In The Witcher 3 we control the witcher Geralt and his foster daughter Ciri. The role play of the Polish developer CD Projekt Red also includes scenes in which the player characters with little clothing or even almost naked to be shown.
As the developers explained to us in a livestream on MAX, Geralt and Ciri did well consciously decided against depicting her completely naked. Geralt's bare butt is the highest of the feelings, while Ciri is shown in underwear and with a bandage that covers her breast.
Here you can take a look at the position on MAX at 01:22:50, which also raises an exciting question:
Why are the NPCs allowed to be completely naked?
In the gameplay scene shown, we as Ciri were saved by nice people on the island of Skellige and can relax together with the locals in a sauna. While protagonist Ciri with one Bandage as a fig leaf walking around, the NPCs sit completely naked in the sauna.
Geralt is also not completely naked in other scenes, the primary genitals are never visible. But why did CD Projekt Red choose to design Witcher 3 without completely naked main characters?
Part of the answer is provided by Quest Designer Phillip Weber from CD Projekt in the video: According to this, there is a network complicated restrictionsin all countries where you want to publish a game.
Upon request, Fabian Mario Doehla from CD Projekt went into detail about the problem:
"I can only say it from past projects: The moment you have (active) control, it is always evaluated differently."
Here they play Rating systems in different countries
Carolin Wendt from CD Projekt Red confirms what Doehla says: It's always about your own activity, so that we control the naked person ourselves. This is particularly important when evaluating a game:
"The moment players act, the action is assigned a higher role and accordingly there is a greater risk of impairment."
“Impairment” means the psychological development of young people, which is under special protection both in German law and at the USK.
more on the subject
The Witcher 3 – the design: This is how the Open World works
The USK comments
We also asked the USK accordingly. The statements of the deputy managing director Lorenzo von Petersdorff coincide with the explanation of CD Projekt Red. Von Petersdorff explained that Nudity per se »no direct relevance to youth media protection law« have.
Rather, the context is crucial:
"If undressed people are depicted in a sexual or violent context, a development-impairing – in extreme cases even a youth-endangering and therefore relevant to indexing – is quite possible."
It also plays a role in the USK's test criteria, "whether the player himself or the NPCs are not wearing clothes." The Witcher 3 ultimately has an age label »From 18 years« receive. The role-playing game contains explicit depictions of violence, controversial topics such as racism and numerous sex scenes.
Already in relatively liberal Germany there are good reasons why CD Projekt Red did without completely naked protagonists – probably also to prevent any problems in the evaluation of the USK and other test centers.
