Nintendo is a company that has become synonymous with “child friendly”. To some people, this has been thrown around like it’s supposed to be an insult, but it’s a reputation Nintendo are proud to have due to the all-age appeal of some of their franchises, such as Mario and Pokémon. They are a company that encourages families to come together, sit in the same room and play together. This distinction though has caused a few problems as of late for Satoru Iwata and the rest of the gang at the company’s Kyoto headquarters, as I’m sure fans are all aware of:
- Nintendo eShop Restrictions
The first of such problems was that when the Wii U system came alongside the console’s launch. Due to strict regulations in Germany (where Nintendo of Europe is based), content that was rated PEGI 18 could only be purchased by European gamers between 11pm and 3am – which as you can imagine, was rather inconvenient for people who are actually over 18 and say, would need to get to bed early so that they can leave for work the following morning. Fortunately, this restriction was lifted back in April 2013, meaning us older gamers can enjoy both mature rated games and a good night sleep.
- Nintendo Letter Box
Back in 2012, Nintendo launched the Letter Box service (known in America as Swapnote). Letter Box allowed users to draw messages or attach photographs to “letters” that would be sent to users on your friend list. In November last year, the service was abruptly discontinued after a small number of cases emerged in Nintendo’s native Japan, where children were posting their Friend Codes online and it well…attracted the attention of some rather deplorable people who used the service as a means to send children “inappropriate messages”. Due to the common usage of Letter Box and the knock-on effect this controversy has had, this remains one of the most controversial examples.
- Flipnote Studio 3D
Before the infamous “When will Pokémon Bank be released?” cries started at the end of last month, the big question was about when Nintendo would release their Flipnote 3D service outside of Japan. It was released in Japan last July and was meant to be released internationally in August until it was delayed indefinitely due to unexpectedly high usage. However, once the Letter Box incident occurred, Nintendo also removed the application’s Friend Gallery, which allowed 3DS friends to share their creations with each other (likely to avoid people moving on from Letter Box and using that service instead).
For reasons unknown, the service still has yet to be released internationally but the timing with Letter Box can’t be ignored.
- Miiverse
Last month, Nintendo’s Miiverse service arrived on the 3DS along with Nintendo Network ID support. Unlike the Wii U version of the social service though, users aren’t allowed to send messages directly to each other or add each other as friends using Nintendo Network IDs – and Nintendo have really clamped down on people posting their friend codes in the service, regardless of their age.
So it has been pretty well established that Nintendo takes its responsibilities in regards to child protection very seriously. However, there is one problem with Miiverse: Communities can be accessed by anyone regardless of the game’s age rating or even the user’s region. This means that minors can access the communities for mature rated games and some of which allow players to post gameplay screenshots. Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge is one example, where users can post photos of anything from Ayane’s jiggling breasts to soldiers having their limbs cut off and being stabbed through the back. Some games though, like Pokemon X and Pokémon Y, don’t let users upload photos. Earlier today, I was browsing through Miiverse on my 3DS and came across a particular community – that for the Japanese-only, CERO-D (17+) rated High School DxD game.
For some history, High School DxD is a visual novel/erotic battle adventure game based on an anime franchise of the same name. Itself based on a series of light novels, the ecchi-harem (think soft core porn) anime’s story centres around an extremely pervert high school boy called Issei Hyodo, who after almost being killed by a fallen angel on his first date, finds himself resurrected by the well-endowed devil Rias Gremory, who informs him that she is now his master. Issei is then introduced into his high school’s Occult Research Club – which is actually a cover Rias uses for her small band of fellow demons. The second season of the anime aired in Japan last year, with this game being released last month. Personally, I am a huge fan of the series and jumped in joy when I found out that the first series would be released in the UK this year (don’t judge me – I know what you get up to). However, as someone who has a younger brother with a 3DS, stumbling upon the game’s community purely by accident was rather alarming. I was concerned about just how easy it would be for a minor to access this community and others that allow screenshots to be posted. Fortunately, the High School DxD community is on the fifth page of the Japanese section, but is that really enough protection (especially for minors in Japan)?
Here are a few examples of screenshots posted to the community (and before anyone asks, no the boobs were not in 3D – the 3D was mainly about bringing the text box forward).
Of course, High School DxD is not the only game with such a rating available on a Nintendo platform and I by no means want to single it out – the Wii U has quite a handful of games that contain content that wouldn’t be appropriate for children and the 3DS also has a selection (such as Senran Kagura Burst which was recently released in North America – and actually lacks a Miiverse community in any region). Nintendo do a really thorough job with monitoring user activity on Miiverse, but I do feel that allowing users to post screenshots of games over a certain age rating could be quite the oversight – imagine a young child casually browsing Miiverse at home, only for their parent to walk in and see one of the images above. I would fully understand if Nintendo implemented a policy that games over a certain rating couldn’t have screenshots posted, but as a user of Miiverse myself I would also witness the disadvantage of such a decision first hand – being able to post a screenshot of your in-game location and say “I’m stuck here – help please?” has really saved my bacon on many occasions.
Perhaps a possible solution could be a “Restricted Communities” section of Miiverse that only appears for users who have registered Nintendo Network IDs over the age of 18? Another idea could be that certain titles simply do not appear in general listings, only being able to be accessed by the opening Miiverse while the game is open (and accessed later by saving the community as a “Favourite”).
What do you think? Do you think Nintendo are doing enough to protect minors, or do you think they need to do more?
