@biz: Dude, that's awesome the way you told it to them! You didn't pull a punch. True dat, brother.

Also, don't forget that Americans/Christians (who are we kidding, bro, it's all the same, right?) orchestrated 9/11, molest kids, cheat on their taxes, blow their noses loudly, don't turn the ringers off during movies, are fatty fat McFattersons, hate the environment, are backwards progress-fearing troglodytes (wait, you got that one), hate women, hate pregnant women, and take long showers until the hot water is gone.

Seriously, brah, I don't think I've ever read a post that so accurately expresses what you said. Rock on!!!

The problem here is that some conservatives let their religions go to their heads and forget that one of the most important aspects of conservativism is getting the government out of people's lives and restoring self-determination. Using a rather "creative" interpretation of laws prohibiting the sale of pornography to minors so that they can use the government to sledgehammer a corporation is very much against that principle.

As for that news site, they should've tried harder to get in touch with the other side of the debate, and I don't mean just leaving a few messages on Bioware's voice mail. This is way too one-sided.

I fail to see what is so bad about that video, when I can turn on a soap opera, desperate housewives, a racey tv add, or something along those lines and see a lot more than that. Shit my boss' son who is 13 watched superbad, tell me thats not worse than this. Go fight the parents that are letting their kids play these games rather than the people expressing their creativity by making them. Yes as much as you don't want to admit it, these games have to be created, usually by a team of programmers and artists, and to a lot of people are considered an art form.

A for adults.

That ass was a little polygonal anyways. Not much to like. And it's not like kids ain't doing it themselves anyways, if they're old enough to buy the damn game.

But somehow Xtreme Beach Volleyball gets a pass because well the string bikinis hide nipples and we all know that nipples are EVIL and capable of more destruction than Cobra Commander on a bad day!

Most likely this will fall on deaf ears given the fact that this is a very intellectually challenged context. I'm not sure exactly why I'm going to bother at the moment, nor do I know if it will be worth it in the end, but here goes.

I find it sad that this piece focuses on a popular juvenile misconception (making me question how the writer of this blog post is above the age of 20), as opposed to what the news itself is really about.

It's clear that the article in question is written from an uneducated standpoint. Claiming that Mass Effect is for kids is beyond ridiculous. Anyone that has played the game or even read about it can easily see this. Obviously such a game is not marketed for kids but for teenagers and above. The problem is that there are a lot of uneducated (with respect to games and gaming culture) people out there that view games as merely a simple toy for kids, when in reality such a view could not be further from the truth. It's true that there are a few video games made with children in mind, but in reality, video games are generally something geared towards teenagers and adults. Just like with books and movies, there is a section for kids, and an even larger one for adults (counting teenagers of course). The other problem this article faces is the fact that it simply views games as something lacking complexity, which is why such a "romance scene" is seen as porn. Because they have no idea what context this is in, they assume that the game simply forces the player to go through premarital relations or homosexual relations, because they still believe video games is a brainless activity in which you press a few buttons to kill people or have sex with them or any other such action.

This is the concrete problem with articles like these: they are written from an uneducated standpoint by people that simply cannot comprehend the complexity and value behind games. The reason why these articles exist is because similar articles and so on have existed before this, and since so many have said the same thing, it must be true right? So this is generally what they face: a group of parents who grew up only knowing simple Atari and Super Mario, if that, aren’t aware that gaming has evolved (nor are they aware that even in those times, there were still quite advanced games that went beyond “simple childish button pressing distraction”), and have read several fear mongering news articles or statements by Jack Thompson, and have fallen for the media’s propaganda (who could care less about the truth, and more about the ratings). Coming from such sources (hearing it over and over again), they take it as truth without doing any research for themselves and searching for truth as opposed to misguided popular opinion. While this may seem ignorant and lazy to some of you (it is), I would not be surprised if many of you have not fallen into this same practice regarding matters in literature, film, and most likely, politics, academic matters, and religion.

Bringing me into my next point, I have grown tired of coming to websites for simple purposes and ending up something else. It is for this same reason why I have generally stopped watching a lot of TV. Here’s an example: before Family guy first got canceled, it was a nice show. It was absurd, somewhat random humor, but it did not fall back on a lot of commentary and its purpose didn’t extend far beyond humor. The new episodes on the other hand are practically unwatchable, given the fact that the creators of the show blatantly try to force their own political agenda down your throat, turning mild subtext of a handful of previous episodes into the main context of the new ones. Even if I were inclined to agree with such political views, the original purpose of the show has still been bastardized and the reason I went to watch it in the first place is gone. This trend has also gone through many other shows, movies, media, but strangely enough, it sometimes ends up on places like these. A video games blog is the last place you’d expect such jobbers to dish out their misguided views by lacing them onto a blog post that should have been about games.

Rather than pointing out the real issue (video games being trivialized and stamped as a simple toy for elementary school children), the writer chooses to stuff an idiotic rant that I’d commonly expect from an immature high school student or a brainless college dropout regarding the nature of sex and morality. The irony is that even though this scene is clearly not hardcore pornography, it can easily be classed as a softcore scene. The irony is that there is an age barrier on the video despite that the writer describes such a scene to be ridiculous in terms of sexual content and practically suitable for anyone. It’s funny because this really shouldn’t be the focus point at all, given the fact that this is a blog about games, and the most offending part is that this article clearly falls into popular misconceptions regarding games, and yet the writer chooses for some reason to pigeonhole himself into an illusion on as to what morality states regarding sex, convincing himself that because sex feels good, anyone who puts “limitations” on it in anyway is merely a mindless mental descendant of the “dark ages,” which by the writer’s assumption is supposedly an age where people were stupid because they believed in some Jesus guy, which apparently taught them that they needed to burn witches and arrest women for showing bare leg. I won’t even get to that, given the fact that such an absurd standpoint merits no intellectual consideration, and would easily fall flat in any intellectual convention.

What I will finish off with is simply that it’s mentally staggering to think that such ignorant people could exist on both sides of the fence in this case. The problem with this is that if the writer attempted to challenge the “nasty doodoohead conservative” in regards to sexual morality, he’d get blown out of the water in about a second, but if he actually focused on what the issue really was with the article (again, trivializing games as a child’s toy), he’d actually have something to argue about. This is a problem actually because once all these parent groups, watchdog groups, even the writers of the article in question might for some chance stumble onto this commentary regarding the article, it will simply give them more fuel in regards to thinking of video games as childish, given the fact that the responses are what anyone would expect from an immature 15 year old. With such people defending video game culture, it’s no wonder outsides still view gaming as largely idiotic. Does it surprise you in this sense that a critic recently blasted a new Halo book questioning whether or not gamers even read? Judging by a lot of these comments and the article itself, it shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Vote Dem!

Don't vote for Christian Hillibies!

8 years of retarded president is enough.

@Matlox

The issue in this case isn't so much that video games are being marginalized as children's toys (though this is definitely occurring and is definitely a problem). The issue in this case is that a scene in a video game, which is known to have a rating that is pretty much equivalent to an R-rating were it a movie, is being loudly attacked, despite the fact that an identical scene in an R-rated movie likely wouldn't even cause these same people to bat an eye. These people are claiming (erroneously, in my not so humble opinion) that this M-rated game is being consciously and maliciously targeted specifically at minors, or at least that's how it read to me, at any rate. Whether this is, as you say, a mere result of them simply fearing and attacking what they don't understand, or if there is something more insidious going on here, I honestly can't say, but the hypocrisy of it all makes my blood boil.

They're afraid to take on the big corporate machines, the walmarts, bestbuys, circuitcitys. It's these idiot clerks who sell M rated games to minors. Go after them. Leave our hobby alone, stop associating it with children. These conservatives are so wrapped up in video game violence. Go talk to the NRA first.

Oh god is that what sex is ??? Well i have never seen it anywhere else before. Where is that spoon so i can scoop out my eyes and wash them holy water.

and how did they find out it was there? did they actually try to get to that video? then they would realise its just not that f*cking easy :-) I bet most minors wouldn't be able to choose the right dialoguepaths to get there :-)

I sang Jedidiah a nice hillibie before tucking him into his burlap sack for the night.

You forgot the next paragraph where they talk about hunting down homosexuals with pikes while wearing big white point hats and carrying crosses.

Forget that though, someone said full digital nudity. Show me where it's at, i want some of that!

Matlox: I read all your post, but it was hard to tell your overall tone because it was kind of all over the place. You seem to target both my article AND the article discussed, but you keep going everywhere with it. I am assuming, however, that I am the one who you fail to believe is above the age of 20 because I discussed the political and moral side of the discussion as opposed to the one-track gaming side, which is a little confusing, but there you go.

This is a blog. Sure, it's a blog about games, but it's a blog written by gamers and what interests them. I am very interested in social commentary and so a lot of it goes into my work. If the point of your post was indeed that you were offended or aggravated by the direction I chose to take, I guess I apologize, but that's the angle I chose and it's one I'm pleased with.

The fact is, these are sexually repressed, morally twisted individuals who are attempting to pass judgment on a medium they are too socially non-evolved to grasp, and that's what I said.

@MaxVest

"I don't necessarily agree with their position, but there's a big difference between who a game is marketed to and what the ESRB rating is."

That's a fair point. However, saying that something is marketed to children does not carry the same weight as it would had they bothered to provide any proof.

I can, and often do, say whatever the hell should pop out of my mouth, paying no regard to its validity, and I do so just because it all sounds really fucking cool. It doesn't mean that there's any credibility to the deluded nonsense that I spew unabated, but that if I can sound convincing enough, people won't bother to look into it. It's all the more effective when I'm bullshitting on a topic that the idiots I'm conversing with all share a common interest in.

Sound familiar? Yeah, it's kind of what they're doing there when they make the claim that the game is marketed to children, while failing to provide any evidence at all to support it. They are presenting this argument in a manner that like-minded individuals would find appealing, and are relying on them not to question how fundamentally fucked up it all is.

So yeah, there's a difference between the ESRB rating and who the developer's marketing team is trying to sell it to, but the onus falls on these assholes to lend the claim substance instead of just pulling out the old standby when things like logic and reality get in the way.

I don't know about anyone else, but I dig hot, lesbian alien sex...

Just sayin'

@llllDrGONZOllll

I find it very disturbing that there is any real conversation going on here. If dis not make you all laffy den you no come round here.. ya hear

So you're saying that when people malign our chosen hobby for no valid reason at all, we should all just sit back and laugh it off as if it doesn't matter? Honestly, I find that very disturbing, myself. Sure, there are many epic lulz to be had at the expense of the asshats like those depicted in this article, but that doesn't mean serious discussion about them has no place here as well. While these particular asshats are no real threat (well, assuming you ignore their ability to sway the clueless, mainstream, non-gaming, voting public, that is), there are like-minded asshats in positions of political power who are a threat, and who turn to asshats like the ones in the article as "proof" that their wrong-headed attempts to ban/censor/regulate games are good ideas when they're generally horrible ideas, for the most part.

@Im OK

I agree with you. I do believe that we've got to be willing to make our distaste with this bullshit known, but I also believe that to be effective, we've got to take it to a far more public arena. The problem is, how do we address it so that the right people will hear what we have to say, and more importantly, how do we make sure that we're not dismissed outright just because we're fans of the hobby?

I think we've got an uphill battle. While I can't really say how effective anti-gaming propaganda like this has been, I do know that it's basic human nature to accept a convenient scapegoat rather than engage in introspection. Anything that allows the public to escape responsibility for its actions gets a lot of attention. How do we counter that in a way that will make difference?

I believe that we need to be willing to do something about this sort of nonsense, but I'm at a loss to suggest how to go about it. It's all pretty mystifying to me. But then, I'm sort of a dumbass, so there ya go.

"Also Jim, are their religious groups that complain about stuff like this in the UK?"

There are, but they often don't get the kind of validation that they can get with American media. Also, they tend to kick up a stink about blasphemy more than anything else. The one thing about England I love is that atheism is far less of a crime here.

Also, in England, we have it the other way round to America. Over here, boobies and swearing is okay, it's the violence we get scared of.

And once again, I show up way late to the party to add anything to the discussion which hasn't already been elaborated on by all sides, so let me just say that every day, because of intellectually devoid statements on the internet, I lose a little more faith in humanity's survival.

Oh, you Americans. How I pity you.

*corny recorded laughter*

Wait, they are bitching about a game giving you a choice to be homogay?

Well then, who're the ones going against their so-called gods so-called will?

I mean, if I bought into God creating everything, I don't see how supercons can be so against homosexuality. Aside from obvious dong on dong, I don't see a distinction between gay sex and hetero sex.

I should be given a medal for being so tolerant.

@Dryvy: Unnatural? A person who loves someone of the same gender is unnatural? You may want to reconsider that statement just for future reference. There is nothing wrong with love, straight, gay...period. Just because the country is led by someone who reinforces and upholds the completely off base point of view you have accepted as reality, doesn't make it absolute. People are people. Love is love. The sooner people can understand this, we'll all be a lot better off.

No hard feelings or anything, I'm just always put back at people who see something wrong with gay people.