Tera, which is currently in an open-beta mode (ends tomorrow April 24th), is a mature-rated game within the US. In Europe, the game is currently 12+ but the publisher has said that they have made cuts to the game for the European version in order to get such a rating.
“We, as members of the Tera community, feel that this time you have crossed the line,” reads the petition’s manifesto. “The community was patient for a very, very long time with your incompetence and childish games. You have played with the boundries [sic] of how much the community can take. Count in all the false information that was given to us. False because now you are changing almost each one of your previous statements.”
Players are upset particularly with the decision to tone down the level of blood from the game. Apparently Frogster vowed not to cut the European version, but has now changed its mind.
The lead community manager, Raven, has stated that the slider to adjust the level of blood in the game has been removed with the latest build.
“This step was sadly necessary due to some changes which were introduced in the latest content update for Tera, which increased the amount of blood on certain details. Thus, we faced an issue with our current age rating, which is 12+ for Europe.
“Therefore, it was necessary to remove the level of detail slider for the blood aspect in Tera and set this to a fixed value. You’ll still see blood in Tera, but the amount of blood will be reduced and won’t stay on the ground. Also some minor effects like blood splatters against the screen will be replaced by another effect. Please be aware that we were already producing the box and pre-selling copies of the game with the active rating of 12+, so this was the only possible solution at this point.
“We’re sorry to inform you about this now and not when the OBT patch notes were released, but the situation occurred with the latest additions to Tera and this [sic] are the reason why we needed to remove the slider for the blood factor and set it to a fixed value.”
Fans are not happy about this change and have threatened to cancel pre-orders or play on the US servers instead.