20 replies to this topic

[AchikaMiyu]

The other day I got a review criticizing my inability to rate my story properly. They complained that it should have been rated T when I gave it an M rating. When I wrote the story, Women of Venus, I gave it an M rating because the story was centered around Sakura trying to get into Naruto's pants. There was no lemon or overt sexual language, but it's pretty clear that there are sexual situations. Apparently, that reviewer thought the story should have been rated T.

Am I just getting too prudish in my views on what should be rated M, or is it that readers now a days are so desensitized to sex and violence that things that should be rated M they think deserve a lower rating? Did I just overrate this story because I'm so out of touch with today's standards?

I almost feel as if the average reader is expecting too much when they read stories and they see the higher rating. Is there some unspoken rule that all M fics have to contain hardcore sex and violence?

Edited by AchikaMiyu, 10 February 2008 - 08:16 PM.

[True]

Lol I don't think you should be too worried about it. T = 13 or older while M = 16 or older.

The rating system for fanfiction is confusing and I don't think many people bother with it. If you are going to include heavy sexual innuendo than you should be safe with an M rating.

I don't know but my stories are rated M simply for language and hardcore violence. Even if you aren't writing a lemon or something, but you are implying sexual references then you should be fine with an M rating. I think your one reviewer might just have been overt in his/her thinking.

Btw, your link doesn't work.

[Denim88]

Okay, I'll be honest here. There's no real way of knowing what the standards are for M anymore as far as fanfics go...well, in my opinion at least. I've read things that I didn't know were possible in the Narutoverse...so as far as your story goes for rating, M is fine...though I guess that may a bit mellow compared to some other things. Like TrueSalvation said, don't worry about it. People will probably read it regardless of rating, but the fact that you gave it the rating you did for those reasons is good. Either way, I hope that won't deter you from working on your story! :thumbs:

[AchikaMiyu]

Lol I don't think you should be too worried about it. T = 13 or older while M = 16 or older.

The rating system for fanfiction is confusing and I don't think many people bother with it. If you are going to include heavy sexual innuendo than you should be safe with an M rating.

I don't know but my stories are rated M simply for language and hardcore violence. Even if you aren't writing a lemon or something, but you are implying sexual references then you should be fine with an M rating. I think your one reviewer might just have been overt in his/her thinking.

Yeah, I felt pretty confident in how I rated my fic. I guess my biggest gripe is whether or not readers now a days are expecting more out of higher rated fics than what should be in them. I mean, just because the fic is rated M, doesn't necessitate that there has to be a lemon or someone has to be killed in a highly grotesque manner. I know that I've read some fics that were rated T or even lower that had graphic lemons or crude violence. Is this some trend or just an abundance of inexperienced writers?

Btw, your link doesn't work.

Fixed. :thumbs:

[Denim88]

Huzaah!!! I shall start reading!

[Nick Soapdish]

I think it was rated correctly.

I would've felt very uncomfortable explaining to anyone why I thought it was appropriate material for a 13-year old child.

[jim1982]

I know when i started reading fanfiction on FF.net, Lemons weren't allowed at all, that was what adultfanfiction.net was for.

I honestly belive a M rating is valid for any story that would be a R rated movie like, swear alot, any type of adult content(sexual references, and themes) heavy violence not generally part of the manga or anime(Naruto gets pissed, enters Kyuubi state, and slaughters someone) or such cases were rape is mention.

T i belive would be like what you would find in the manga or anime maybe a "what the hell?" or something that is swearing but not um Hidan worthy


K and K+ are ones where I ain't sure many people that read fanfiction enjoy anyway. espessially in Naruto where the general concepts are coming of age and dealing with life as a ninja (try writing a story about a soilder in a war zone and make it simplified for someone 5 and up can understand)

[Wilson]

Well, rating it M is pretty much safe for sexual situations. T = around 15 i reckon. Teenagers. M = sexual stuff, swearing etc. No biggie.

[Vyse]

I usually rate my stories after how graphic the story is. I think that we would be stupid to think that the mention of sex justifies an M rating in our days, since kids know about this stuff, and they have heard most swearwords and even use words I haven't heard before myself. The times change fast, and if you're over 16 now, I'd say the younger generations and yours already has a gap between them filled with various innuendo and information we didn't have at that age ourself. When rating a fic, the use of "bad words" like kitten and damn for instance does not justify an M rating, but neither does mentioning that your characters may or may not have had sexual releations with eachoter.

When rating a story, I'd say the level of how graphic your story is. If you write gory scenes wich you strive to make as graphic as possible, and you write graphic sex scenes where you describe movements, explains anatomy and how it is manipulated in your lemons, and very very dirty language... I'd say you might rate it M. However, kids see titts and ass on the tv every day, and thinking that because a kid is 13 years old he doesn't know about sex... well it makes me laugh, since that makes you naïve and too cute for words as you live there in your little fantasy world with pink fluffy clouds and world peace.

But of course, its all a matter about how picky you are about this stuff.. Religion might also fall into play, since some religions don't look too kindly on their children reading about two people going at it like rabbits in heat. Instead of a rating system, I would have added a warning like "Warning: This story might contain graphic scenes of sexual nature/gore."

Then again, if you feel like your story justifies an M rating, and that you want people to know that you might have a pottymouth, its all up to you what to rate it, and you should not let what one reviewer think get on your shoulders.

[Onionhead Attacks]

Well, I've never written anything around those subject lines... so I've managed to escape the ratings problem.

However, back then... like a few years ago... fanfiction.net was still hosting lemon and lime fanfiction and they were given the NC-17 and R ratings. Well, that was when they were still going by the G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17 scale. Of course there was a warning/permission pop-up asking about the reader's age before they were allowed to view the story, though it was rather pathetic if you ask me... Anyways, after they banned lemons people started labeling their lemons as R to get around the rules. Shortly after I think, if memory serves me right, they changed the rating system to what we know now, K, K+, T, and M. Even then some people are still posting their lemons as M when they should be MA.

I think your reviewer was thinking along the lines of M = lemon and T= anything with sexual content, while not actually a lemon. Either that or your reviewer needs to think about the rating scale a bit more.

P.S. I've been around fanfiction.net since late 1999 so I've seen most of the phases that it has gone through. Even its Original fiction and colorful phases XD. I'm sure there are few others here that has been around ff.net as long as me.

[Nick Soapdish]

So if M=lemon, what does an MA=?

As I understand it, lemons mean that they're graphically explicit and the limes are the softer stuff. So is MA = XXX?

[True]

So if M=lemon, what does an MA=?

As I understand it, lemons mean that they're graphically explicit and the limes are the softer stuff. So is MA = XXX?

There is no MA on Fanfiction. The highest you can go is M.

[Onionhead Attacks]

So if M=lemon, what does an MA=?

As I understand it, lemons mean that they're graphically explicit and the limes are the softer stuff. So is MA = XXX?

Since M used to = R and MA = NC-17/lemon... right now I have the slightest clue after all the rating messing people have done. So if I were to assume, I'd call it a super lemon that would have you knocked out for a few weeks and have a massive nosebleed?

[jim1982]

Yea i was shocked after i went back to reading stuff on FF.net (I used to read Danny Phantom fanfics on there like 5 or so years ago) Then i can't remember if there was a big deal on the ratings system because if it featured lemons or strong sexual content or strong violence or language, it was suspoce to go on adultfanfiction.net

Now I see the same stories posted on both sites from time to time (though AFF.net has no filters for anything so ya get all the popular pairings and all sorts of stuff, though kaksaku is popular on AFF.net)


so yea I think now days one can find lemons in T rated stuff on FF.net (I have and was like "WTF? i thought this was teen!") so in a way, it almost seems that the rating system on FF.net is more or less a warning like "You should be save reading this but it might be rated way off base"

on a side note: I have seen swearing in K+ fics and found M rated fics that had no swearing, violence, leamons or limes. just some light fluff(he kissed her and they were happy stuff) so yea draw your own conclusions on that lol

[jim1982]

I honestly have no clue on how the citrus fruits go I even heard of an orange in a story once though i bet some people think we are talking about making fruit juice lol

[AchikaMiyu]

God, I'd hate to think what sort of standards will be the norm in a few years when my daughter's old enough to use the computer. I guess it just goes to show that kids will find ways to bypass any sort of warning or filters. And that's what warnings really are, warnings. Just because someone says that you shouldn't do something doesn't mean that they're not going to do it. Heck, half the M fics these days are written by 13 year olds with no clue anyways. Which makes me wonder which is worse, those who are underage reading heavy M fics or those writing them?

In conclusion, I'm just getting old. :shamefulcry0js:

[jim1982]

You and me both Achika lol

At least there is some authors out there that are older than 16 writing good fics and are properly rated, of course i am refereing to the ones that reside in these forums, to many to thank personally though lol

[MelisaArtemis]

I think T are for stories that are mostly for people around the age 13 to 15. Violence, Sex innuendo, and slight cursing comes in this rating.

While M are stories for people with more mature mmind like about 17 and above. Graphic Violence, Sexual situations (not necessarry Lemon), and Heavy cursing like M-fcker, stfub should be in the stories.