Hobbit
Senior Member
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/fun.games/01/27/video.game.lawsuit.ap/index.html
Ever since the stupid "hot coffee" fiasco over "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," everyone's been in an uproar. Apparantly, the game creators put a, get this, clothes on sex scene in the game, but decided to cut it before release. Like many in the gaming industry, they took a shortcut and locked it out rather than delete it entirely and modify the code accordingly (you be surprised how much coding it can take just to erase a few lines in the middle). With the content still there, it was possible to use a few tricks and third party software to unlock this mild bit of sex. Once this came to light, they immediately got upgraded from a rating of "M" (mature) to a rating of "AO" (adults only), which is basically the difference between "R" and "NC-17" rated movies. Ever since, they've been slapped with lawsuits from everybody the judge will listen to who says they 'snuck' in the sex scene right under everybody's noses because they're moral degenerates and need to be punished.
Ok, so here's my beef.
1) Why should I even care? The thing's an "M" rated game full of hookers, guns, drugs, and some of pretty intense violence and language. So, I'd like to know, how many people were playing this game, minding their own business, having sex with hookers for the extra health, then killing them for the money, and then saw this brief, lame, non-graphic sex scene that requires a fair bit of intentional hacking to unlock and were permanently traumatized by what they saw? The thing's notorious about being the most graphic game that's actually worth playing. That's like claiming you were eating a bag of crap and were suddenly traumatized from biting into an undersalted peanut. Ok, maybe that's a bit extreme, but you get the idea.
2) Why the double standard? Every few years, the MPAA gets bolder with its rating system. They allowed a bare breast in the PG-13 movie, "Titanic," which was previously unheard of. A couple of years later, you could say the f word in a PG-13 movie. Whenever I see this happened, I'm pretty shocked, not because I've never heard it, but because I didn't expect it in a movie with this rating. That is, of course, why they do it...shock value. A clothes on sex scene is also pretty mild compared to what's shown on cable, or even local TV now. You can see plenty of "under the covers" sex with all the moaning and thrusting you'd expect so long as you watch after 8pm. Why then, is a video game crucified for not fully removing a mild sex scene even though you have to hack the game to get to it? It's evidently the same mentality that allows somebody to sue when they cut themselves on the razorwire on the fence they were climbing after the boosted themselves up on the "no tresspassing" sign.
3) Does anybody who actually owns the game care? I've seen so many people coming down on this game, but one group is severely lacking...those who actually own the game. Apparantly, those who bought this game didn't really care about the sex scene, and are as pissed about the whole matter as Rockstar is. So, I must ask, on what grounds are these morons suing? They weren't damaged.
Personally, I see people coming down on GTA all the time, starting with those whiney minority groups who objected to the characters using actual street talk by referring to the gangs by their racial makeup (the infamous "Kill the Hatians" line). Truth be told, it's fun, and those who buy it don't get it to watch cuddly bunny rabbits teach them to add. People who buy it know what they're getting, and they don't need some fat cat lawyers to sue their favorite game company to death over something they don't even care about. What's next, suing Hooters because one girl was a little cold on the serving floor?
Ever since the stupid "hot coffee" fiasco over "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," everyone's been in an uproar. Apparantly, the game creators put a, get this, clothes on sex scene in the game, but decided to cut it before release. Like many in the gaming industry, they took a shortcut and locked it out rather than delete it entirely and modify the code accordingly (you be surprised how much coding it can take just to erase a few lines in the middle). With the content still there, it was possible to use a few tricks and third party software to unlock this mild bit of sex. Once this came to light, they immediately got upgraded from a rating of "M" (mature) to a rating of "AO" (adults only), which is basically the difference between "R" and "NC-17" rated movies. Ever since, they've been slapped with lawsuits from everybody the judge will listen to who says they 'snuck' in the sex scene right under everybody's noses because they're moral degenerates and need to be punished.
Ok, so here's my beef.
1) Why should I even care? The thing's an "M" rated game full of hookers, guns, drugs, and some of pretty intense violence and language. So, I'd like to know, how many people were playing this game, minding their own business, having sex with hookers for the extra health, then killing them for the money, and then saw this brief, lame, non-graphic sex scene that requires a fair bit of intentional hacking to unlock and were permanently traumatized by what they saw? The thing's notorious about being the most graphic game that's actually worth playing. That's like claiming you were eating a bag of crap and were suddenly traumatized from biting into an undersalted peanut. Ok, maybe that's a bit extreme, but you get the idea.
2) Why the double standard? Every few years, the MPAA gets bolder with its rating system. They allowed a bare breast in the PG-13 movie, "Titanic," which was previously unheard of. A couple of years later, you could say the f word in a PG-13 movie. Whenever I see this happened, I'm pretty shocked, not because I've never heard it, but because I didn't expect it in a movie with this rating. That is, of course, why they do it...shock value. A clothes on sex scene is also pretty mild compared to what's shown on cable, or even local TV now. You can see plenty of "under the covers" sex with all the moaning and thrusting you'd expect so long as you watch after 8pm. Why then, is a video game crucified for not fully removing a mild sex scene even though you have to hack the game to get to it? It's evidently the same mentality that allows somebody to sue when they cut themselves on the razorwire on the fence they were climbing after the boosted themselves up on the "no tresspassing" sign.
3) Does anybody who actually owns the game care? I've seen so many people coming down on this game, but one group is severely lacking...those who actually own the game. Apparantly, those who bought this game didn't really care about the sex scene, and are as pissed about the whole matter as Rockstar is. So, I must ask, on what grounds are these morons suing? They weren't damaged.
Personally, I see people coming down on GTA all the time, starting with those whiney minority groups who objected to the characters using actual street talk by referring to the gangs by their racial makeup (the infamous "Kill the Hatians" line). Truth be told, it's fun, and those who buy it don't get it to watch cuddly bunny rabbits teach them to add. People who buy it know what they're getting, and they don't need some fat cat lawyers to sue their favorite game company to death over something they don't even care about. What's next, suing Hooters because one girl was a little cold on the serving floor?
