Nintendo only lets users choose from a limited number of preset profile pictures (or custom-made Miis) for their online avatar on the Switch network. So at least one Reddit user was quite surprised to see pornographic profile pictures showing up on the user-placed balloons in Super Mario Odyssey's online "Balloon World" mode.
"The picture was changed several times over the course of my time patrolling, each picture being pornographic content," Redditor ewaison writes, including links to (censored) screenshots of the offending profile pictures in their post. "There are multiple [sic] of these balloons all being made by the same user. This is obviously intentional, and made to upset children."
With the menu installed, users can load an arbitrary 256 x 256 resolution JPG onto their SD card and use a "Change Avatar" menu option to upload that file as their profile picture. Nintendo apparently stores (and then distributes) whatever gets uploaded directly on its servers rather than using some sort of internal ID tag to denote which preset profile picture should be used.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 24 2018, @01:56PM (11 children)
Seriously, either institute an incredibly expensive moderation team or force the young into a restricted mode where one wholly controls the content.
The default oughtn't be that everything is child safe, that ought be the exception.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by LaminatorX on Sunday June 24 2018, @03:00PM (9 children)
Er, it's a Mario game. It's supposed to be a kid safe space. The problem here isn't that racy balloon pics exist, it's that some jerk is injecting them into the sort of kinder space you're describing.
(Score: 2, Informative) by NateMich on Sunday June 24 2018, @03:20PM (3 children)
I don't know about that. Most Mario fans I know are over 30 and keep buying those games over and over because of nostalgia.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday June 24 2018, @08:20PM (2 children)
That hardly matters. If they're playing a Mario game, they're not looking for porn.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday June 25 2018, @06:08AM (1 child)
You'd be bloody amazed. Anyone remember Super Princess Peach and the "Vibe Scepter?" And that throwaway line in the ending about "maybe your mother is in a good mood because she's been using it?"
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday June 25 2018, @07:12AM
Innuendo is one thing, actual porn is another.
(Score: 4, Funny) by looorg on Sunday June 24 2018, @03:25PM (3 children)
Is it a kid safe space? Mario hangs out a little to much with his "brother" and he seems to want to do unspeakable (for a kids game) things to Princess Peach. What he is doing with Yoshi I don't even want to think about.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 24 2018, @04:46PM (1 child)
> What he is doing with Yoshi I don't even want to think about.
Touching eggs is ok. TSA confirms it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 24 2018, @06:56PM
TSA isn't kid safe. ask any kid.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday June 25 2018, @06:10AM
Oh, it's weirder than that. Mario, Bowser, and Peach are involved in some kind of weird BDSM threeway and all the adventures are staged setups for Peach to work out her kidnapping fantasies. SMB3 was outright stated to be a play, if I remember right. And they all play golf, tennis, cart racing etc. on their off days. This is seriously just a bunch of idle wealthy perverts playing sex games with one another.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 24 2018, @03:27PM
Maybe they should be playing LeVar Burton's Skybrary instead?
At least, I think that's the one I'd look into for my kids.
Education is the only way to save democracy.
(Score: 2) by meustrus on Monday June 25 2018, @02:02PM
Disagree. As a parent I find there is vanishingly little interesting content I can play/watch around my kids anymore.
When things didn't have to be M/R-rated to be taken seriously, we had lots of great movies and games that were safe for kids to experience. They don't have to like Street Fighter as much as the grown ups did, but at least it wouldn't lead to difficult questions like Mortal Kombat or DOA Beach Volleyball.
And no, I don't have a problem answering difficult questions. But when I sit down to play a game, I'd rather not have to stop playing for a half an hour while I answer them.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?