No toning down of Age of Conan's mature content, says new director

Remember the debates about whether Age of Conan was being slowly and stealthily stripped of its mature content? So do we. Some nights we still wake up screaming, haunted by visions of lithe Stygian dancers replaced by family-friendly Teletubbies. We thought those days of speculation and hysteria were gone, but apparently the changes to the succubus model, the rejigged Black Pyramid, and the addition of au naturel Derketo worshipers outside said structure weren't enough to quell the rumors.

Now new game director Craig Morrison, who has taken on the role following the resignation of Guate Godager, has addressed the players directly on this issue. He gets props from us for doing this at all; a product director who actually talks to the player base is far more likely to do a good job than one who leaves that job to intermediaries.

Craig confirms that AoC was never going to be 'adults only', just as senior dialog writer Aaron Dembski-Bowden told us several months ago, but that 'the themes that come out through the quests and dialog that the team have written is very adult and does tackle some mature subjects really well'. This is how it's going to continue, and there is no question of Age of Conan 'toning down' its approach.

While this is good news, Craig doesn't mention two subjects that many of the players have brought up repeatedly, namely drunken brawling and in-game brothels. The former, at least, are reportedly in the game already, just not active. Depending on which reports you believe, this is either because they weren't yet working properly, or because they weren't yet fun enough, or because the former game director didn't like the idea. While drunken brawling may seem daft to some, we reckon many Age of Conan players would gain even more respect for Craig Morrison if it was put firmly back on the agenda.