Art of War
As the Hot Coffee fiasco began to reach dizzying heights of silliness, I decided to play a little game of, erm, I'm not even sure what this would be considered. Part of the game plan was to see if Jack Thompson would take my bait, and launch an attack against EA. The goal of this, however, was not to embarrass Mr. Thompson, by any means, but rather divert some of the media/political circus away from ourselves (the mod community), and away from GTA in general. The reason for choosing The Sims 2 for this little experiment is because it was such an easily defendable target. I mean, who on earth would really take such allegations against The Sims seriously? This is a game with probably the largest stake in the ever-elusive "soccer mom" market, so of the "troops" Thompson would generally rally against a game are, in part, already players who would know better. 'Twas a risky bet, but, hey, I'm not a big fan of EA's treatment of developers, so, whatever.
This, of course, brings me to my second reason for targeting The Sims via proxy. Wherever Jack and I may disagree, there's one belief we both share: That the sexual content in The Sims is just as "bad" as that of Hot Coffee. However unlike Jack, I feel that both of them are about as shocking as a dead battery (see also: ESRB Ratings System Explained). So, by attempting to focus the rage of a boob-shocked America onto The Sims, I hoped the media (gaming and otherwise) would let out a collective "pffft", and blow this of as the sensationalism that it is. I was right. And with subsequent and total lack of interest in the content of The Sims 2 which is on par with that of Hot Coffee, the theory which I was trying to prove made itself painfully clear. That is, the content itself in Hot Coffee wasn't and isn't the issue, but instead we have people in the media, politics, and the industry who could care less about the content, and are only interested in scapegoating and finger-pointing at Rockstar. Hooray for double standards, though, I might add that at least Jack has been consistent across the board. Unlike some in the gaming press who feigned offense at Hot Coffee even though they know there's far worse out there, but we'll get to that in a moment...
Without further adieu, the e-mails. From the start, I knew I had to play it kind of dumb so as to not give away my identity as a gamer. Otherwise Jack would have just deleted the message. As you'll notice in the messages, I tried to use as much "outsider" terminology as possible, and little quirks here and there such as calling SanAn "Grand theft Auto3: San Andreas". I swear that last bit is like a secret handshake amongst the uniformed anti-gamers. 'Tis also worth pointing out that I made every effort to be truthful outside of the covert nature of the false identity. While liberal use of hyperbole was made throughout, especially in relation to my level of offense, nothing I said was a lie. The language was merely crafted to fit Jack Thompson's expectations on what he thinks people should think. And, yes, I really am a concerned uncle; concerned at what kind of world the younger generation may be forced to live in should government and lawyers be allowed to start ripping away the rest of our rights.
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 18:51:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Albert Mackenzie"
To: "Jack Thompson"
Hello Mr. Thomspson, First off, congratulations to you and your colleagues on the victory against Take2 Interactive and their cronies at the ESRB! My reason for writing today is in hopes that you can use the media attention which is currently on this issue to highlight an even more disturbing case within the video-game "industry". A case which has recieved virtually no media attention, yet is potentially more harmful to children than the smut concealed within Grand Theft Auto3: San Andreas.
The game of which I speak of is called The Sims 2, which if you're unfamiliar with, allows players to control the lives of little simulated people. During the course of gameplay, players must feed their simulated people, send them off to work, bathe them, make them interact with others, have them use the toilet, and raise simulated families. Among the interactions found in the game right off the shelf are mature situations including "skinny dipping" in hot tubs, heavy fondling, and sex- both heterosexual and homosexual.
Since the game is rated "Teen", the game uses a simple pixilated blur to cover the naughty bits whenever characters use the bathroom, bathe, or have sexual relations. This is the same type of blur one would see on the TV program "COPS" to disguise the faces of bystanders. However, with a single file which is widely available on the internet, this blur can be removed, allowing players to witness all the explicit details!
Not only does this let players see naked characters up close while they are showering or fooling around in a hot tub, but perhaps most despicably, it also reveals naked children! All of this content is part of the original game, and is as easily accessible by kids as the trash in the "Hot Coffee" program which has dominated the news lately.
To make matters worse, sales figures show that the games in this series are the number-one selling PC games of all time. Just imagine how many copies of this thinly veiled interactive pornography were bought by parents who thought the "Teen" rating made it safe for their kids.
Thanks in advance, good luck, and Godspeed,
A concerned uncle
Hook, line, sinker....
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 07:49:10 -0400
From: "Jack Thompson"
To: "Albert Mackenzie"
Sir, I will proceed on this immediately if you will direct to some source that can prove this, so that I can point to it to the authorities. Please advise as soon as possible.
After getting his attention with that, I cordially dug up and sent some links to him. In the interest of fairness, I tossed him a few links to info about games which have sexual content to make HC look like Harry freakin' Potter which he could use to stir the pot. All of which are rated M. All of which were all but ignored by even the gaming media when they jumped on the anti-Rockstar bandwagon, even after some of them reviewed the games. At this point I wasn't sure whether Jack would go all the way with The Sims after seeing the info for himself, so at the very least maybe he would inadvertently help point out the hypocrisy by blasting these other games.
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 08:07:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Albert Mackenzie"
To: "Jack Thompson"
Hello again, Thank you sir for your swift reply!
As you have requested, I have found some links regarding the offending material. After trying a few searches, these were found on the first page of results from Yahoo.com and Google.com using the text "sims 2 nude patch". Be forewarned, some of these links contain offensive material.
http://www.fleshbot.com/archives/sims-2-sex-and-porn-022820.php
http://gr.bolt.com/download/pc/sim/sims_2_nude.htm
http://www.snootysims.com/patch.php
There are literally hundreds more where these came from, including tips on how to unlock pornography on TV game-console versions of the games, found by searching for "cheats", as seen here:
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/strategy/thesimsbustinout/hints.html#Glitches
While reading up on what these developers are selling as "games", a few other obscene titles which are only rated "M" came to my attention. One of them, entitled "God of War" for the Sony Play Station 2 appears to have interactive sexual scenes with naked women which are accessible via "cheat codes":
http://www.gamepro.com/sony/ps2/games/cheats/44839.shtml
Then there is a product which purports itslef as a bicycle racing game, yet contains naked female cyclists and DVD video clips of actual strippers. Further information and photographs can be seen here:
http://cube.ign.com/objects/017/017510.html
Thirdly, there is a title by the name of "Playboy: The Mansion", which, as you might guess by the name, is based upon the adult magazine. More on this twisted combination of pornography and video-games can be seen here:
http://ps2.ign.com/objects/497/497001.html
Thank you for your time, and for anything you can do to shed light on what the so-called "game industry" is up to.
Wow. Just wow. Now, we all know Jack can be quite excitable sometimes, but this took the cake. (I removed his phone number out of common courtesy, otherwise, none of these e-mails have been edited aside from xhtml formatting)
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 11:41:23 -0400
From: "Jack Thompson"
To: "Albert Mackenzie"
please tell me, asap, if the below is correct:
Immediate News Release - July 22, 2005 Most Popular Video Game in History-Sims 2-Contains Sex Scenes & Nude Adults and Children; Images Put into This "T" for Teen Game [!]by Manufacturer and Unlocked with a Simple Code
Can ESRB Survive Today's Scandal?
Miami attorney and anti-game crusader, Jack Thompson, has discovered the video game industry's latest dirty little secret, the ramifications of which eclipse the recent scandal involving GTA: San Andreas and the sexual content knowingly embedded by the maker, Take-Two. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton brought that scandal to the world's attention last Friday, and by Wednesday of this week the ESRB had slapped an "Adults Only" rating on it, prompting retailers across the nation to pull the game from store shelves.
But there is more, and this is worse. Sims 2, the latest version of the Sims video game franchise, which is the most popular and successful game in history, contains, according to video game news sites, full frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and pubic hair. The nudity placed there by the publisher/maker, Electronic Arts, is accessed by the use of a simple code that removes what is called "the blur" which obscures the genital areas. In other words, the game was released to the public by the manufacturer knowing that the full frontal nudity was resident on the game and would be accessed by use of a simple code widely provided on the Internet.
In fact, one of the most popular sites providing the code to remove "the genitalia blur" is none other than www.about.com, owned and operated exclusively by the New York Times.
Full frontal nudity of the Sims children can be unlocked as well, it has been reported on gaming sites, much to the delight, one can be sure, of pedophiles around the globe who can rehearse, in virtual reality, for their abuse. Not surprisingly, adult porn sites are also featuring the easy-to-use code to remove the blur, catering to their consumers of adult and child pornography.
The now popular exclamation of young people-"Woo Hoo!"-is a parroting of what sexual intercourse is referred to on Sims 2. Thus the ESRB has knowingly facilitated the further saturation of teen culture with even more sex at a time when teen pregnancies destroy more and more young lives.
The ESRB has known of this ability to unlock the nudity of all characters, including the children, for months and has done nothing to re-rate the game. The ESRB has not acted, even though the failure by Electronic Arts to disclose this content to the ESRB at the time the game was rated constitutes a violation of ESRB rules, as we have all learned with the recent "Hot Coffee" scandal.
The designer of Sims and Sims 2, Will Wright, has spoken publicly of his delight that the game can be unlocked as well as modified.
What makes this worse than the GTA: San Andreas "Hot Coffee" scandal is that Sims 2 is rated "T" for teen by the ESRB, which means there have been absolutely no age restrictions at the point of sale of this game. Here is a game rated as appropriate for anyone 13 of years or older, which contains simulated sexual intercourse and full frontal nudity, but which any kid of any age can walk into any Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, GameStop, or Circuit City to buy, without even a "check buyer's ID" prompt coming up on the point of sale device!
Miami attorney Jack Thompson is today working with various officials and private groups to demand that all retailers who have pulled Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas from store shelves do the same immediately regarding copies of Sims 2.
Thompson is further demanding that the ESRB, by his sending of a copy of this news release, immediately tell its own member, the game's publisher, Electronic Arts, to recall all copies of Sims 2 from store shelves worldwide.
The ESRB cannot say one thing as to Take-Two and another to Electronic Arts.
This deepening scandal as to the wholesale unreliability of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board's game ratings underscores why games must not be rated by an organization that is wholly captured by and answerable solely to the game makers themselves.
There must be an independent organization that rates all video games, as in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.
CONTACT Jack Thompson at ***-***-****.
Like I said before, the plan was to honest, so I actually did try and steer him away from the "nipples, penises, labia" falsehood.
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 09:15:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Albert Mackenzie"
To: "Jack Thompson"
After further examining some of the internet links to the censor removal tool, it would appear the versions of the characters with visable genitalia were added by the players. But, as you have pointed out, it seems the creators of the game encourage this type of editing, and provide tools to help accomplish this. Either way, however, they still have naked virtual people in the game who are engaged in various risque activities. Otherwise, the press release sounds quite correct
He didn't buy it.
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 12:26:01 -0400
From: "Jack Thompson"
To: "Albert Mackenzie"
I happen to believe that the Sims 2 content shows genitalia, etc, but that the mods allow you to modify them, including nipple size and color, etc., to one's "preference." Does that make sense?
Even though the end results were humorous, I really didn't want to see him make a fool of himself like that. No matter how much of a thorn in our side he is, he's still a human being with feelings and stuff, and in retrospect it's too bad I didn't do a better job convincing to lay off the 'omgpenises!1' bit. Well, that, and, it would have been a much more effective piece of psy-war propaganda had he left that part out. I tried one last attempt at swaying him from shouting "penis" in a crowded theatre, this time subtly appealing to his lawyer-y side. I hoped he'd see the strategic element of saving the genital allegations for an investigation, and avoid giving the PR guys at EA an easy out.
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 09:47:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Albert Mackenzie"
To: "Jack Thompson"
This may be true, but considering nonspecific wording of of the web pages promoting the program, it's hard to say for certain. If there's even a chance the genitalia aren't part of the original game, it could provide an opening for the company's public relations team to discredit the whole story. Regardless of how physically detailed the characters are, the product still contains content far more graphic than should be allowed for its rating (if at all given the naked children!), and a very weak level of censorship therein.
I am not a lawyer, so your knowledge on what such a statement should include is far greater than mine. But perhaps it would be best to start with what is easily proven, then let the rest come out in an investigation.
Thank you for your time and concern.
And with that I must've started sounding suspicious...
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 12:52:14 -0400
From: "Jack Thompson"
To: "Albert Mackenzie"
Who are you?
Not wanting to blow my cover, the reply was rather cryptic. With all the space for interpretation here, one would think he'd have given my warning about the validity of parts of his statement a second thought...
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 10:23:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Albert Mackenzie"
To: "Jack Thompson"
Me? I'm nobody special, just a concerned citizen who happened to notice things the media has missed, and that the game industry doesn't seem to acknowledge. One who worries what it might mean for the next generation.
Take that as you will, I just hope the information provided speaks for itself.
But, alas, he never replied again, and he went ahead and sent out the press release full of penises and vaginas, after two warnings otherwise, and even after he seemed to get suspicious of me. And as my warnings went down the drain, sadly did my chances of promoting an honest public debate of the appropriateness of The Sims' content versus that of HC burn in flames as well. But regardless, the experiment did provide a great deal of insight (at least to me) on the inner workings of Jack's charade. And it was rather interesting that I, a "brain damaged gamer" was able to manipulate him so easily. :P
It kinda makes one wonder though, how much of the information that Jack spouts off is based in truth and research, and how much of it is based on hearsay. For instance, he talks of his "mole" in Rockstar who gave him the dirt on Bully, but how do we know it wasn't some other gamer pulling his chain? And considering he based his attack on The Sims 2 solely on the tip of an anonymous internet user without checking for facts, and ignoring warnings that his statement was incorrect, one has to wonder how much of what he says is completely false or libelous. It doesn't take a lawyer to know you can get sued for slandering a person or business with allegations you know or suspect may be untrue. Oh, wait, he is a lawyer...