G-pinions

I have to admit that, upon hearing about the push to change GTA from a Mature rating to the rarely used retail death sentence of Adults Only, I was all for it. My feelings about how much fun the franchise is aside, I honestly thought it would better for the industry as a whole to make one of the most violent games out more elusive to underage gamers. I may not be a huge fan of violent games in general, but I recognize that many people do like playing them. The only way to ensure companies can continue making whatever games they see fit is to get the media off their back. By making sure extremely violent games are AO, which means no one under 18 is allowed to buy them, I was hopeful that news reports chronicling the dementia of children caused by games would finally stop.

Of course, I was quite wrong. You give the dog a slice and they want the whole damn cake.

Now this crackpot lawyer out of Miami, one Jack Thompson, is shifting his sights to The Sims 2. He is pushing to make the ESRB change the rating of this game from Teens to Adults Only. When I first heard about this earlier today I laughed out loud. The Sims is the definitive casual gamer franchise right now. No one who's a gamer even plays these life simulations - they're too busy navigating box puzzles in Half Life 2. The Sims is so popular because it appeals to real gamer's moms and sisters. The idea that anything offensive could be found within a family friendly EA title was both shocking and surreal. Would EA really stoop as low as Rockstar to gain publicity and garner a few more sales?

Turns out that Jack Thompson was regurgitating what he saw on another website rather than play the game himself and do some actual research. As The Sims is supposed to represent every mundane activity one encounters during the course of a lifetime, there are a few occasions where you can view your Sim sans-clothing. How else would one change clothes or go to the bathroom? EA obviously knows how uptight Americans are about nudity, though, and made sure to affix a big blur right over any offensive areas. Using an easily accessible cheat, however, gamers can actually remove the blur to reveal an ultra sexy smooth surface, just like you'll find on a naked Barbie doll. Hot!

Jack Thompson doesn't believe this, though. Since this is an open-ended PC game that allows users to create their own content, Mr. Thompson found a site that offered a nude skin for your Sim. By combining the anti-blurring code with the nude skin you have some tiny polygonal penises and boobies. For shame, EA.

I can't wait until EA's lawyers get their hands on this case. Jack Thompson is clearly slandering EA. He is lying about their product in an attempt to hurt them. You would think that, seeing as he's a lawyer, he would know the laws of our country. He's going to find out the hard way what it means to make up stuff, though.

Trying to regulate user made content is not only ignorant it is unconstitutional. One of the main appeals for PC titles is the ability to create your own levels and skins. It's a chance to do a little programming of your own and alter the game to make it as enjoyable as possible for yourself. By trying to say The Sims 2 can warp children because they can make their own skins is completely absurd. I am sure that Jack Thompson didn't even realize what a user created skin was before he brought this issue up, but he'll learn soon enough that EA had nothing to do with naked Sims in their game. This is probably the only time I will ever root for EA, but I would love to see them use their corporate clout and lawyers to crush this stupid man and, hopefully, educate the general public a little about video games. I am sick of alarmist trying to pin all of the problems of today's youth on a form of entertainment. Make more games AO and make retailers actually enforce the age restrictions, but don't try to stir up controversy where there shouldn't be any.