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  •  » Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

#51 2005-07-24 11:13 am

Chris FOM
The Deobfuscator
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From: Houston, TX
Registered: 2000-12-05
Posts: 2475

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

Reef, I think you're off by just a touch here. From what I read, the animations and motions for Hot Coffee were in the game, but locked away. However the skins were not in place. They were either elsewhere on the disk and not referenced during the actual Hot COffee code, or installed via the net download. Either way, if you simply access the Hot Coffee content, both characters are clothed; they just dry hump.

As far as I'm concerned, anything that happens post-modifications is no longer the developer's responsibility. It can really screw things up in unexpected ways to simply delete vast portions of code, so it makes more sense to simply delete all the references to it in the executable. What should be rated is what the game offered if played as intended. If I can't get at Hot Coffee without getting on the internet and downloading a patch or using some sort of Action Replay machine, then it's not part of the game. Instead it's become something that I added of my own volition to it. Nobody who buys any of the three versions of GTA:SA will have access to Hot Coffee unless they take proactive action to engage in it. They have to actually modify the game to get at it. At that point, even if the code was in the actual game, what you're accessing is not the game as sold on store shelves. Rather it's a modified form. Is downloading a hack to access locked portions of content that different than a nude patch for Sims 2? Sure in the former case the content was on the disc, and with The Sims it has too be added, but in neither case can the content be accessed without modifying the game from its original form as purchased. If it can't be accessed from within the game as sold in retail form, then it doesn't exist.

And I'm very glad this moron gets his targets from the media. He'd go smurf if he ever played Killer7 or some of the other smaller, truly edgier games out there. GTA pushed the envelope, but in such a ridiculous fashion I can't take it seriously. Killer7 and similar are far more disturbing, because they take many things dead seriously.

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#52 2005-07-24 11:44 am

NAG
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Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

Okay so the mod lets you see inside and further modification changes the skins?


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#53 2005-07-24 1:52 pm

reefdog
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Registered: 2000-05-15
Posts: 10701

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

Chris FOM wrote:

Reef, I think you're off by just a touch here. From what I read, the animations and motions for Hot Coffee were in the game, but locked away. However the skins were not in place. They were either elsewhere on the disk and not referenced during the actual Hot COffee code, or installed via the net download. Either way, if you simply access the Hot Coffee content, both characters are clothed; they just dry hump.

I haven't read that, but if it's true, then I would have to agree that it changes the severity of the situation.

What still concerns me is the dishonesty of Rockstar. Because they at first didn't admit that the content was in the original code, and strongly insinuated that it was entirely community-created, you have to question their intentions. If it was just old code left out, they should say "it was old code left out." As said earlier in the thread, it does now look more like clever marketing. No P.R. is bad P.R., especially not for Rockstar.

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#54 2005-07-24 6:17 pm

Zetetic Apparatchik
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Registered: 2001-01-07
Posts: 8250

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

Maybe they should of done a Duke and made it password enabled.


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#55 2005-07-26 10:56 pm

Bat
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From: Björk, Björk
Registered: 2001-05-14
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Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

The smurf is hitting the fan.

Just after 7:00pm on Capitol Hill today, the House of Representatives voted 355 to 21 to support a Federal Trade Commission inquiry into Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The purpose of the probe will be to determine if Take-Two Interactive and its publishing subsidiary Rockstar Games deceived the voluntary Entertainment Software Ratings Board when it submitted Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Today's vote advanced House Resolution 376, introduced by Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI). In Upton's words, he is "leading the congressional effort to determine if a best-selling video game maker intentionally deceived the industry's ratings board to avoid an 'Adults-Only' rating."

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/gta4/ … 29723.html


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#56 2005-07-27 12:04 am

ConnertheCat
7 Months Later
From: Penfield, NY
Registered: 2001-07-21
Posts: 13405

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

Get rid of "AO", make "M" 18+ and be done with it.  If your kid gets a hold of the game, it's your/the retailer's fault.


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#57 2005-07-27 7:17 am

IcarusFountain
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Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

Connor, aside from your avvie being a hottie, you're right (and I've been saying it the entire time): the rating is inconsequential.  If the game is rated for 17+ year olds, then its already rated for "adults" in most senses of the word (R-rated movies, TV-MA television programs, etc).  Anyone who says that the game developer is at fault for the corruption of youth with a game rated for adults has absolutely no ground to stand on.

I'm willing to concede that the AO rating is understandable (I still don't agree, but I think the AO rating is stupid to begin with) if the world is willing to shut up and stop blaming everyone else when bad parenting is the problem.

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#58 2005-07-27 9:46 am

lord funk
Title
Registered: 2000-12-11
Posts: 2276

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

What we're dealing with are people who are looking to forward their political / legal careers by attacking something where few people understand the terminology, so they can just shout whatever they want and as long as it's loud, people will believe them.

IcarusFountain wrote:

absolutely no ground to stand on.

Doesn't matter in the American legal system.


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#59 2005-07-27 10:01 am

ConnertheCat
7 Months Later
From: Penfield, NY
Registered: 2001-07-21
Posts: 13405

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

IcarusFountain wrote:

Connor, aside from your avvie being a hottie, you're right (and I've been saying it the entire time): the rating is inconsequential.  If the game is rated for 17+ year olds, then its already rated for "adults" in most senses of the word (R-rated movies, TV-MA television programs, etc).  Anyone who says that the game developer is at fault for the corruption of youth with a game rated for adults has absolutely no ground to stand on.

I'm willing to concede that the AO rating is understandable (I still don't agree, but I think the AO rating is stupid to begin with) if the world is willing to shut up and stop blaming everyone else when bad parenting is the problem.

The only reason I say use the "Mature" rating name instead of "Adults Only" is because the former sounds better.


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#60 2005-07-27 10:32 am

NAG
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Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

And it also implies that if you get easily offended (aka: not mature) you shouldn't play the game. Nice double meaning. Aren't there little stickers on the back or something that explain why something got a rating? If so, the AO rating is pretty redundant.


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#61 2005-07-27 10:46 am

ConnertheCat
7 Months Later
From: Penfield, NY
Registered: 2001-07-21
Posts: 13405

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

Well, you call something "Adult Only" and every 12 year old boy in the world will want to play it.


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#62 2005-07-27 11:08 am

Twisted Guy
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Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

For me, the issue has less to do with the corruption of America's youth, bad parenting, and the rating itself, and more to do with the possible duplicity, deception on Take Two and Rockstar's part when submitting the game's content for rating, and then how they flat-out lied about it when it was revealed that the Hot Coffee content was already in the game, just inaccessible.

I don't care what Rockstar puts in their games (if I don't like it, I won't play it), and of course parents should be responsible for the gaming choices of their children, but that Take Two and Rockstar would so willingly and willfully deceive and lie to the ESRB and the public about the content of their game, just to save their own hides is pretty slimy, no matter how you look at it.


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#63 2005-07-27 11:17 am

NAG
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Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

I agree. The main difference between AO and M is that there is this irrational fear of getting an AO. I don't really like Rockstar but I'm not going and submitting bills either.


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#64 2005-07-27 12:12 pm

shapoopy
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From: Frequently
Registered: 2001-12-29
Posts: 1429

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

I just don't understand why an R-rated movie can show tits but an M-rated game can't.

The ESRB would save themselves a whole lot of trouble if their ratings and guidelines corresponded exactly to the ratings for movies in the US. The E 10+ is a nice step in that direction.


pants

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#65 2005-07-27 3:55 pm

Zetetic Apparatchik
Member
Registered: 2001-01-07
Posts: 8250

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

I think interactive breasts are more socially damaging. I suggest a study. I'll need a grant, though.


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#66 2005-07-27 7:24 pm

Chris FOM
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From: Houston, TX
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Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

M-rated games can show breasts. See God of War for one recent example. While not having played GTA:SA at all, much less Hot Coffee, I think what got that game in trouble was that the scene was actually interactive and fairly graphic. God of War had a sex minigame, but it took place off-camera.

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#67 2005-07-28 9:38 am

Zetetic Apparatchik
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Registered: 2001-01-07
Posts: 8250

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

Sounds fun. neutral


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#68 2005-08-05 8:44 pm

Chris FOM
The Deobfuscator
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From: Houston, TX
Registered: 2000-12-05
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Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

Chris FOM wrote:

And I'm very glad this moron gets his targets from the media. He'd go smurf if he ever played Killer7 or some of the other smaller, truly edgier games out there. GTA pushed the envelope, but in such a ridiculous fashion I can't take it seriously. Killer7 and similar are far more disturbing, because they take many things dead seriously.

I should have kept my mouth shut. Maybe my copy will become a collector's item. Never mind that the sex scene in question contains no nudity and frankly is less explicit than your average PG-13 rated James Bond movie.

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#69 2005-08-05 8:55 pm

NAG
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Posts: 30229

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

Oh no, I think Chris is a spy!


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#70 2005-08-06 3:42 am

Zetetic Apparatchik
Member
Registered: 2001-01-07
Posts: 8250

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

I love the fact that they give links to their review and video review at the end. You know, if the article made you curious.


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#71 2005-08-06 10:22 am

Chris FOM
The Deobfuscator
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From: Houston, TX
Registered: 2000-12-05
Posts: 2475

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

Those links are automated I believe. They link the story with certain key words when posting it, and the software automatically adds the "relevant links" stuff at the end.

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#72 2005-08-06 1:33 pm

Earendil the Mariner
Mahjong owns my soul
From: Minnesota
Registered: 2001-05-17
Posts: 4540

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

This isn't totally related, but I found it to be an interesting (and sensible) read:

Video Gaming - Chasing the Dream


http://www.xboxlc.com/cards/sig/simplegreen/Nellisoft.jpg

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#73 2005-08-11 8:45 am

Bat
Flawless Cowboy
Royal Wombat
From: Björk, Björk
Registered: 2001-05-14
Posts: 28541

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

Chris FOM wrote:

Chris FOM wrote:

And I'm very glad this moron gets his targets from the media. He'd go smurf if he ever played Killer7 or some of the other smaller, truly edgier games out there. GTA pushed the envelope, but in such a ridiculous fashion I can't take it seriously. Killer7 and similar are far more disturbing, because they take many things dead seriously.

I should have kept my mouth shut. Maybe my copy will become a collector's item. Never mind that the sex scene in question contains no nudity and frankly is less explicit than your average PG-13 rated James Bond movie.

VGCats took it on...

http://www.vgcats.com/jack.php

...but Broken Toys got the most links together, including that one.

http://www.brokentoys.org/?p=6805


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#74 2005-08-11 10:59 am

IcarusFountain
Damned Portals!
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From: Stuck in 1 Infinite Loop
Registered: 2003-12-27
Posts: 6253
Website

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

But remember, you can't say anything like "I hope Jack Thompson dies a horrible death and goes to hell", because he'll report your "threat" to the FBI for investigation.

Absolutely frelling nuts.

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#75 2005-08-11 11:42 am

elpato84
is Heavy Weapons Guy
From: red team
Registered: 2002-05-25
Posts: 3305

Re: Jack "Douchenut" Thompson writes an open letter to the ESA.

It's like some bad joke. I'm still waiting for the punchline.


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