An interesting New York Times article about the cult game Dwarf Fortress. It actually refers to a post I made on Metafilter several years ago about the game.

“For the record, I don’t have a problem with any of the violence or language on ‘Game of Thrones,’ either; it’s set in a Dungeons and Dragons-flavored version of Hobbes’ State of Nature, and as such, we should expect to see elemental human activities depicted often, and with gusto, and if we have a problem with that, we shouldn’t be watching. I just find it grimly amusing that, for whatever reason, sex and nudity must be handled with special care, and must always be ‘necessary’ and utterly unimpeachable in their presentation, yet profanity and violence are rarely held to such such standards. This is America’s Puritan mentality coming home to roost in criticism. Closeups of throats being slit and limbs being lopped off are an expected part of R-rated entertainment aimed at adult viewers, and not even worthy of comment. But nudity and sex must be ‘justified.’”

Probably won’t settle this silliness, but worth reading.