicit lesbian sex scene, which was ridiculously long and gratuitous, with one character who didn't even look old enough to be in those scenes, they'd be called out as irrational and inciteful critics. But with games, if we call them out, we're called pedophiles, perverts, or basement dwellers. And that's from people within our community. Those outside call us bigots, misogynists, and sexist, and accuse us of harassment or oppression of women around the world.

We as gamers know what games are. We should be more vocal about how we're tired of this bullshit, because we are the customers of the industry. The most active customers. The most loyal. And they spend a lot of money to get our attention. It makes more sense to keep our attention, than trying to avoid the attention of others who aren't even invested in gaming in the first place, and wouldn't be affected in the slightest if this content remained.

[gamer7804]

Thanks sony for spearheading this movement. Sales will drop drastically and possibly even see these tame games censored out of existence

[Kabaneri]

"Current Times"? You mean the fringe political agenda forced on the rest of the world by wannabe totalitarian American leftists?

[Fluxour]

I thought it was social conservatives that cared about this kind of thing...

[Kabaneri]

I thought we were in 2019 not 1989.

[rainslacker]

You're both wrong. It's just people that want to exert control and feel important, or make a name to satisfy their ego. It has nothing to do with liberalism or conservatism, as these people will take whatever side helps get them attention.

They're extremist, and they actually have no political agenda, just agenda's fueled by self-serving attitudes. So, in some ways, they are at least like politicians.

[ReVibe]

I don't even want a PS5 at this point. I've matured into PC gaming because no one's telling me what I can and can't experience.

[agent4532]

Agreed. Look Agony the uncensored version with the AO rating is only available in PC. Hopefully the PC version of this game also is uncensored

[gamer7804]

I'm tempted next gen to just get a Nintendo console and a beefy pc.

[BlahBlahWhatever]

That's the reason PlayStation brand is blacklisted by me & my boycott is going to continue until either sun freeze or until SONY NA who is responsible for all this take their filthy hands off from all games in general & especially Japanese/Anime games, until then all they are going to see from me is this ..i., there is few things I hate that much as censoring & all those responsible for ruining games & enforce their own ideas/way of thinking to adult people need to get the FUCK OUT from the entertainment business, we don't need such filth to parent grown up man, aside from their own kids they have no right to tell us what we can or can't see, do you get it SJW scums? FUCK OFF!

[Teflon02]

I mean, you can jump to conclusions and blame Sony. But it includes Child Rape which was also censored in the Anime. I'm sure they're talking things like that. I don't care how against censorship you are. If you're crying to have that in your game, you have a serious problem.

[rdgneoz3]

Yep. The anime censored the molestation and near rape of the 2 underage girls (Kiroto and Egeo's valets), before Eugeo and Kirito put a stop to it. Can't see why people would be pro "watching rape of little girls"...

[CatCouch]

The article says it's the co-sleeping event that have been in previous games that will be toned down or removed due to "current times". It's not about children or rape, censoring those scenes should not result in toning all sexual content down.

[Scatpants]

Considering that no rape occurred as the rapists were killed you would be censoring an almost rape with no nudity. What are we puritans? Don't need any thought police, thanks.

[rainslacker]

I wouldn't want to see the explicit act of that shown, as I'm sure that even in anime, that is considered illegal to show, even in Japan. But, if the context is there to make it apparent it wasn't a condoned act for the basis of the story, such scenes can have an extremely powerful affect on the reaction and feelings of the viewer. There are some movies which heavily imply that such things happen, maybe even showing it in some way...although not with nudity or penetration, an if done right it's pretty uncomfortable to watch.

So, crying to have that kind of content doesn't denote that you have a serious problem, it means that you want the freedom to be there to represent those things should the developer feel it important. Not all games are going to do such things properly, and some will be offensive. But for those that do it right, it can have a lasting impression.

Think about taking David and Ellie's last scene together in TLOU, and say that someone wanting that and watching it and respecting what happened from a narrative stand point has a serious problem. That scene played out like a rape scene, and I've discussed with others a while back if it was changed to him just trying to choke her instead of an attempted rape scene because of some of the stuff leading up to the choking, and the reactions of Ellie during. But, take it out, and it fundamentally changes the course of the narrative that comes after. That feeling of wanting to protect Ellie was strong after that, and that's exactly what Joel ended up feeling. The game was about getting you to connect to Joel, and that was a pivotal point in the game to allow that to go forward, because it's the first time he showed him being like a father ready to protect her, and was his first step back to redeeming his humanity. You felt sympathy for Ellie, and could feel her pain. In the next scene, you felt he awkwarness of Joel, not knowing what to say, because what would you say in a situation like that? It was masterfully crafted, and whether it was a rape scene originally, or was always what it was in the final product, I wouldn't want it removed.

In the course of a 2 minute scene to end out the chapter, they achieved what would take excessive amounts of exposition and dialogue, and it's questionable if it would have the same result.

That is the kind of thing normal people feel when they see such things. It doesn't make them sick or have a serious problem to want to feel those things, and have an emotional response to a story.

It's all about context, and it's not always just as black and white as rape. I'd say that more often than not, outside porn, rape, abuse, or molestation, is never portrayed flippantly, and usually has some narrative purpose. It's not always done well, and sometimes is pretty shallow. Kind of like how people were upset that child abuse was shown in Beyond. You aren't supposed to want to see it. You are supposed to be made to feel uncomfortable by it and want to take action, and through that, it illicits an emotion response.

I haven't seen the scene you speak of for this game or anime. I'm assuming by you saying it's rape, that it wasn't shown in a positive light. There is some hentai that does that, which is weird, and certainly not my thing, but it's not what's being censored from these games that are making the lists due to recent censorship, or Sony's policies.

The biggest problem I see in these discussions in the forums or among those who want to demonize those against censorship, is that they assume that those of us who play these games due so because of a sexual desire to have access to that kind of content. That's not always the case.

[CrimsonWing69]

I think you need to read the article.

[jznrpg]

People like sex less now?? I don’t believe it

[Teflon02]

I mean underaged forced sex. Don't think anyone likes that but sick pieces of crap

[Scatpants]

Never occurred in the show. Almost forced sex.

[rainslacker]

No, there are just more people who want to impose their own morality on others getting a soap box to spew their opinions, and unfortunately, the gaming industry hasn't grown the balls that the film or TV industry has to say that it's art and they aren't going to pander because they already figured out that sex sells, or that it can have a positive narrative effect if done well.

It appears the industry still believes it to be a kids toy type of thing, and the more they move towards censoring that content, the more they're going to make it that in reality, instead of in the stereotypical way it was assumed to be before.

What sad is that the industry has made great strides to bring more mature story telling, themes, and content to the games overall, many times matching or surpassing the film industries best work. Taking out sexual content, or toning it down doesn't grow narratives, or sales. It just alienates and aggravates the customers.

I don't get it, because I see more sex in TV and movies than I ever have growing up, when games were mostly cartoony and seemed to be aimed at kids. The PS1 and PS2 years pushed that out the window, and last gen we saw real advancements to mature story telling and themes in games, where it wasn't campy to have sexual content in games. Yet, the game industry seems to feel that it needs to move towards a more pure way of thinking despite the fact that there aren't gamers that are demanding that to happen. Just a bunch of people demanding that it be done, or using the reasoning that the industry can appeal to more people by doing so. But there isn't a single shred of evidence to support that these moves to remove sexual content, or be inclusive of other genders, races, or sexual preference, are causing more people to get into gaming. It's quite the opposite really, as games which get noticed for this stuff tend to have their sales be less than expected. For these kinds of games which may only sell 100-200K copies, that isn't something they can really afford to lose.

[meka2611]

Welp they are shooting themselves in the foot before the race. This censorship needs to stop.

[TheColbertinator]

That Sword Art Online arc had an episode censored when it was shown in the US.

That "underage molestation" scene

[agent4532]

This is complete utter bullshit so no more freedom of thought or creative freedom.

[rdgneoz3]

Scream it from the mountain tops, that you want to see underage molestation and rape! /s
-it was censored in the anime...

[King_Noctis]

Are we talking about cartoony anime games or real life?

[Juusterey]

You mean to accommodate oversensitive people who won't buy the game either way

[Teflon02]

You want rape of a minor in your games that much? I'd rather they censor and keep that stuff out. Neptunia Re;Birth 2 sexual assualt on Rom and Ram was already very disturbing. Knowing these ppl. They'd have some high quality art for the scene and bs. No thanks

[Juusterey]

I don't want games toned down to accommodate oversensitive pussies

[Scatpants]

If it was in the original game I want it. You can be a censorship apologist all you want though.

[rainslacker]

Yes. It was disturbing. It's supposed to be disturbing. That's the whole point in showing it. The devs aren't putting it in because it's sexually exciting, they're doing it to illicit an emotion. The average person will say that it's disturbing, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone saying that they found it titillating or exciting.

Sometimes, showing something like that, hell, even just implying it, can have a more dramatic effect on the narrative and people's connection to the characters, than a thousand lines of dialogue.

You are going around assuming wanting free expression is akin to wanting to view child porn, or that the people who buy the games are just looking for depictions of rape. You remove all context from the scene, and demonize anyone who may not find it as bad as you make it to be by taking it out of context.

I challenge you to name any game in the series mentioned here, or any mainstream game, or any mainstream movie, which depicts rape or sexual assault as something good, or something that the dev is doing for fan service.

So, please spare us your morality stance, and your shame tactics, because you are really just making yourself look like a fool, and as a gamer, you should be ashamed of yourself for condoning censorship just to feed your need to feel better about yourself. As gamers, we should be standing up against people who would interject their ideals onto the community, even if we agree with their stances, because as gamers, we should want free creative expression. At that point, we, as consumers, can decide if such things are suitable for ourselves, without having corporate overlords, or worse, vocal extremists serving their own egos, deciding for us. If the industry is so willing to fold on this kind of thing, then the target will just be something else next time. These people will not stop at sexual content, and if you allow this nonsense now, it will only enable and embolden them when they come after something you do like.

[Jrios355]

I hate current times....

[Knightofelemia]

Censor sexual jokes and change the way some female characters are dressed. But yet lofting off the head of an enemy and stabbing them to death is allowed in video games. Censor sexual jokes and yet still allows movies like 50 Shades of Grey to be rented on the PSN Store man Sony is dropping the ball.

[CatCouch]

This is becoming an issue that comes up multiple times a month now...

I think I'm done with any company that views sexual content, even in it's tamest forms, as something that has to be censored. I became an artist myself because of the inspiration I got from Japanese games. Whether it's Sony requiring it or devs/pubs self-censoring to avoid potential issues, I just won't support removing "sexiness" from games. It goes against my best interests.

I'll throw Sword Art Online onto the ever-increasing pile of games/series I've lost interest in playing. I was close to re-buying all these Sword art games on Xbox and PC to replay them. Now I have lost my drive to do so.

[Scatpants]

SJWs everybody. This is what they cause. Like nazis burning books.

[rainslacker]

Remember when people said we were being irrational talking about that slippery slope when Anita Sarkeesian and Leigh Alexander started their crusade?

What's a shame is I remember the discourse on these very topics before they entered the ring, and it was much more civil, and ultimately, productive for all parties involved. Now you can't even say you want this kind of stuff without being shamed or have your name be dragged through the mud.

[Cmoney007]

I see some people defending censorship on here, and it is probably time for Wayne Brady to choke a bitch again. How many times do I need to explain this to people? These are adult games, and people can decide if the game is for them or not. I really hate this one-way thinking about a lot of different things.

[GameBoyColor]

Whoa the adult content in the new season is what made it good. Dont take it away from the games dude!