Perhaps as a warmup for the first-ever mature-rated MMORPG, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, I wanted to taste what's to be gained from so-called mature ratings. The closed beta test for Requiem: Bloodymare just blew its doors wide open, and that's a mature-rated MMORPG as well (which might beat Age of Conan to owning that "First-Ever M-Rated MMO" title if Requiem can get out the gates before May 20th), so I figured some common grounds might be drawn between the two.
I yoinked one of the 5,000 free beta keys passed out at MMORPG.com at the end of the work week and began the hours-long download process. It was such a relief to find easy-access entry into a beta, whereas Age of Conan has people on standby literally praying to get into the testbed. I love the existence of robust digital download stores, but it's an exercise in patiently-delayed pleasure -- much like the Karma Sutra, or wondering if Battlestar Galactica can hold any conversation about Athiesm and Monotheism without reducing it down to a hair-pulling playground spat. (I swear that for every one thing that show does right, it embarassingly screws up another.)
But I'm in, and the buzz beforehand had already labeled Requiem as a horror-themed world, replete with sutchered-up head wounds, stitched-together bad guys, a bloody blanket coating enemies as you hack away at them, and a minimum of one (possibly two) limbs and/or heads tumbling off in different bouncy directions from each deathblow. Oh, and enemies twitch around a lot (a lot) before the finally keel over, too. When I landed my very first kill I thought it was simply a graphical glitch, or some hyper-exagerrated ragdoll physics that were the culprit, but no. In Requiem things just don't die in a pretty, dignified manner. Much like I imagine might happen in real life. Hey! This must be a mature title!
Another element contributing to the level of 'maturity' would be nudity, though I think topless women probably counts as 'nudity' in the end, and -- being a game drawn up with Korean artistry (think Lineage 2 or Rappelz) -- there's plenty of smooth, taut skin on both males and female heroes, clad in little more than a grimmace and a little buckled-on leather. I haven't had the pleasure of running across any horrifically-mangled mammaries as of yet, but if this official screenshot is any indication, maybe I'm not missing anything too sensual. Snake eyes for nipples? There's gotta be some kind of frat joke around that.
But when people from the Western Hemisphere start discussing repetitive gameplay in an MMORPG like World of Warcraft or EverQuest 2, they have no idea what 'repetitive' truly means until they've taken on an Asian MMO. In fact, when discussing the level of 'grind' found in an online game, they're discussed as either a simple-enough 'grind' or as a 'Korean grind.' A Korean grind is the Kim-Chee spiced cabage to, say, World of Warcraft's mayonaise-thickened cole slaw. The Korean grind is the kind of gameplay that (somehow) crazy-glues certain people to their computers for prohibitive lengths of time, and then has them collapse the moment they stand back up from the computer three days later. That's the kind of grind you also get from Requiem. A Korean grind. And that's a horrific enough world for me.