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Back to the original question though, what makes a mature game?
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Moral decisions, for one. Politics, Economics .
It's simple really, I am a 28 year "adult" The difference between me today and me 15 years ago is that I still enjoy doing much of the same things. I enjoy drinking, I enjoy chasing girls and I enjoy watching something blow up and putting myself in Harms way. When I was 15 I did all this without fear are acknowledgment of repercussions. Whatever happens happens, now I have consequence that I must consider. If I make a little bomb and blow up a garbage can I'll likely achieve the same sense of satisfaction that I did as a 15 year old, except that I face the law and I might injure myself and be unable to work,then I can't pay my bills etc etc.
Eve is the only game I have played really lately that deals with issues that are generally delegated to the side of maturity, entering this system will likely result in your death if you haven't talked to the right people, doing this results in this etc etc. Basically every action demands a reaction from the fellow player base, so anyone that mindless runs around doing what they please like a mindless teenager is going to face serious consequences in the game world and won't find it welcoming or fun. That pretty much defines a mature game for me. I wouldn't say Age of Conan relays these things but who knows once player cities are formed, we'll have to see how the community develops.
In my mind Everquest was a mature game in that you had to behave a certain way within the confines of your community, lest you be labeled a ninja,loot whore or whatever other labled and be shunned by the populace. It had consequences.
By that same token WoW is about as immature a game as you'll find in the current crop. There is no consequence to your actions within the game world at all. It's a fucking train wreck. And it's what has finally put me off of the game, I have been playing a few of it's competitors games that I only looked at briefly in the last few years like EQ 2 and have found a surprisingly solid supportive community that looks out for each other and their respective servers and it altogether makes for a much more mature tolerable experience online, while still having avenues for mindless fun ,when planned accordingly.
The actual content of the game doesn't matter, to a point obviously Hello kitty online isn't going to fall into the category,but all the serious subject matter in the world won't make the game mature if everyone in it is a fucking douchbag. See GTA which has already been pointed out. Mature single player game, but jump onto X box live? your mature game just took a strip to shithead ville fast.
