Sims 2 "Worse than Hot Coffee for GTA"; Possible Ban?

Is anything "too much"? Since it can all be turned off / taken away / put in a box / ignored, etc., I tend to think not. But I'm certainly capable of being offended, even frightened, by some content. Sometimes I worry about kids like my grandchildren who live in homes where the television is on all the time with no monitoring. When I first played GTA (the very fact I was playing it was shocking to my young adult son), I was startled by the splattering nature of the violence, by all I could do and have done to me in that game. But I dig it and often just speed around the city crashing into things, now and then getting into a suicidal shootout with the cops. Has anyone played "Postal" (I think that's what it's called)? It sounds way out there. Is it too much?

 

I agree. I was violent BEFORE I started playing TS2 and watching my big brother play GTA. I say its more how you see the game. Young stupid kids who talk really moronically that adults like (sorry, I just had to say that) are more likely to interpret the game differently. When a 5 year old sees GTA, he will think "Hey, that must mean we can do these things in real life." When a 10 year old sees it he will think "I know that this is wrong, so that's why I only do this in games." Video games are for getting us AWAY from reality and ruining our imagination, not showing us what we can do in real life.

 

I think what's at the heart of all of this is a desire to control people as if we are stupid meat puppets with no ability to distinguish between right and wrong. It is a violation of our right to govern our own lives. People who want a law for everything are not just reactionary, they're dangerous.

It is up to us as parents to teach our children right and wrong. It is up to us to decide what we want to do for entertainment. It is none of the government's business. Our rights are slowly being stripped from us and we just sit there and watched, stunned, unsure of how to fight it.

As for the pedophile argument, that's just an excuse. The Puritains are on the warpath, my friends, and nothing is sacred. How dare someone tell their kids that the human body, and sex itself, is natural and normal? Gasp. Burn them at the stake. Ken and Barbie too, while we're at it. The British had the right idea by kicking the Puritains out all those years ago. Too bad we got stuck with them here in America. And apparently China has its share as well ...

Jiko is right. Call your congresspeople. Stand up and fight. Play Sims 2 and write nasty letters to stores that ban it. Write to the American Bar Association and have Thompson thrown out for misrepresenting the facts. Stand up and let people know there is nothing wrong with a little nudity. It beats the hell out of what we see on TV every day.

We must fight this oppression before it gets out of hand.

 

we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; but most of all we will fight them in the toilets, because thats when their pants are down!

 

Crikey, Gary. Do yours take their pants down when they use the toilet? Cos mine don't!

 

ROTFLMAO!!!

You know, I hate to sound like a pessimist, but I don't think that fighting these apes by letter writing will do any good. I was watching television last night and they were doing a report about Mr. Thompson and the "Hot Coffee" mod, even showed it, blured out like our sims, but you got the idea. And it was indeed very graphic. Anyway, the person they were interviewing was not Mr. Thompson, but Senator Hillary Clinton!! She was saying that as a parent and a lawmaker, it is her responsiblilty to keep this stuff away from children. She said that the rating system does not work when people find ways to make the games even more graphic, that the legislature must step in and do something, and that parents must be educated and know what is actually in the video games they allow their children to play.

Well, this just happened to be "The Best Week Ever" on VH1, and so then they went back to the "commentators", who said that Hillary got envolved when she noticed that Bill was spending wayyyyy too much time on the Playstation.

Here's a link to the show's website. I wrote them and told them about Mr. Thompson and our Sims. Maybe next week they can make fun, I mean report on that. http://www.vh1.com/news/best_week_ever/

 

Aren't we missing the point here? GTA:SA is ESRB rated Adults Only (18+) In most parts of the world that means the person may drive, vote, drink, smoke, get married without permission, be executed, volunteer for military service and bear lethal weapons, pose for pornographic images ... need I go on?

Thompson and cronies are successfully manufacturing a Cheyenne Mountain redoubt from a pile of buckerminsterfullerine sand. (Which ought to be impossible ... but -- apparently -- it appears that I am wrong! If a lie is repeated often enough and loud enough by enough people who appear to be sincere and to have your best interests at heart then enough people will it to be true even when they can see so plainly that it is not, never could be and never, ever was true.)

Never underestimate the capacity for stupidity of a collection of naked apes that likes to style itself by the ambiguously deceptive title of: human society.

 

Well, If were going to ban Sims 2, We might as well unplug our computers and TVs, Break all our drawing utensils, and lock ourselves in a bomb shelter and never come out.
Also, He is now encouraging people to see the mods and cheats for themselves. It's like putting a "Do Not Walk On Grass" sign somewhere, You know some people are going to Walk on it, If anything, just to see what happens.

Too bad Saturday Night Live isnt in-season right now, Im sure they would say somthing about it in the Weekend Update skit.

 

Josh I concede, little, if anything. If 17 isn't mature enough to to see a little cartoon sex then it sure isn't mature enough to cope with driving a cartoon car ... regardless of the manner in which the cartoon car is driven (of meant to be driven in order to score game points.)

Isn't it likely that the hidden material was pasted over because of last minute pants-wetting by the ratings deciders?

There are absolutely no grounds whatever for excusing or otherwise condoning the cynical "let's-grab-some-moral-high-grounders". Their entire campaign is founded on lies and deceit and (worse) the shameful desire to make us all feel unworthy for having failed to notice the same problems (or to feel the same level of indignation about the same as they claim to feel). If we break apart to say that "our" game is better than "their' game because ... blah-blah-blah we'll just fall into the trap they are so assiduously building. At the bottom of that trap is a big bowl of sticky honey where nothing bad ever happens, life is always sweet, babies only ever chuckle adorably and there are no bridges or vertical walls ... because vertical walls have sharp corners (and can also fall down) and bridges -- of course -- have evil trolls beneath them.

 

I know it seems like writing letters and making calls is futile, but it's not. Those of us who are disappointed in Hilary Clinton right now know this - she is taking this stand because she thinks this is how the political wind is going to blow, because the Dems are weak and she wants to be seen as more moderate than she has appeared, because she's heard from people who tell her to take this stand. So if she and all the others hear a lot of noise from the rest of us, she may back off. Make sure she and all the others know this is NOT the way the political wind is blowing. I think we've seen with such hot-button issues as physician-assisted death and advance directives, or stem cell research, that a comfortable majority really doesn't want the government dictating these personal choices and when there is enough noise, legislators back off.

Thompson is pretty nutty on this thing - he won't change his mind. But we can get people to stop taking him seriously. It helps to make sure that people know how big the gaming base is, how broad, how many grandmas and office execs and so on are playing. Voters and taxpayers, that is.

 

I think Thompson is in it for the money seriously.

1: He has a register.com banner going ontop of his website (stopkill.com)

2: You'd think a respected attorney could have an email that DIDN'T end in @comcast.com

3: He fails to cite EVERY source he has, and his reasoning is that if he appears on national TV, he gains credability. Thats like saying that if I predict a certain college basketball team will win, and they win, I'm a lot more credable.

4: Hes failed to prove that video games directly influence violence, instead, hes trying to get by through video games correlating with violence.

5. His method: Saying something over and over despite having no actual proof about it until someone actually cares.

 

When I was about 3 or 4, I got a shallow cut in my head from a vertical wall. After that, did my parents move the whole family into a round, foam-lined house? No. Should they ban Sims 2 because there are moving Kens and Barbies in it? I don't think so.

 

They can't *BAN* TS2. Not even if TS2 were completely pornographic. Especially if it was completely pornographic. They *CAN* attempt to get it bumped up to "Adults Only", but so what? Kids have no money and cannot buy video games. Changing the rating of everything so kids cannot buy anything changes nothing. Besides, the ESRB already has a cover-your-*** that works in TS2: Content may change with online play. The reason that doesn't hold up to GTA4 is that you don't have to go online for it.

 

Therein lies the solution. Im 29 and am one of 5 children. Luckily I had a stay-at-home Mom. My dad has supported the family and my mom has done the governing of the children. We didnt play video games much. If it was nice, my Mom expected us outside either playing or doing chores. Television stations she felt were inappropriate, she called the cable company and had them blocked. Everything was monitored (i.e., television, phone usage, friends, music, etc.). It made for a lot of battles; however, were all still alive. My dad was a huge fan of shoot em up/beat em up movies. Most starring Charles Bronson, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Clint Eastwood, etc. All of us were right beside him. Though, my Mom made sure if it was PG-13 and we werent yet 13, we didnt watch it. She adhered to those ratings. There was (is) no swaying that woman.

I play video games now. Ive bought my husband the GTA series. I have several games for PS2 and Sims2 for the PC. I love to sit there and play any and all of them. I dont feel I have a violet nature because of them, obviously because Im older, harder to influence (ha, ha). Though, I feel its because my *PARENTS* taught me right from wrong. It wasnt easy, there are 5 of us.

 

Very good point, 123. I am vehemently against censorship. If you allow the government to tell you what you can and can't see you're starting down a very slippery slope, most likely padded by giant prozac-laced pillows at the bottom.

As for raising 5 kids, Duzzy, if you can't do it right, don't have 'em, I always say ... and BTW that's a very valuable lesson my daughter has learned from Sims 2 ... never have more kids than you can handle. Hats off to your parents for raising 5 responsible adults. I've got my hands full with one.

 

Here here!!! Many of the problems we see as a society are caused by poor, shoddy parenting. People who give in to every whim their children have. People who abuse and/or neglect their children. People who do not take the time to teach their children basic things like manners and respect. People who are afraid to actually sit down and have a talk with their children becuase it's uncomfortable or embarassing or they don't want to. People who do not MONITOR THEIR CHILDREN AND THE TV SHOWS THEY WATCH, MUSIC THEY LISTEN TO, AND VIDEO GAMES THEY PLAY BECAUSE, FRANKLY, THEY ARE JUST TO DAM SELFISH OR LAZY TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!!

I had a huge argument with my Husband recently. The subject: The song, "Rock You Like a Hurricane." By Quiet Riot. The reason? He had purchased the mp3 online and was burning it for my 14 year old. I didn't think it was an appropriate song for a 14 year old to listen to because of a sexually explicit line. Hubby reminded me that we were about the same age when the song came out, and Hubby is delighted that our son is now interested in 80's Heavy Metal. I told him that our parents were stupid for not paying attention to it, because I wasn't letting my son. Hubby said that I was being paranoid, that Al didn't know what it says. I asked Al to come into the living room and sing it for me. Yep, he already knew it word for word. He wasn't sure what it meant, but had a pretty good guess. Al got ver defensive and said, "You let me listen to 'Bvld. of Broken Dreams' by Green Day, and it's got the F word in it." Well, I didn't know it had the F word in it. Hubby was rolling laughing and played the song for me, mouthing the line. Still, there is a diffrent conontation. So we discussed this, as a family. Why one is bad, and one is REALLY bad. And hubby left them off Al's CD.

Point being, that took about an hour of my life. I can't even tell you all the times that I sat down and watched children's cartoons that I was unfamilure with (how many 30-something women know all the Pokemon and their attacks? Or even know the diffrence between a Pokemon and a Digimon, for that matter?), I got to the movies with them, I read up on the "hip" things, I try to be educated and be involved with my kids. I talk to them.

Those bad parents I talked about want the government to step in and parent their kids. They are the same parents who throw money at their kids and think that will make them happy. They are the ones who end up sending their kids to rehab or boot camp or military school. They have money and power and influence, but they have about as much parenting knowledge as the impoverished crack_____ down the street. They blame the media and video games and the schools and the police for their kid's bad behavior, but its THEM!! They were the ones who let the child have control of the house when the kid was a toddler, and now they cry and fret because their child is a troublemaker, and they say, "Oh, why is our sweet baby on drugs and in trouble for assault and pregnant and failing out of school. . . why, it's those evil video games!!! They saw a naked Sim and so that must have warped their mind!!!"

But as I said, those are also the parents who have the money and the power. The energy that we good parents expend trying to raise our children right, they expend in hiring attorneys like our friend Mr. Thompson, or writing their Congressmen and contributing to their campaign, or wining and dining the mayor, or playing golf with the county commissioner, or whatever!!! You get my point.

 

In case you're interested, according to stopkill.com you can email Mr. Thompson at <!-- Removing Email -->