Thompson Goes After Sims 2 Nudity 243
magicbond_007 writes "Miami lawyer Jack Thompson is at it again, this time with something above and beyond absurd. Gamestop is reporting that Thompson has accused The Sims 2 of contain obscene material. From the article: 'In the statement, Thompson says, "Sims 2, the latest version of the Sims video game franchise ... contains, according to video game news sites, full frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and pubic hair."' At this rate kids won't be able to play Mario because Princess Peach is dressed too slutty."
In the wake of Hot Coffee (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:In the wake of Hot Coffee (Score:3, Interesting)
There's been patches for some time that get rid of the dithering. This really isn't much different than Hot Coffee -- the content is there, just someone going out of their way to get rid of the dithering. Or in the event that certain parts of the anatomy aren't that detailed, who's to say there aren't patches which change the character models, or apply different textures?
Whether or not this gets covered by the media at all will be interesting to see -- the Sims is much, much more tame in
it's for the best... (Score:5, Funny)
Boycott! (Score:5, Funny)
Attack on barbies? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Attack on barbies? (Score:3, Insightful)
It can't be the game maker's fault if people hack their software to make it do things they didn't intend.
Now to attack the Sims 2. This guy is sad. Does he not have a girlfriend? What ot
Re:Attack on barbies? (Score:2)
Money. Fame. Perhaps some bible thumping, but I suspect it's mostly the first two.
He's a lawyer. He's getting free advertising here. He may also be trying to get people to go in on a class action lawsuit against EA -- and as we all know, the only people who really win a class action lawsuit are the lawyers.
And he may be looking for somebody to be offended by the `nudity' that the Sims has, and to have h
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Attack on barbies? (Score:2)
Re:Attack on barbies? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Attack on barbies? (Score:2, Funny)
Well then, the incredible hulk is certainly no friend of (y)ours:
http://www.toyz.org/mrblog/archives/00000026.html [toyz.org]
Hmmm (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh I can solve the problem....
TURN THE FUCKING TV OFF!
Re:Hmmm (Score:5, Insightful)
Negative Influence? (Score:2)
Jesus, if I could bend that way... I'm not gonna type any more or I will corrupt children reading this.
Re:Hmmm (Score:3, Insightful)
It's called the Bible. Take a look at it. I can't believe they leave this stuff lying around where anyone can get a hold of it. The first time I read it, I couldn't believe that people would actually want thei
Why attack? (Score:3, Interesting)
Once again, guess whose job it really is to keep some of my favorite games away from the kids? It's the job of the parents.
Before I had my driver's license (4 years ago), I was limited in what games I could buy because my parents would always be nearby and strictly limited what I was allowed to get. I didn't like it, but I'd never fault them for it. As soon as I got my driver's license, I could get whatever I wanted.
The idea I'd really like to put across here is that no matter what you do to a game, if you have a car and can go places on your own, you can buy almost whatever you want.
No store policies or lawsuits or censorship will ever (and should never) prevent the market from bringing customers what they want; it's always gonna be up to parents to have an effective hand in what their kids are exposed to.
Re:Why attack? (Score:2)
rated Blah blah for
All the ingredients for a good movie.
Re:Why attack? (Score:2)
This just in (Score:5, Funny)
Censor parent... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Censor parent... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:This just in (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This just in (Score:5, Insightful)
Go back to the GTA:SA thing. The problem was they found out that between psycopathically antisocial mass murdering rampages you can have consensual sex. SEX....the reason we are all here on this earth! It will corrupt the kids....the sex that is, not the senseless violence and mass murder of police and bystander alike.
It's all so freaking absurd.
Re:This just in (Score:3, Interesting)
Let's be honest here. Rockstar embedded Hot Coffee in three versions of the game and then lied about it. The company was perfectly willing to sell out the modding community to save its own skin. It isn't sex that brought Rockstar down, it was a pattern of behavior that mimics that of the gameplay in GTA.
Please, oh please (Score:2)
... But Graphic Violence is just fine. (Score:5, Insightful)
But God help us if little Bobbie might have seen a blur on some "sim" in the tub. We already know if s/he wants to see anything of the sort, their hitting all the free super link porno sites anyway.
What is behind this outcry is the fact that most kids have these games and parents are finding that "Gee, I must be a lousy parent because I didn't know that my kids could do this and frankly didn't care because the distraction kept my kids quiet. I'll pretend to be horrified at this so that other people don't think I'm a bad parent, while I really couldn't care less."
Let's put it this way. My son saw more graphic sex in the gorilla house on a recent visit to the zoo than is possible in these games. Quick, let's make the zoo "AO" and fine the zookeepers for not having warnings that the critters might get jiggy.
Can't wait for the next "important social issue" to come up. It's going to be the horrors of chunky peanut butter or some such tripe.
*sigh*
Re:... But Graphic Violence is just fine. (Score:2)
Can't wait for the next "important social issue" to come up. It's going to be the horrors of chunky peanut butter or some such tripe.
Frighteningly enough, we've already been there [fortmilltimes.com], done that [washingtonpost.com]. Parents have sued to have anyhting containing peanuts removed from school menus because their children are allergic, even wanting to ban children from bringing in anything with peanuts in it in their lunches. Succeeded too, in some cases.
Re:... But Graphic Violence is just fine. (Score:2)
I have to say, I sympathize. I have been to schools and other places where there's no indication that something contains peanuts. Almost died a couple of times because of it. There's usually no reason for a school to stop serving peanuts entirely (though a strong wiff of
Re:... But Graphic Violence is just fine. (Score:2)
I can see stopping the use of peanut oil, and even clearly labeling items that have peanuts in them. That's fine, there are a lot of kids who have peanut allergies, many very severe. I can even see the school deciding to simply not serve anything with peanuts in it, especially if they know of students with said allergies. But, to go so far as to tell kids they can't bring a peanut butter & jelly sandwich to school is a bit much.
Re:... But Graphic Violence is just fine. (Score:2)
So, when you were a primary (elementary?) school kid you never shared your lunch? Never swapped sandwiches? Never been given a piece of chocolate by a mate?
Kids don't understand, and even if they did they may not realise the food they are sharing may contain traces of peanut, even the smallest bit can send an allergic person into a very serious situation.
It's a school's job to provide a safe environment for all the children in it's charge. It's not just that some allergic kids "might get
Re:... But Graphic Violence is just fine. (Score:2)
Re:... But Graphic Violence is just fine. (Score:3, Informative)
Do a google search [google.com] for him [cbsnews.com].
Jack isn't just against nudity, mind you. He's out to convince everyone that video games are a direct product of satan himself. He deplores pretty much every aspect of video games, and isn't afraid to link pretty much anything to them. It won't be long now, and h
Re:... But Graphic Violence is just fine. (Score:2)
For a second there I was pissed off at you for beating this dead horse. After all, every single time I read the comments in an article about sex
Re:... But Graphic Violence is just fine. (Score:2)
http://search.boobdex.com/?special=preview [boobdex.com]
http://godisdreaming.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]
http://www.cartoonella.com/ [cartoonella.com]
Uhhhhh... (Score:4, Funny)
"'This is no different than what is in San Andreas, although worse.'"
So somehow it's worse without actually being any different? I'm confused...
Re:Uhhhhh... (Score:2)
Re:Uhhhhh... (Score:2)
http://www.verystrangesims.com/contentone.html [verystrangesims.com]
Re:Uhhhhh... (Score:2)
OMG BAN MODS!!!! (Score:3, Insightful)
(you can wax philosphy all day long about if it was meant to be found yadda yadda)
and then you have the SIMS2 which has various acts of living in your house flirting baby making and alien abductions.. which resourceful people can create various household items such and decorations outfits and skins for which may or may not have giant throbbin cocks or whatever on them.
One had the content and skins already in
The other has the skins and content created by the player..
We know the differences between the two, but who wants to guess which way the media, politicians and other twats like Thompson are going to go.
This could be a good thing (Score:3, Insightful)
Yup, and this garbage lawsuit is going to helpfully undo some of the harm to the game industry and expose these idiots as just that.
Here is what will happen: Hype - a week from now there will be a story about this on every blog, paper, tv station, and radio station.
Eventually this thing will either make it to court or not even go that far before it is thrown ou
Re:OMG BAN MODS!!!! (Score:2, Funny)
I hear these so called 'skins' are only the tip of the iceberg.
There's an evil communist open-source program known as 'The GIMP' (coincidental naming? I think not!) which allows users to directly create images depicting sexual intercourse, paedophilia and more! Clearly, we must move to ban this insufferable cesspool!
While we're at it, I have been informed by my crack team of sleuths that a binary application using the name 'Word' allows the writing of....
etc etc ad nauseum. Gotta love the whole 'EA is
Ban Ken and Barbie (Score:3, Insightful)
And what about dolls of Barbie's little sister? Also a dirty tool for the pedophile that probably lives next door!
Thompson is a Grade A Moron.
whew! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:whew! (Score:2)
</joke>
How horrible (Score:2)
This guy is a media whore and I activel
So you want to protect the children, huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
So you want to protect the children, is that what you're saying? Are you saying that children are protected by being taught that sex and sexual organs are morally wrong?
This kind of skewed view of life just kills me. Ultimately, this will just do more damage to children. They'll feel guilty about their bodies! That is just plain twisted.
Fuck these politicians. Revolt.
Re:So you want to protect the children, huh? (Score:2)
Are you saying that children are protected by being taught that sex and sexual organs are morally wrong?
Who is teaching that sex and sexual organs are morally wrong? If anything, what is being said is that a game which depicts sex and sexual organs is morally wrong.
Re:So you want to protect the children, huh? (Score:2)
Speak for yourself ;-)
Re:So you want to protect the children, huh? (Score:2)
Re:So you want to protect the children, huh? (Score:2)
Jeez, I'm not sure what you mean... (Score:2, Insightful)
What does this mean? He thought the killer was a victim because he played GTA and then killed officers? Or were the officers sued postehumously?
"much to the delight, one can be sure, of pedophiles around the globe who can rehearse, in virtual reality, for their abuse."
WTF? You don't seem to be fighting this. [yale.edu] You are an ambulance
Re:Jeez, I'm not sure what you mean... (Score:2)
He thought the killer was a victim because he played GTA and then killed officers? Or were the officers sued postehumously?
No, he's talking about suing the killers, not the officers.
Oh, ye puritans (Score:4, Funny)
Otherwise, how else would he be such a shining beacon of moral righteousness and overall upstanding citizenry? We must all repent; We're not worthy.
Re:Oh, ye puritans (Score:2)
His labia? :-o
I'm rooting Thompson (Score:4, Insightful)
I can hope, can't I?
Anm
Another reason....... (Score:2, Interesting)
In Japan, violence is shunned and sexuality is popuarlized.
Some may see the men of Japan as perverted, but at least the sexual rape percentage in tokyo is lower than the death rate by guns in Washington D.C
make love, not war.
I would not be surprised if Thopmson goes after WOW next, because of the Female Night Elf dance.
Re:Another reason....... (Score:2)
Nanjing Massacre [cuhk.edu.hk]
Re:Another reason....... (Score:3)
Tentacle Rape.
I think I speak for everyone... (Score:5, Insightful)
FOR FUCK'S SAKE, WHAT'S YOUR DAMN PROBLEM?!
Yes i'm yelling. What's wrong with people?! How the fuck will banning the sims "protect the children"?!
In Europe nudity is not considered "bad", in Japan it's not considered "bad".
Hell, I saw some European commercials showing full nudity, in not too late hours.
In Japan the whole genre of adult games is a huge business and they sell for PC and consoles.
Only in the US and Muslim countries nudity is considered a really bad thing.
And what do we get? The population explodes, full of STDs, unwanted pregnancy and so on.
So. GET A FUCKING GRIP ON YOURSELF! SEX IS NOT BAD. NUDITY IS NOT BAD. IT'S ONLY THE NATURAL THING.
Is Japan really all that great? (Score:2)
Re:Is Japan really all that great? (Score:2)
It's a fact that they teach about sex in school. It's a fact that they have nudity in normal hours on TV.
The human body is nothing to be ashamed of.
Sex related crimes (and crime in general) is low.
Re:Is Japan really all that great? (Score:2)
Re:Is Japan really all that great? (Score:2)
"In Japan, it is illegal for any commercial work to display the human vagina and phallic in an explicit manner. Any publications depicting the penis or vagina must be shrink-wrapped and barred from sale to minors. However, it is not uncommon for pictorial magazines to depict nude women with their genitalia airbrushed over in black, and video pornography routinely depicts explicit sex scenes with
Re:Is Japan really all that great? (Score:2)
Re:I think I speak for everyone... (Score:2)
Go with what works (Score:2)
First they came for GTA... (Score:2)
Google Images + Radio Button = Nudity | THE KIDS!! (Score:3, Insightful)
You put those blocks in to keep the content from being seen, if someone created a modification that allowed your TV to remove those blocks and blurs and fill in what was really there, would it be the fault of companies like Ventura for having that content in originally?
Instead of attacking the programmers or producers for, rightfully, removing or blurring the explicit content, why aren't Rockstar and Electronic Arts suing the people that made the patches? Why aren't people like Jack Thompson filing suit against them? After all, the material wasn't meant to be seen by the consumer.
Neither Rockstar nor EA deserve to get sued for filtering the content in question and not sufficiently protecting against malicious (not to mention perverted) modders from exposing the code for what it was . As far as I'm concerned, both the Sims and GTA were hacked, slandering the name of legitimate, trustworthy companies. GTA wasn't trying to sneak anything past ESRB against 'moms' will. EA wasn't trying to expose children to explicit nudity...as far as the allegations go: the labia was not visible.
Re:Google Images + Radio Button = Nudity | THE KID (Score:2)
Re:Google Images + Radio Button = Nudity | THE KID (Score:2)
If, however, all TV's secretly had the ability, and someone smart enough just told you how to make them disappear, that would be what this is like.
Kind of like if your cable company sent you the porn channel, scrambled, and someone was smart enough to come out with a descrambler? That would be the cable company's fault, and we could sue them?
Ban pencils (Score:2)
Re:Ban pencils (Score:2)
Its Thompson (Score:2)
I believe that Jack Thompson is the same person that was ordered by the Florida Supreme Court to undergo a pschiatric evaluation (he passed).
He would also be the same guy who has gone after 2 Live Crew, Ice T, the Basketball Diaries, Doom, Halo, Rockstar, Howard Stern, etc.
His site 'stopkill.com' has a nice introduction:
Screenshots of nude cheat (Score:3, Informative)
Soccer mom! (Score:3, Funny)
We won't get to see the princess. (Score:2)
She's prolly at another castle anyways.
He might have a case :/ (Score:2)
Whereas the Hot Coffee minigame was a mod, that couldn't have been unlocked in-game by any cheatcodes otherwise, the Sims 2 game has the command "intprop censorgridsize" which can be turned off : And thus enabling nudity in an even lower rated game than GTA was.
I am afraid this opportunist moneygrabbing lawyer might have a case :/ .
Groundless Bullshit (Score:5, Insightful)
Please, The Sims is a tame as milk. I can almost agree with him on the GTA thing (although I enjoy the series), simply because it's obviously designed and left in the game, even though I find it hypocritical that he wouldn't seek a lawsuit before the mini-game was common knowledge (as if the violence and the hooker-in-a-car from the original weren't enough). But The Sims / The Sims 2 (the "blur" occurs on both version, if you remember)? Has this man ever seen a Barbie or Ken doll naked? That's about the extent of it. I especially love this line:
No, no it doesn't, and "video game news sites" are not a source to base a lawsuit on, especially if you can't name the site or sites in question. The only thing that might make for evidence in anything whatsoever is the following site I ran into on the way to look for "proper" screenshots:
Now, this is not what he is accusing EA of - this is a skin patch, which should tell you right there what the deal is - if you want to see nude Sims with details, you're going to need a patch, because they're little more than mannequins under the blur. This would not exist if they had full-frontal nudity, penii, etc.
Groundless lawsuit by an ignorant man. Sick of this shit.
Maybe he should sue Valve? (Score:2)
Oh wait, you need this [hl2world.com] patch. The official download page appears to be gone, but the file is still there, somewhere...
I would actually pay to see this lawsuit in particular. "Ok, watch what happens when I remove her pants. Guess what? See-through panties! In fact, see-through hips, see-through thighs, see-through legs
New Law (Score:2)
This new law will prevent young innocent Children too see breats, penises or even this evil pubic hair.
Insteead of sexual organs, people are obliged to wear guns and other killing instruments.
Ratings fix (Score:2)
5 mod points... (Score:2)
I've been harmed (Score:2)
You're missing the insanity (Score:2)
If your kid can get on the internet to download a cheat to watch pixelated fake cartoon sex on a video game, guess what, HE CAN DOWNLOAD HIGH QUALITY VIDEO OF ACTUAL PEOPLE HAVING REAL, OFTEN INCREDIBLY DIRTY/GRAPHIC/AMAZING, SEX!
My comic about it (Score:2)
My comic on the whole subject [conxdesigns.com]
Maybe making WoW rated M/AO is a good idea... (Score:2)
Barking up the wrong tree (Score:2)
For as much as I think EA is evil, they have the money to take this guy down.
Sic 'em EA. Sic 'em.
Re:Barking up the wrong tree (Score:2)
Let me guess... Jack is going after Eidos for Tomb Raider next? How about 3D Realms for Duke Nukem?
Obscene? (Score:2)
Well, we should probably ban this whole Internet thing then.
I know what I'm going to do now... (Score:2)
What's in a rating? (Score:3, Interesting)
"Miami lawyer Jack Thompson is at it again, this time with something above and beyond absurd. Gamestop is reporting that Thompson has accused The Sims 2 of contain obscene material."
I suddenly asked myself this morning: what's in a rating?
The MPAA [mpaa.org] says theirs is a "Voluntary Movie Rating System", and they are assigned solely at the MPAA's discretion. G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17 ... it's all a voluntary ratings system. AFAIK, it's not really enforced by law. That is, I don't know that federal law has anything that prohibits a 16-year-old from seeing an R-rated movie. Certainly, if the theater chooses not to let you to see it, you can pick it up 6 months later as a rental.
The TV ratings [tvguidelines.org] are TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-Y7-FV ("fantasy violence"), TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14, TV-MA. These are all assigned by the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board, and the ratings were (originally?) intended to be used together with the V-Chip to keep children from seeing inappropriate content.
The ESRB [esrb.org] (as we are all aware by now) assigns game ratings based on responses to questionaires by those evaluating the games (usually, adults in & around New York.) Games can be rated EC, E, E10+, T, M, AO.
Why am I listing all this? Because I started to ask myself when the madness will stop about game ratings, and how it's all about protecting the children and making it easier for parents to pick content appropriate for their kids.
Why has no one argued to apply the same standard of ratings to books? Some argue that video games should be treated differently than, say, books because video games are more interactive while books are passive entertainment. But television and movies are passive entertainment.
If the argument is that game ratings help make sure kids "aren't exposed to indecent depictions" then why not use book ratings to ensure the same thing? Just like games, books can be rated EC (Little Golden Books), E ('Peter Rabbit'), E10+ ('Harry Potter' 1-4), T ('Harry Potter' 5-6), M (Stephenson, Gibson), AO (pr0n). Why wouldn't a book ratings system like this work?
Because it feels too much like censorship, that's why. It's not censorship, but too many people would think it crosses the line.
Just a thought..
Re:Wait a sec.. (Score:5, Informative)
intprop censorgridsize 0 Takes off censoring
Re:Wait a sec.. (Score:5, Insightful)
This isn't a secret cheat or anything that was left in the code like San Andreas.
Re:Wait a sec.. (Score:3, Insightful)
I mean, there was a mod in the original Sims too that does this exact same thing.
Should we also put warning labels on Poser too? I mean, those are totally NAKED people with genitals and everything on that! And you can...gasp...use them to draw dirty p
Re:Wait a sec.. (Score:3, Insightful)
If one follows this "but it was already there" logic to conclusion, why not automatically rate a pg13 film with brief nudity XXX once it hits DVD. I mean, a kid could always pause a nudie scene so it
Re:ERm (Score:2)
Oh yeah, because Nintendo's been leading the charge for the last 20 years to reveal more skin in video games.
Well, in all fairness, she does appear in a shower scene in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door.
Re:ERm (Score:2)
Re:yeah there is (Score:2)
Wolfenstein 3D
Doom
Doom2
Duke Nukem
And that is just off the top of my head.
There were 3rd party editors and people put whatever content in there that they wanted. Duke Nukem had some prostitutes and erotic dancers in it at the best of times. You could add the entire playboy bunny line with a simple mod that was freely available from just about every BBS (www.bbsdoc
Re:yeah there is (Score:2)
Re:yeah there is (Score:2)
I'm gonna draw the line when someone releases a naked skin of that fat-zombie-dude from Doom 3 *shudders*