Its a shame that most adults still have an entrenched view of games as children’s toys. The moment I heard a woman discussing the newly released Xbox 360 as “this toy” I realized that MS’s marketing strategy had failed to breach the mainstream. The sad truth is that even Facade has been slow to circulate, even amoung intelligent, open-minded adults who would be honestly interested.

When I go to slamdance its going to be with a title that relates directly to issues young people can appreciate. Most of the ideas I have are most directly marketable to the 12-25 market, though I’d like to think they shred the gender boundary better than most commercial industry titles. Its possible that before games and interactive drama catches on as respectable in the Time magazine venue, someone (maybe me) is going to have to attack the youth market angle. I’ll try not to sell-out in the process.

In the meantime, we really ought to do something about the ESRB. As you aptly point out, Micheal, the rating system is highly lop-sided, which is reflective of American culture and the nation’s history of violence and sexual repression. If I make a game which treats sexuality honestly, but has little to no violence, I’ll get a harsher rating than a game involving thousands of simulated deaths, but not a single nipple.