Grandmother sues over sex scenes in GTA:SA

[Fezmid]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/07/...t.ap/index.html

 

Talk all you want about wasted dollars going to NASA, but there's MUCH bigger wastes out there.

 

First of all, a rated M game is for 17+, an AO is for 18+. What's the difference?!

 

Second, American Pie is rated R (17+). Sorry, but there's a LOT more sex in that movie than the "Hot Coffee" mod in GTA. The mod isn't even anatomically correct. Plus, if the kid is smart enough to figure out what to download in order to mod the game to get to the "sex" scene, they could just as easily go to a porn site and see REAL porn.

 

Third, this grandmother thinks it's ok for her 14 year old to shoot people in the head, participate in S&M (no video, but it's very suggestive, and is required to complete the game), have sex with prostitutes in the car, etc, but heaven forbid her grandson see a really crude representation of a sex scene -- one that he would have to go out and do a LOT of research to figure out how to get to.

 

And then, for more fun, we get to pay tax dollars to have the FTC review the whole thing. Our tax dollars at good use.

 

CW

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

Society (how we do business in this country) seems to be making an odd and not very workable distinction between MA and AO ratings and the age of consent.

 

It does not bug me at all that the courts would be the venue for trying to figure out and get some clarity on this point as it would seem to me to be a RELATIVELY orderly and cost effective method for doing this and one which is open to all (anyone can sue anyone in America which is why stupid things happen al the time, but there are a set of rules, some transparency, and an orderly method for taking this issue up the food chain and integrating any regional differences.

 

I thnk this would be foolhardy if this effort immediately prompted some sort of NASA scale interaction and effort since so many broad issues are unsettled on this point of business activity.

 

However, comparing the thousands of dollars max that are being committed to someone suing someone (much of which are actually the partial fixed costs of court proceedings and the variable costs of hiring lawyers etc are absorbed by the private sector) and the millions of tax dollars and thousands of people involved in a NASA flight does not seem to compute to me.

[Fezmid]

However, comparing the thousands of dollars max that are being committed to someone suing someone (much of which are actually the partial fixed costs of court proceedings and the variable costs of hiring lawyers etc are absorbed by the private sector) and the millions of tax dollars and thousands of people involved in a NASA flight does not seem to compute to me.

 

I'm not talking about the suing, I'm talkinga bout the FTC probe. That's a lot of wasted dollars, and has nothing to do with a lawsuit.

 

CW

[mtdoak]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/07/...t.ap/index.html

 

Talk all you want about wasted dollars going to NASA, but there's MUCH bigger wastes out there.

 

First of all, a rated M game is for 17+, an AO is for 18+.  What's the difference?!

 

Second, American Pie is rated R (17+).  Sorry, but there's a LOT more sex in that movie than the "Hot Coffee" mod in GTA.  The mod isn't even anatomically correct.  Plus, if the kid is smart enough to figure out what to download in order to mod the game to get to the "sex" scene, they could just as easily go to a porn site and see REAL porn.

 

Third, this grandmother thinks it's ok for her 14 year old to shoot people in the head, participate in S&M (no video, but it's very suggestive, and is required to complete the game), have sex with prostitutes in the car, etc, but heaven forbid her grandson see a really crude representation of a sex scene -- one that he would have to go out and do a LOT of research to figure out how to get to.

 

And then, for more fun, we get to pay tax dollars to have the FTC review the whole thing.  Our tax dollars at good use. 

 

CW

392170[/snapback]

 

Ha. An eighty five year old Manhatten Women sees on the news that there is a sex scene in the game little jimmy begged for during Christmas or his birthday, and now she wants to sue rockstar games. I pray to God that Rockstar doesn't settle, takes her to court, and points out that #1. the game is not intended for 14 year olds and #2. that her grandson had to jump through several hoops and research into finding the sex scene.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

I see wha you are saying, but I assumed you must have been talking about the eventual costs of the lawsuit (if it went up high in the courts, if various local jurisdictions disagreed, or if a verdict and judgment was returned which was enormous and for some reason not adjusted way down as they virtually all are) because if all these quite unlikely events happened then a comparison to the NASA outlay may be reasonable.

 

However, I did not focus at all on a section of the FDA opening an inquiry into the false advertsing claim because this is such a small expenditure compared to even a minor NASA effort that the two did not compute together for me at all as a rational comparison.

 

Even a minor NASA mission (lets say crashing a probe into the comet) is many orders of magnitude greater expenditure and effort compared to having a lawyer or lawyers open a probe inot this false advertising claim that they do not compare at all to me.

 

The FTC probe does not strike me as unreasonable at all, particularly because the company admitted flat-out that the "secret" material was widely and generally distributed unlike their initial claim and that they were rolling over and cooperating fully rather than fighting this over some principle.

 

Both the court battle and the FTC probe strike me as very efficient ways of dealing with this. The court battle allows for private parties to adjudicate their dispute rather than have this be some lofty issue unless similar disputes are decided in different ways in different jurisdictions (a real sign it is useful to go to a higher court). I'm actually pleased that the FTC is dealing with this issue of a significant piece of entertainment being sold nationally has actually made this a simple false advertising issue rather than a larger morality issue.

 

I see the FTC involvement as actually constraining this down to a case of whether the Grand-Theft folks put something (it could be anything, sex, gambling, religious rants, long division if that upsets some) into their product which is controversial and accessible that they did not advertise rather than putting this out there as the broader issue of what is the age of majority in this country.

 

The age of majority issue is probably the real one here but whether a sexual-based video piece is a better thing to sort this out over rather than some more real issue of sexual interaction seems pretty doubtful to me,

 

This is a false advertising case and the video producers seem primed to rollover on this one and the FTC focus will allow them to do this with a court settlement which makes grandma rich without setting any legally binding precedent.

[krazykat]

I think it speaks volumes about our society that people purchasing a car game appear to need sexually oriented amusement within such a game and that manufacturers provide it.

[Live&DieBillsFootball]

Sorry Granny, you bought a game that was rated "M" for age 17+ and gave it to your 14 yr old grandson. Granny should be arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

[CBusBillsFan]

I think it speaks volumes about our society that people purchasing a car game appear to need sexually oriented amusement within such a game and that manufacturers provide it.

 

I don't really consider any of the GTAs a "car" game. Sure, you do a lot in a car, but it is far from something like Grand Turismo. The game is about the mob and you have missions like drive by shootings and other things of the sort.

[billsfanmiami(oh)]

I think it speaks volumes about our society that people purchasing a car game appear to need sexually oriented amusement within such a game and that manufacturers provide it.

 

I think that speaks volumes about people who give their biased opinions about things they obviously know nothing about.

[The Poojer]

I wonder who bought the game for the precious little angel. shouldn't they be held accountable as well?

 

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/07/...t.ap/index.html

 

Talk all you want about wasted dollars going to NASA, but there's MUCH bigger wastes out there.

 

First of all, a rated M game is for 17+, an AO is for 18+.  What's the difference?!

 

Second, American Pie is rated R (17+).  Sorry, but there's a LOT more sex in that movie than the "Hot Coffee" mod in GTA.  The mod isn't even anatomically correct.  Plus, if the kid is smart enough to figure out what to download in order to mod the game to get to the "sex" scene, they could just as easily go to a porn site and see REAL porn.

 

Third, this grandmother thinks it's ok for her 14 year old to shoot people in the head, participate in S&M (no video, but it's very suggestive, and is required to complete the game), have sex with prostitutes in the car, etc, but heaven forbid her grandson see a really crude representation of a sex scene -- one that he would have to go out and do a LOT of research to figure out how to get to.

 

And then, for more fun, we get to pay tax dollars to have the FTC review the whole thing.  Our tax dollars at good use. 

 

CW

392170[/snapback]

[Alaska Darin]

Poetic justice would be for the government to remove the kid from the home and charge the parents with child abuse.

 

Idiots.

[JasoninMT]

As a game player... and the parent of game players...

 

I have to say it was a stupid move to keep code in the game which no matter how crude could be unlocked to provide porn... This is *bad press* in a market which doesn't get much good press in terms of Violence etc... Now, if their (Rockstar's) intent was truly not to leave the code in, and an employee purposefully left it in, I'm guessing they are in some pretty hot water...

 

If anyone has seen this cut scene, are we talking PG-13 (just nudity) R (nudity & intercourse - no penetration shown) or X rated (you get the idea)? Anything less than X rated should be covered by the M (if you ask me)...

[Fezmid]

If anyone has seen this cut scene, are we talking PG-13 (just nudity) R (nudity & intercourse - no penetration shown) or X rated (you get the idea)?  Anything less than X rated should be covered by the M (if you ask me)...

392507[/snapback]

 

I havn't played it in the game, but there was an AVI floating around the net at one point. The main character is fully clothed throughout the whole thing, and you see a VERY crude breast from time to time with a pixel or two in the center. The characters are making the motions, but iwatching MTV Spring Break crap is 100X more pornographic. Also, it's completely anatomically incorrect. Half the time it looks like the main character is thrusting at her belly button.

 

It's REALLY lame, and completely a non-issue. The American Pie scene where he's doing the pie is 100x worse IMHO (and that movie's rated R -- for 17 year olds).

 

Also, the same guy who's pushing to attack RockStar over GTA is also now suing Electronic Arts over "The Sims" (which I predicted) because you can mod the game so that the characters are naked too. Sad state of affairs, considering watching a soap opera is 10x more eplicit.

 

CW

[Fezmid]

http://www.gamegirladvance.com/archives/20...erspective.html

[Live&DieBillsFootball]

http://www.gamegirladvance.com/archives/20...erspective.html

392676[/snapback]

 

Thanks for the link. It shows how screwed up people are in comparing sex vs. violence. It's ok for a kid to play the game and walk down the street randomly beating people to death with a baseball bat, but show a breast and people will sue for indecency.

 

Last night on "Over There" an Iraqi gets blown away from the waist up and his legs are shown walking a few extra steps. But if you show a woman's breast on tv, the networks better get ready to be sued.

 

I would have had more respect for Granny if she had sued over the violence in the GTA game than for suing over cartoon characters having sex with their clothes on.

[Alaska Darin]

What a country.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

Actually upon thinking about this as a legal case"

 

1. Grandma may be stopid in the view of many for buying her grandson a GTA video or for buying him one recommended for above his age group, however, there is no case against her not even for child abuse for buying him a game rated fpr 17 when is 14 as all of these ratings are reccomendations rather than rules for the buyer.

 

If Granny thought her grandson had the emotional or mental capabilities of an adult as long as his parents did not object she can buy him the game.

 

Perhaps if this move were part of a series of actions on her part demonstrating that she gave him stuff recommended for adults and thre was some evidence that this exposure was related to some overt inappropriate acts by the kid, Grammy is a free as a bird on this one.

 

2. Even if Grammy was guilty of bad judgment or even a crime in buying her grandson a video not reccomended for his age, this would be no defense for Rockstar.

 

They are being sued for false advertising by putting adult material in a video rated mature. It does not matter in terms of whether they intentionally advertised the video falsely if a below age person got it. They still advertised falsely.

 

Maybe wants to only fine Rockstar a dollar because the kid is already damaged and beyoond repair since his Grammy is irresponsible, but ti seems they are definitely guilty of false advertising (hence tjis probably why they are promising co-operation rather than fighting this tooth and gigabite).

[Live&DieBillsFootball]

It probably will end up as a class action lawsuit. The lawyers will get $20 million, granny will get $10,000 and everyone else will get a coupon for $2 off the next version of the game. Gotta love our legal system.

[Fezmid]

They are being sued for false advertising by putting adult material in a video rated mature. It does not matter in terms of whether they intentionally advertised the video falsely if a below age person got it. They still advertised falsely.

 

Again, I have to disagree on the false advertising thing. You can pick up prostitutes for crying out loud. There's an S&M scene for crying out loud. Heck, it's called "Hot Coffee Mod" because after you go on a date with one of your girlfriends, you go back to her place and she invites you in for sex, complete with moans and groans. Seeing some fully clothed characters bumping and grinding is hardly "adult." Turn on any soap opera in the afternoon and you see things more explicit. Watch American Pie (rated R -- 17+) and you see things more explicit. Turn on MTV and you'll see things more explicit. All of these things are rated the same OR MORE LENIENT than GTA. Go figure.

 

http://www.jakeludington.com/britts_bytes/...hot_coffee.html

I will however wonder at the furor being raised over this bit of code-I agree that this mod is not for those gamers lacking the skills to separate fiction from reality, and agree that it should be kept out of the hands of those too young and impressionable to distinguish an over-the-top fantasy like GTA:SA, but I would place the onus squarely upon parents or guardians to take responsibility to regulate this kind of activity, as this mod is arguably no worse than what is seen on an average night of TV, and if a child is too young to see these kinds of things, what is he/she doing playing a game like this to begin with?

 

If people havn't seen it, they should do a google search for the video clip and watch it to see how bad (as in pathetic) it is.

 

CW

[Ralonzo]

I think it's only fitting for Rockstar Games to go out of business, and all the programmers lose their jobs over this. God bless Hillary Clinton for allocating tax money to have federal regulators investigate "the source of this content," because if she hadn't, consumers might have to go through the trouble of reading the label on the cover of the box.