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Brent Bozell on Nudity in Upcoming Video Games
Ant writes "Brent Bozell of TownHall.com wrote an editorial about the video game nudity trend. It covers games like 'Playboy: The Mansion' and 'Singles: Flirt Up Your Life' that are due out later this year." Ultimately, Bozell seems to distrust the ESRB, citing Eidos' decision to only sell Singles in downloadable form.
Weapons of Mass Distortion : The Coming Meltdown of the Liberal Media
Brent Bozell is Founder and President of the Media Research Center, whose poll "Do any of the Pew Research Center findings (that 'Liberals Dominate Journalism, Think Media Too Easy on Bush') surprise you?", had only three responses:
Yes. I was surprised so many journalists would admit they're liberal.
No. But it's nice to have more proof of what we already knew.
Don't know.
Talk about loaded questions? Everyone's entitled to their opinons, Mr. Bozell included, but before judging his article on nudity in videogames, be forewarned that Bozell's site makes the Simpsons' Fox News spoof ("Do Democrats cause cancer?") look like the friggin' New York Times...
So he thinks that the fact that this game won't be on retail shelves is a bad thing? Would he rather the ESRB give it a T rating and allow Eidos to sell it at Walmart where any kid could get it? There should be a requirement that you know what the hell you're talking about before you become an activist for something.
Rob
Video games aren't just for kids anymore! 'Nuff said.
-insert a witty something-
It's digusting that game companies are using the sensationalism of sex to get people interested in their games.
Why, it's almost as bad as journalists using the sensationalism of sex to get people interested in their articles.
It's like the whole Janet Jackson superbowl thing: Any normal person saw a low res blur for a split second. The outraged moral majority had to spend hours scouring the net to download and print a good half dozen different pictures of what bothered them so much.
I completely overlooked Singles: Flirt Up Your Life at E3. Now that this article has brought it to my attention, I'm definitely going to check it out!
Other than the fact that there is not much point to the game, singles. Its nudity is very modest. really its basically the sims with an option for sex and they dont fuzz the people out when they are in bed.
Yet we give that an AO rating while games like Manhunt and GTA only get a M rating.
Its kind of a double standard, but movies are more likely to get an NC-17 rating if they have alot of sex rather than alot of violence.
In America we are imprisoned by our fear of them.
Damn, nice unbiased article there. If Mr Bozell wasn't such an ignorant jerk he'd know that Hugh Hefner is anything but a sleazy pornographer. He not only affected the way people perceived nudity, but he also popularized a way of life that was hardly known in the fifties. Hefner showed society that it was ok to shun marriage, kids and the picket fence. That both men and women could be sexual creatures without the shackles of moral expectations such as the presumption of family. The equility of the working couple would never have been possible without Hefner.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Let us, for laughs, point out the assumptions this idiot has made in the article:
The target audience for the Sims 2, and the Singles, is pasty white teenage boys.
There is on-screen explicit sex in "The SingleS"
Pornography is inherently evil.
Exposing children to pornography is inherently evil.
Video game players tend to be ignorant, smut-obsessed, teenage males.
Parents are stupid and ignorant and are perfectly willing to lend their sons credit cards so that they can purchase an Adults-Only game over the internet.
The ESRB is a toothless organization composed only of malcontent pedophiles who wish to corrupt our children's minds with sex and violence.
Movies inherently contain less violence, filthy sex, and coarse language than videogames do, and are much harder for little kids to see/obtain.
Homosexuality is a deviant lifestyle, and depictions of homosexual acts are somehow worse than ordinary pornography.
Questions you might ask the author:
Did you actually play the games in question?
Are you aware of any of the earlier shit that came from Japan?
If so, are you aware how it is sold, and what the sales volume for it is, and what the target audience is?
If you're so morally pure, then why do you use such sexually charged language?
Are you compensating for something by growing that thick, 1970's-style beard?
Are you aware of the how much better the pornography industry is doing in terms of gross sales in comparison to the movie industry? Are you aware of how much more profitable video games seem to be in comparison with traditional feature films? Why do you think that is?
Do you have a template or something for writing reactionary articles against bullshit you don't understand? Could you try using a different template next time, perhaps one more subtle?
Are you aware of any of the earlier shit that came from Japan?
If so, are you aware how it is sold, and what the sales volume for it is, and what the target audience is?
Wow, I never thought about that. He'd probably go insane if someone showed him Water Closet or something.
Rob
If anything, parents should be more concerned about the extreme helpings of violence in video games. I'm not a nut who says that it makes neglected teens go out and shoot up their schools. Those are clearly cases where the parents were not nearly involved enough in their kids' lives.
But this whole outrage about nudity is mostly ridiculous. American culture just can't let go of its Puritan roots. It's the human body, for fuck's sake, we all have one! The human body can be a very beautiful, artistic thing. Sexuality is a natural, healthy thing. It doesn't have to be lewd, crude, or demeaning, but we're so fucking afraid of the naked body that we assume kids will be scarred for life if they see one.
Yeah, go ahead and let them watch people get killed every night on TV, see all the violence in the movies, and act it out in video games. No problem, we don't need to talk to our kids and explain how it's make-believe and that real violence is very, very wrong. But by god if they see one square inch of forbidden skin, they're damned to hell!
It's like the whole Janet Jackson fiasco. What a bunch of crap. Sure, nudity can be associated with sexual harrassment situations, and that's all bad. But unlike violence, it can also be a very beautiful thing and associated with the ultimate love between two people. No, brush that under the carpet and KEEP IT AWAY FROM OUR CHILDREN! Will somebody please think of THE CHILDREN!!
Insane.
It's been a while since I read an article by someone that uninformed about the current state of video games. Kinda refreshing really.
now easily downloadable PC porno games.
As opposed to the good old days of the Internet when porn wasn't easily downloadable.
...But I bet this guy passes out Chick Tracts on Halloween instead of candy.
The most disturbing thing about the article for me was the way, right from the start, that Bozell wants parents to endorse violence, role playing as a calculating killer, or a vicious thug capable of rupturing organs with their fists in preference to playing a game that lets you hope that one day sex might be a normal part of your life. He's happy with kids putrefying in their bedrooms as long as it's only deliberate brutal murder they're planning, not getting to second base.
That's perverse.
What sort of person is happier with junior killbots than junior people?
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors - Plato
What ever happened to Leisure Suit Larry?
Chaos is Divine *
Out of curiosity after seing a lot of articles about the game, I played Singles a little bit one evening. I'm not sure what the big deal is. Aside from it being a boring version of Sims, there was no nudity (not that I was hoping for it or anything). In fact, when your sims use the bathroom, huge toilet paper icons are plastered over them so youy only see their feet, neck and head. When they change clothes or shower, they are still in their underwear.
I think the people who report on Singles have failed to do their homework (or have clearly made it much further in the game than I bothered to - but if you were going to have a game with nudity why would you bother to cover up going to the bathroom or shower?). It strikes me as being very similar to all the idiot journalists covering the "underage and pre-teen children wearing colored jelly bracelets to indicate sexual activities they're willing to do" whenever they need a news story in 2004. Clearly it's overstated or possibly even entirely made-up -- but they still run with it because it gets eyeballs.
I don't mind nudity in games anyway. Nobody's forced to buy a game and there is probably a market for quality game play that includes some degree of sex or nudity beyond the old Leisure Suit Larry and Strip Poker products.
Damnit, p0rn was going to be my 2nd step in the 3 step process.
1. Make a game with p0rn
2. Mothers, family groups, right wing groups and advocates for less pink bits go rabid mad, being quoted all over the media, dropping the name of my game as the example of all that is wrong with the world.....
3. Profit!!!!
Doh! Ok, so what's left? School shooting simulations? Sim-Abortion-Clinic? Terrorist training - the game (buy the tin set, comes with authentic box cutter!)????
- Aren't trusted by Mom and Dad (or "Dad and Dad" as Brett heinously suggests)
- Have their own credit card
- Can steal their parent's credit card and not have their parents realize what was charged
If your teenager is sneaking around you to play "homo PC smut games" as Brett would love to call them, then it's not the fact that they are playing "homo PC smut games" (after all, they are biologically ready for sex), it's the fact that they choose not to involve you as a parent in their life. And THAT'S YOUR FAULT, Mom and Dad. It's not society's fault, it's not Rockstar Game's fault, it's not Universal Studio's fault, it's not UPN's fault. Brett, however, would have you believe it is Eidos's fault.Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
Where does the idea that sex is wrong, evil, or warping fragile little minds come from? Don't all these people who are complaing realize that sex is the reason they were born?
I just can't wrap my brain around this. Nothing is an excuse for parenting, and certainly not blaming the entertainment industry.
But, c'mon guys, it's just sex. It's been happening since the beginning. If it were somehow the root of all evil, don't you think we'd have found out by now?
Erskin
geek.
Bozell like so many others are starting to realize that the internet is an end-around on many of the established ways in which commerce has typically been regulated/disrupted. He's upset because he doesn't have the freedom to restrict it's availablity, because it's on the internet for *Gasp* 20 dollars cheaper than a new game in the stores. And to add insult to injury, If the product is not a physical object, The gov, et all can't demand it be sold behind the counter in a brown wrapper.
Just wait though, "watchdogs groups" will eventually get the interstate commerce clause to be inclusive of bits traveling across networks, and Bozell will have his way.
Enjoy the frontier while it lasts.
"Inattention makes clowns of us all" -Bean
I take solace in IGDA.org
Its art! By all means, stop your kids from doing things that you dont approve of, but it'll be hard to condemn the statue of David as an evil pornographic thing, considering its based on the bible, of all things. Please, as is noted, religion isn't the best justification for protecting your kids from awful, violent, pornographic videogames.
Also, this is not an American liberal, as liberal is a four-letter word in America. He's a cheap-labor conservative =]
He's happy with kids putrefying in their bedrooms as long as it's only deliberate brutal murder they're planning, not getting to second base.
That's perverse.
No, that's reality for the truly unsocialized. I know that I'm far more likely to end up pulling a Charles Whitman than getting laid. (Which isn't to say I'm likely to pull a Whitman, just more likely.)
Playing a game where I score with women would be akin to taunting myself.
What's easier? Getting Photoshop from a store without paying/ getting caught or downloading it off hotline.
What's easier for a minor? Buying porn at a brick and mortar shop or doing a quick google.
What is less intimidating- Stealing a CD from a retail outlet or downloading it online from the comfort AND UNREGULATED privacy of his own home.
Let us, for laughs, point out the assumptions this idiot has made in the article:
The target audience for the Sims 2, and the Singles, is pasty white teenage boys.
Once upon-a-time, I used to think the target audience of "dating sims" really was paedophiles. That was until I witnessed just how many giggles a group of teenage girls get out of the kissing, hugging and "snuggle" (or whatever they called it) simulation in "The Sims".
If Brent has such a problem with this sort of simulation, then he'll have a serious problem with the sort of cr*p thats on TV these days - which actually involves real people. Or maybe he suffers some sort of retardation and the lack of real ppl is the problem he has with it.
BTW, nice summary of brent's assumptions.
If anyone has ever read "Foley is Good: And the Real World is Faker Than Wrestling" by Mick Foley, in the last chapter, Foley pretty much destroys Bozell's credibility. Besides when you look like Al Gore and Groundskeeper Willie's love spawn, more than likely you have none. That's why he hid behind Steve Allen up until Allen's death and continues to hide behind Joe Lieberman.
BearDogg-X
Isn't the real issue here the fear of kids learning sex from polygons and thinking we're all a flesh mesh of triangles under our clothes? This fear is well founded as our parents continue to preach abstinence without teaching "from what?" and the (American) schools' utter inability to teach kids what sex really is? Parents need to take a preemptive strike on this so their kids' aren't asking "what's that?" during their first real encounter.
If your first exposure to sex is from a video game, someone has failed in parental/educational duties.
Those stupid "click this link to add to my army" games are still around? I didn't click your link, BTW. I just checked out the domain. Random links from AC's don't work well around here.
: it'll be hard to condemn the statue of David as an evil
: pornographic thing, considering its based on the bible
Definitely not pornographic, but one can consider the Bible evil! It has some extremely violent parts, you know... but the really funny thing is: David's statue is not too faithful to the Bible, as it actually fits the greek ideal of beauty.
Take a look at his genitals. David - a jew - is NOT CIRCUMCISED. I think Michelangelo did not give a damn about the Bible then, he simply tried to make it the apex of human male beauty. And he followed the ideals of the Greek, who (correctly) saw the circumcised body as mutilated and sexually inferior.
Circumcision is child abuse.
Anyway you missed a word. Its really a BAD sims ripoff. Everything that makes the sims fun is missing from singles. Everything that makes the sims frustating to play is enlarged a thousand times in singles.
The fun part, designing and decorating a house is immensly reduced, with only a few pieces available and the lot sizes small.
The frustation of your sims taking insane amounts of time is added, simply walking down the stairs to work takes bloody ages, your sims spend all the time on the toilet and they barely interact on their own. And unlike the sims interacting with each other is all their is.
Avoid, if you want sex games download one of the 3D sex games from japan. At least they get right down to the action. (Singles need an insane amount of time of telling jokes and kissing before they jump in the sack. No one night stands here)
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
It is not hardcore porn but about the lvl of playboy "porn" movies.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
For those that don't know Biko is a 3D game where you stalk a girl and you either rape her or follow her through the end for the nice ending (return something she lost and screw her).
There are also a fair number of h-games with minors and almost incest angles.
As for comparisons between the US/EU and japan. Well some claim they have less (violent) crime in japan but that doesn't explain the yakuza who operate far more openly then the mafia would ever dare to outside of italy. It neither explains why they got women only train carriages to stop them from being groped. Dutch trains can be very crowded too but I never heard of women complaining about being groped.
As for the issue he raises I am not certain. I can play singles and just see it as a game not as a model of real life. Most h-games from japan are actually terribly sweet and innocent, biko you don't have to rape the hardest challenge is actually the good ending. And virgin roster disgusted me.
But I am not sure if these games should be easily available. Make them available only to adults.
It easy to make fun of this guy as he is clearly a troll but that doesn't make sex in games a non-issue. Being from holland my views are bound to be more liberal then some and I really can't see anyone going out raping after playing the Singles, but after playing Biko or Virgin Roster I am not so sure. Nobody sane would be influenced by a game but nobody sane would molest kids either or take upskirt photograps. (why? It is hardly a flattering angle)
I think the biggest danger the more liberals of us face is us driving the more conservative into a corner. There just might be more conservatives out there then we think.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
What is less intimidating- Stealing a CD from a retail outlet or downloading it online from the comfort AND UNREGULATED privacy of his own home.
OK, so how's he going to pay for it?
And if he's not going to pay for it, that's no different from what the situation would be if it was on retail shelves.
Rob (BTW, his home would be regulated by his parents)
Eidos is using sex for sensationalism? No. The game Singles basically IS ABOUT SEX. How do you promote a sex game without sex? Duh.
Something to take all the heat off the "violence in videogames" argument: bare nipples!
;-P
Maybe *now* I can finally go back to murdering hookers in *peace*!
There are also a fair number of h-games with minors and almost incest angles.
Fair number? Almost incest? According to J-list, there are upwards of 50 H-games released per month in Japan, and they typically have you chasing after at least one cousin. Heck, by the standards of the gere, an H-game that isn't disgusting is one in which you don't rape your mother with the help of a nun.
Nothing a scripter can't handle.
So up the "relief" on going to the toilet. (now improves all the stats and a lot more). Reduced hunger and toilet growth during work (they don't have lunchbreaks or toilets at work in germany?) and reduced the total number of points needed for stages in the relationship.
Money I had increased before the first game. I liked the messing around in the sims. Money worries I don't need a game for. So I flew through the game in a bit over an hour.
Apart from the nudity you didn't miss much. As said there are more explicit games out there.
As for who plays it. Well difficult to say. I am into anime and I have noticed that most of the guy anime actually has a lot of romance stuff in it. Plenty of panty shots of course but usually they grow from teenboy to slightly more caring adult. Learning to think of her feelings type stuff. (and a lot guys do watch or read the stuff aimed at 11 yr old japanese girls).
As for what women play. The sims relationships are even less realistic and that is an absolute hit with women. So who knows.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
"Let us, for laughs, point out the assumptions this idiot has made in the article:"
--and some responses
"The target audience for the Sims 2, and the Singles, is pasty white teenage boys."
--OK unfounded.
"There is on-screen explicit sex in "The SingleS"
--This is fact, not assumption. The ESRB gave it an Adults Only rating for it.
Pornography is inherently evil.
--Moral judgement, but common to most religions. If you have no moral committments, you will probably not think it's wrong.
"Exposing children to pornography is inherently evil."
--A lot of exposure to it is usually damaging to children's mental development. Most sex crime offenders and violent criminals have been influenced by long exposure to pornography.
"Video game players tend to be ignorant, smut-obsessed, teenage males."
--You threw the unfounded "ignorant" in there to build your straw man. Visual sexual imagery does generally have a stronger influence on males, rather than females. Testosterone levels do tend to be highest in teens and twenties.
"Parents are stupid and ignorant and are perfectly willing to lend their sons credit cards so that they can purchase an Adults-Only game over the internet."
--Again, straw man. Parents would of course not do so if asked by their child to purchase an adults-only game. However, internet distribution does make it easier for children to acquire a game by getting hold of a credit card at home and purchasing it without having to get to the store, get around age checking somehow, and then get it home unnoticed.
"The ESRB is a toothless organization composed only of malcontent pedophiles who wish to corrupt our children's minds with sex and violence."
--Wow, the straw men are getting bigger. The only statement here that is relevent is that the ESRB is "toothless". That idea is based on the fact that the system is voluntary--there is no enforcement. Companies generally submit their games for rating because it helps them sell. Stores voluntarily decide what to do with the ratings of the games.
"Movies inherently contain less violence, filthy sex, and coarse language than videogames do, and are much harder for little kids to see/obtain."
--Again, there is more enforcement in the movie industry--both in theaters and rental stores.
"Homosexuality is a deviant lifestyle, and depictions of homosexual acts are somehow worse than ordinary pornography."
--Moral judgement--see earlier comment.
Questions you might ask the author:
"Did you actually play the games in question?"
--He was commenting on content that has been seen or announced. If there is any uncertainty, it would be that there is possibly more content that he hasn't commented on.
"Are you aware of any of the earlier shit that came from Japan?"
--If it is focused in Japan, then he may not be aware of it.
"If so, are you aware how it is sold, and what the sales volume for it is, and what the target audience is?"
--Are you aware of how much/little of that is commonly sold in stores in the US or is known by most people? There are lots of obscure titles with objectionable content (Custer's Revenge, etc.).
"If you're so morally pure, then why do you use such sexually charged language?"
--Huh? So people who hold moral beliefs should use some nice euphemisms like "going all the way" or "getting down" instead of direct words like nudity, intercourse, or penetration? What does terminology have to do with moral beliefs? If you are referring to words like sleazy or smutty that have negative connotations, that implies that he thinks it's wrong, so how does it contradict his moral beliefs?
Are you compensating for something by growing that thick, 1970's-style beard?
--Off topic.
Are you aware of the how much better the pornography industry is doing in terms of gross sales in comparison to the movie industry?
--I doubt strongly the pornography industry is doing better in gross sales or revenue
We may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode. -Capt. Mal Reynolds
"--A lot of exposure to it is usually damaging to children's mental development. Most sex crime offenders and violent criminals have been influenced by long exposure to pornography."
No doubt this is evidenced by catcthing the SEXUAL DEVIANT and finding SEXUALLY-DEVIANT pornography around the house. I submit to you that people who are criminal sexual deviants are influenced by long exposure to being crazy, and there's not a sex-crime around that wasn't more or less spelled-out in the Bible and works that pre-date even it, leading one to believe that perhaps these deviances were around long before Hugh Hefner was. Counting up the porno magazines after you catch the Knoxville Buggerer and listening to what part of society he blames his crimes on does little to convince me that it was the magazines that "made him do it."
Now, if you have a reliable, comprehensive study that shows pornography can lead to criminal conduct, I'm all ears. I have a feeling you don't though.
I had heard the interview with Ted Bundy, where he talked about being influenced strongly by it, and I thought that it was more widespread. I just did a lot of searching for scientific studies linking pornography to sex crimes or violent crimes, but most of the studies don't show very much of a link. You are correct there.
One of the other effects the studies did show was it fostering a more promiscuous attitude toward pre-marital sex and multiple partners. I am morally opposed to those things, so I still think pornography exposure to children is not a good thing, but I grant the lack of the violent crime link.
Thank you for the rational challenge. I was surprised to not find the evidence I thought would be there.
We may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode. -Capt. Mal Reynolds
...I don't think making adult-themed games downloadable (with a credit card!) increases the chance that kids with access to the Internet can get their hands on porn. I mean, outside of sports, 100% is still the max right?
Let me see according the ESRB Manhunt gets an M and Some silly game with slight sexuality gets an AO ?
Whats the esrb tagline? "Horrible acts of violence are fine as soon as no one shows their privates?".
And brent.. Hentai and porn games had been sold on PCs for over 10 years your "coming of the apocalypse, will you think of the children?" warning is 10 years off track.
To the news poster, when you see this kind of "articles" please ignore it, slashdotting this sort of thing, only makes the article get more hits and attention. And as you can probably realize it doesnt desserve it.
.
Go ahead MOD my day!
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