Tera publisher responds to fan petition over censorship

The publisher behind forthcoming fantasy MMO Tera has responded to the angry fan response earlier this week to news that the European version had been censored to secure a 12+ age rating.

A lengthy forum post from Frogster's community manager assured players that the publisher had been taking the complaints seriously.

"We want to let you know that we heard your message, loud and clear. We sincerely ask you to understand that we take all these issues very seriously," he wrote.

"As you have all noticed, the blood effect slider was removed from the OBT client. We want first of all to apologise to you for not communicating this change as it should have been. We understand the importance of being transparent with our community."

He then confirmed that Frogster has decided to reinstate the aforementioned slider, via a post-launch patch due in May.

"The European release version of the game will still have to be slightly different from the North American and Korean build: the only threat to our 12+ classification was the blood splattered on your screen when you are slaying certain monsters. This effect is slightly modified in the European version," he added.

Raven also clarified why changes had been made to the appearance of the game's Elin race.

"[It was] not to comply with a demand from any official board, but because those characters in particular could have attracted to the game a population of unsavoury users, and it is part of our responsibility to protect our younger audiences from them," he explained.

"All partners involved in the project decided to ask Bluehole Studios for a solution, so they created new textures and designs for Elin wear. We are sure you all agree that this effort for child protection was the right thing to do. We all did, here, at Frogster."

A quick Google image search for the above should confirm that Frogster made a pretty good call there.

Finally, Raven also explained the guild emblem feature hasn't been cancelled, as some fans had suggested. It's currently looking at a solution for ensuring offensive content doesn't make it online, and hopes to add it back in at a later date.

"All the solutions we come up with would need an intervention of the developer at some point of the process. It might take some time, but we are already working on it."

Today is the last day of the game's open beta session, with the game's full launch scheduled for next month.