Jack Thompson Targets Electronic Arts, Nipples
July 22, 2005
I'm starting to believe that anti-gaming lawyer Jack Thompson sees "adult content" in every video game out there. Perhaps he was scarred by Adventure or Donkey Kong years and years ago and is looking for revenge. Whatever the reason, now that Thompson has "won" the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Hot Coffee debacle, he's wasting no time in targeting another popular video game: The Sims 2.
Apparently Thompson has been paying a lot of attention to The Sims 2, perhaps a little too much attention. OK, entirely too much obsessive attention. Why? According to him, The Sims 2 contains "full frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and pubic hair." If that's not enough, he also managed to raise the specter of child porn and pedophiles in his statements.
It's not just the adults that are liberated from their wardrobes. Sims kids can also be nudified, "much to the delight, one can be sure, of pedophiles around the globe who can rehearse, in virtual reality, for their abuse."
I don't even know where to begin with this one. Rated "T" for teen, the out-of-the-box Sims 2 uses the time-tested method of blurring naughty bits when characters shower, change clothes, etc. Thompson claims that players can remove the blur with something called a "cheat code" and see hot polygon-on-polygon action. The game's publisher, Electronic Arts, denies this, citing that underneath the blurred bits are Ken and Barbie-type smooth mannequin bodies. If Thompson is seeing something more here, then it's coming from his overactive imagination.
There's always the issue of what independent game modders come up with in the way of custom clothes and skins, but here's where Thompson is treading on territory that is not part of the Hot Coffee issue: Rockstar's sex mode was on the game disc. Sims 2 nudity is not. If Thompson is seeing detailed nude Sims, he didn't get them from Electronic Arts. More from Thompson:
"The sex and the nudity are in the game. That's the point. The blur is an admission that even the 'Ken and Barbie' features should not be displayed. The blur can be disarmed. This is no different than what is in San Andreas, although worse."
So by self-censoring themselves, Electronic Arts is guilty of not self-censoring themselves? Can
someone please stop this man before he drags the good name of video
games further through the mud? His loaded antagonistic statements,
baseless half-truths, and gorilla dust are going to set the game
industry back years through censorship issues and legislation if
someone doesn't talk some sense into him or those who believe his
ramblings.