'Mass Effect' belongs in sex shops?

[Sidewinder]

Life Lessons: GAMERs "Rights" to Lesbo-Alien Sex!
Posted by: Kevin McCullough at 1:06 AM
UPDATE: 1/16 - 10:00am
Feel free to keep reading, the points I responded to yesterday follow below.

My thoughts from today are found here... even dare I say - my apology?

The Gaming universe exploded in anger over the tone and a couple of the specifics of my most recent column, "The 'Sex Box' Race for President."

If the few who wrote me are indicative of the rest of the gaming universe, we know at least they have passion - for their toy-boxes...

Repeatedly they challenged me, called me names, and used some of the most stimulating intellect I've seen to date to point out my error on a point of substance/possibly two...

Here's a sample of the Gamers at their finest (directed at me...):

I hope someone hits you over the head with a dictionary, putting you into a coma. The financial strain on your family would eventually force your son to sell his video games. Your son would have to go several years without a father figure in his life, giving him a handful of psychological and emotional complexes.

Then, years later when you wake up from your coma, you find your son to be a full-blown adult. He lives far away now. You track him down to let him know that youre back. You meet up with his lovely friend Jim, whom he must blow for drug money. You try to change his ways, but he wont budge.

It all comes to a climax when he bludgeons you to death in a particularly heated argument. He then empties your pockets, strips you naked, sodomizes your corpse and uses his connections in the rough part of town to have your body dumped, leading Police to believe you picked up a tranny, were robbed, and then killed.

More than one who wrote me claimed that because he loves gaming so much that I had somehow permanently impaired his world because of the assertions I made in the dangers that sexually explicit games present to the whole of society.


To a person (after being hyped a bit by gaming blogs) and no doubt instructed to flood my inbox with response, the gist of these responses went something along these lines, "YOU LIED, YOU LIED, YOU LIED." Some called me a yellow journalist, some just typed the "F" word something like 27 times, and signed it, "have a good day."

But what was it I was supposed to have lied about? That my friend is the compelling part of this highly emotional drama - if only to one niche of people attached to their X-Boxes.

1. "The most realistic sex acts..." - from the YouTube footage I saw, I still concur, to me these acts are the most realistic put in video games - that I have seen. In the lesbian version one woman's hand appears to stimulate the crotch of the other passing between the legs. Today many of the more perv-oriented gamers took delight in describing for me the detailed description of games they claim are MORE realistic... Ok fine, I'll take them at their word, but for me the statement stands...

2. "One can custom design the shape, form, bodies, race, hair style, breast size of the images..." Evidently the only thing I got wrong on this was the breast size, though I would like someone to explain to me how the female characters end up having different sizes again on the YouTube footage I witnessed with my own eyes... But the rest of it was true. race, hair style, color - etc.

3. "...the video game "persons" hump in every form, format, multiple, gender-oriented possibility they can think of." Again true (not that there are that many combinations of human sexuality to begin with.) But since the makers of Mass Effect decided to throw in a little alien booty both hetero and homo it seems to me that they covered the range. Would these gamers have preferred that the game included bestiality? Later in the column I make a reference to being able to perform sex acts, homo and hetero, with whomever... Ok - you can't have sex with every single character in the game... But between copulating with Aliens, girl on girl, guy on girl, and according to my gamer friends who I checked with - it does not take a great deal of manipulation to add a few extra "kinks" to the mix for those who know a little bit about such things.


4. They also took outrageous umbrage to the claims I made in the column that the game is marketed to teen-age boys. (Though many of those giving me feedback happened to be under the age of 17/18.) The common argument is that because the game is marked "M" that means that no kid under 17/18 (depending on your state) would be allowed access to it. Asinine thinking through and through though. Simply like the fact that movie theaters are this night allowing children underage to purchase tickets, refusing to ask for ID, these games are being sold over the counter by the major chain stores with no enforcement of the age limit suggestions posted on the games themselves. The Gamers act as though the packaging itself is all the responsibility that needs to be taken. Of course they themselves probably started hiding their collection of Hustler Magazine under their beds when they were eleven and have thus a good idea of how the "letter of the law" differs from the "intent." Thus the explanation of why they were so sore with me for pointing out the obvious. The silly "M" label stands for, and accomplishes precious little. (UPDATE 1/16: It accomplished more than I previously understood.)


5. The major criticism the Gamers had for me in their reaction was this challenge: "Unless you've spent the 20 hours of game time it takes to get to the explicit scenes, keep your fat mouth shut!" Many challenges stated that unless I played it myself then I had no business pointing out its objectionably content. Would they say the same of a strip club at the end of their block or hookers knocking at their door? Normal people would not. There is an innate instinct that tells us right from wrong, it's called a conscience. Did I play the game? No. Did I talk to some gamers who had and who knew the possibilities of the game. Yes! Does it make the lesbian, alien, hetero, homo sex that a player arrives at in the game a proper thing for teenagers to be tantalized by? Absolutely not!

Midway through the column I turn to a vision of where such games will lead to in the future, more games using sex as an enticement, more vivid graphics, more, more, more... That is what gamers ascribe to right? Alternate universes where they can escape this world and become caught up in the pursuit of whatever...

The over-arching point of the entire piece, was not even to encourage censorship - though we ARE allowed to censor smut in this nation, and it has been defined already by the Supreme Court. (Thus why we are not Europe with our "blue" channel running on broadcast television nightly.) The real point of the piece was however to say that in the election coming up the next President will preside over a society that does more to push the envelope than any that have come before it.

That society does so at our peril.

Look, if the Gamers need outlets to find adult oriented gaming options - then make them drive to the outskirts of town and be forced to frequent those places that no one wants in the community to get them. By properly removing sexually explicit material from Best Buy, Circuit City, and Wal-Mart we take a step (one that did not need to be explained only a few years ago) in pushing back against the tidal wave of trashy cheap sex that society has ruled harmless, and thus meaningless.

God didn't design it that way, and no matter how many gamer-nerds spam my inbox with profane dreams of seeing my dead corpse sodimized...


I will always speak up!

I don't have a copy of 'Mass Effect', so I don't know whether there are lesbian sex scenes in the game or if Mr. McCullough was seeing what he wanted to see in an otherwise innocent scene. (For a more mature reply to his views, read Penny Arcade.) Comments?

[Stark]

Shit man fix your tags.

That's pretty hilarious, given that the outragously pornographic and homosexual content in Mass Effect is less stimulating than the average trip to a nightclub. Hell, you'd see more titties just standing outside.

I guess he really hates gay people and interracial couples. And anyone who thinks 'being rated MA15+' means 'not marketed at kids' was clearly a porn fiend.

[Feil]

Wait, who? Some random guy with a website I've never heard of doesn't like video games? Say it ain't so!

[Davis 51]

The fucker lies throughout the entire article and points out how he apologized for two things.

The original article is no longer available. The fucker was screaming about "orgasmic rape" and "customizable sodomy." Supposedly, "Online rape" was soon to come if we don't regulate video games.

[Darth Wong]

The guy is a right-wing blogger. What do you expect?

[Sidewinder]

The original article is no longer available.

No wonder I couldn't find it when I searched Townhall.com!

Considering the language Mr. McCullough apparently put in that article, I can understand why it was deleted.

[Davis 51]

The original article is no longer available.

No wonder I couldn't find it when I searched Townhall.com!

Considering the language Mr. McCullough apparently put in that article, I can understand why it was deleted.

Probably because of the hundreds of comments raging on about the inaccuracies of the article. Even a hardcore right-winged blogging site would be stupid to leave it up.

When I first read it, I was reminded of the blogsforbrownback thing.

[Spyder]

Suprise suprise, the original blog article that he's talking about there doesn't seem to be around anymore.

Penny Arcade have picked this up.

[DPDarkPrimus]

So I guess you didn't read Gabe's post on the subject?

A while back we had a run in with a local radio host. The whole story isn't worth re-telling but the end result was that you all started contacting the shows advertisers. That got me a late night phone call from the station director. This guy was fucking livid, he told me he was going to sue and blah blah blah. I realized from that whole thing that attacking these radio guys directly is worthless. Attacking someone like Kevin just gives him material for his show and his handful of listeners. Now attacking his advertisers, that would actually piss him off.

I was ready to suggest that if you really wanted to hurt this guy you should contact his sponsors. That was until I started looking for his sponsors. It turns out he's only on two stations and they are both Christian stations. They only had six or seven sponsors at most and they were almost all churches or local mortgage companies. You really can't contact his sponsors because the guy just doesn't have any. The biggest thing he seems to be involved in is the Townhall.com site. He's one of a hundred or so columnists there but really that's just like Blogspot for nut jobs. I really didn't understand just how right we were with this comic until I started doing more research on him. This guy is a nobody. This blow up with gamers is the most attention he's ever had, and is ever likely to get.

-Gabe out

Just ignore him.

[KlavoHunter]

The guy is a right-wing blogger. What do you expect?

Fixed it for you.

[Darth Wong]

The guy is a right-wing blogger. What do you expect?

Fixed it for you.

Blow me. If you don't realize that right-wing bloggers are a special kind of idiot with a special kind of vendetta against sexuality in videogames, you're a fucking moron.

[Spyder]

The guy is a right-wing blogger. What do you expect?

Fixed it for you.

No the right wing part is a valid criticism. There are documented links between Right Wing Authoritarianism and maladaptive personality disorders.

Some psychologists even refer to RWAS as a syndrome.

[Davis 51]

You know, I thought this was pretty much over. Could I be right? Just this once?

Noooo. Faux noise had to pick up on this. (Video in the link.)

Suprise suprise, the original blog article that he's talking about there doesn't seem to be around anymore.

Penny Arcade have picked this up.

Someone didn't read the thread.

[[R_H]]

A quick Wiki search reveals that Mass Effect is rated M in the US and Canada. Meaning it's not recommended for "boys" but teenage males (most of whom have probably seen a lot more than the side of an alien boob). It's meant for a mature audience, that can handle "lol buubies" unlike the talking douche bags on FauxNews.

[CDiehl]

Here's a part that struck me.

The Gamers act as though the packaging itself is all the responsibility that needs to be taken.

From the perspective of the manufacturer, I'm afraid it is. Does this man perhaps expect game manufacturers to post employees in every store in the country to card everyone buying their games? I imagine, if such a thing were to occur, they'd become more involved in steering customers to their products than in enforcing the age recommendations.

Also, I seriously doubt the ratings on games issued by ESRB, like those issued for movies by MPAA and the equivalent for TV programs, have the force of law. That being the case, I find it hard to believe any legal action can be taken against anyone, for example, letting an unaccompanied 16-year-old by a game rated Mature.

[Losonti Tokash]

But didn't you listen? They clearly said it was impossible to stop your kid from playing or buying the game when you're not around. Never mind you can set the parental controls on the 360 so that it can only play games rated up to Teen or at a certain time of day. Or if push comes to shove you can just take the damn cables with you to work. If someone really gave a rat's ass about stopping their kids from playing video games it takes the smallest effort possible. Yet here we are with the latest parade of idiots raving about murderporn.

My favorite thing, though, is how the bare ass of an adult in a game marketed toward adults is somehow "full digital nudity," and is the sort of thing that's "dangerous" to an adolescent mind. Nevermind children's shows on Cartoon Network which have the exposed backsides of children all the damn time (i.e. Dexter's Lab).

[Darth Wong]

Also, I seriously doubt the ratings on games issued by ESRB, like those issued for movies by MPAA and the equivalent for TV programs, have the force of law. That being the case, I find it hard to believe any legal action can be taken against anyone, for example, letting an unaccompanied 16-year-old by a game rated Mature.

Can legal action be taken against a store which sells X-rated videos to kids? If so, then why can't it be taken against a store which sells adult-oriented games to kids?

[Darth Wong]

But didn't you listen? They clearly said it was impossible to stop your kid from playing or buying the game when you're not around. Never mind you can set the parental controls on the 360 so that it can only play games rated up to Teen or at a certain time of day. Or if push comes to shove you can just take the damn cables with you to work. If someone really gave a rat's ass about stopping their kids from playing video games it takes the smallest effort possible. Yet here we are with the latest parade of idiots raving about murderporn.

What if you think one particular M-rated game is OK for your kids to play, but you think another one isn't? Did that possibility occur to you? What makes you think every parent has exactly the same priorities as the ratings board?

[Losonti Tokash]

What if you think one particular M-rated game is OK for your kids to play, but you think another one isn't? Did that possibility occur to you? What makes you think every parent has exactly the same priorities as the ratings board?

Well then obviously they don't have to restrict the machine itself, just whichever game they object to. Which can, again, be accomplished pretty easily by just taking the game with you when you're out of the house or wherever (or just not buying it, of course). I never said the ratings board was especially reasonable, since obviously Halo and Mass Effect aren't anywhere near on the same level as Grand Theft Auto when it comes to sex or violence, no matter what the ESRB says. But generally for the people that get extremely upset about this sort of thing (like our blogger here or the people on Fox), I would think it'd be enough.

[Xisiqomelir]

Geoff Keighley is a sexy beast.

Fox News' bimbo of the month is a stupid whore.

[Keevan_Colton]

Also, I seriously doubt the ratings on games issued by ESRB, like those issued for movies by MPAA and the equivalent for TV programs, have the force of law. That being the case, I find it hard to believe any legal action can be taken against anyone, for example, letting an unaccompanied 16-year-old by a game rated Mature.

Can legal action be taken against a store which sells X-rated videos to kids? If so, then why can't it be taken against a store which sells adult-oriented games to kids?

In the UK there are two types of age certificate on games. One in black and white has no legal force and is just a recommended audience. The other is red and has the same legal force as video and DVD ratings and is done by the BBFC British Board of Film Classifcation in the same manner.

[SAMAS]

But didn't you listen? They clearly said it was impossible to stop your kid from playing or buying the game when you're not around. Never mind you can set the parental controls on the 360 so that it can only play games rated up to Teen or at a certain time of day. Or if push comes to shove you can just take the damn cables with you to work. If someone really gave a rat's ass about stopping their kids from playing video games it takes the smallest effort possible. Yet here we are with the latest parade of idiots raving about murderporn.

What if you think one particular M-rated game is OK for your kids to play, but you think another one isn't? Did that possibility occur to you? What makes you think every parent has exactly the same priorities as the ratings board?

In that case, I would suggest checking the rating description on the back of the box, which lists what about the game may be found objectionable.

Although given that the ESRB rating of any individual game is supposed to be taken from a more or less random sample, the odds of the priorities being similar is better than one would think.

[Darth Wong]

But didn't you listen? They clearly said it was impossible to stop your kid from playing or buying the game when you're not around. Never mind you can set the parental controls on the 360 so that it can only play games rated up to Teen or at a certain time of day. Or if push comes to shove you can just take the damn cables with you to work. If someone really gave a rat's ass about stopping their kids from playing video games it takes the smallest effort possible. Yet here we are with the latest parade of idiots raving about murderporn.

What if you think one particular M-rated game is OK for your kids to play, but you think another one isn't? Did that possibility occur to you? What makes you think every parent has exactly the same priorities as the ratings board?

In that case, I would suggest checking the rating description on the back of the box, which lists what about the game may be found objectionable.

A fine idea except that people are saying you don't need to restrict the sale of games at the retail level as long as parents can use the parental controls on the game console. I'm pointing out that this doesn't work. You need retail stores to refuse to sell M-rated games to kids; that is an essential part of a parent's ability to control what their kids are playing. You can't watch your kids 24/7.

[KlavoHunter]

The guy is a right-wing blogger. What do you expect?

Fixed it for you.

Blow me. If you don't realize that right-wing bloggers are a special kind of idiot with a special kind of vendetta against sexuality in videogames, you're a fucking moron.

Oh, I agree that right-wing bloggers can get pretty out there, like this whack-job. I'm just saying that bloggers in general can express extreme (read: retarded) opinions either way that you would never catch an influential politician saying.

But in this case, yes, games lead to the Fundie Brigade coming out in force. I'm sure this guy's several dozen dedicated readers are exploding in righteous fury.

[Darth Wong]

Not just games, but movies and TV shows too, in conjunction with a conspiracy theorist mentality. Any time you see someone talking about a "campaign" to send certain "messages" to "vulnerable children" coming from the entertainment industry, you know it's going to be some fundie right-wing nutjob.

The interesting thing about the right-wing vs left-wing bloggers, however, is that while the left-wing bloggers are far more extreme than mainstream left-wing politicians, the same is not true of the right-wing bloggers: they tend to be very close to mainstream right-wing politicians in terms of their views, although they do express them much more bluntly.