Slashdot Mirror
Grandma Sues Over Hot Coffee Mod
Bond_James writes "Ars Technica is reporting that an 85-year old New York woman has filed a civil suit against Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive. She alleges that the defendants 'engaged in misleading and deceptive practices in packaging and selling' the game, which she purchased for her 14-year old grandson. This will be interesting, and scary, to watch unfold in the courtrooms. Will the M (17+) rating of the game save Rockstar?"
1. Grandma buys adult game for minor
... I think the woman is a total bitch trying to cash in on something that had nothing to do with her ... but here's hoping all she ends up with are steep legal fees as she wastes the court's time, and steps closer and closer to her coffin
2. Grandma sues industry
3. Court throws case out
4. Precedent is set and fewer people try to do the same
Don't get me wrong
"MAN! This whole fiasco is bouncing around the topics here more than a superball! Alright, let's get a few things straight:"
Okay...
"You are the grandmother of a well rounded 14 year old son. He's getting angsty from puberty and general teenager stuff, but he ain't that bad a kid. His parents let him watch some R rated movies, and don't mind the music he listens to either. They are also pretty tolerant about the games he plays."
You assume a lot.
"So you know your grandson wants this game, and let's say that you know at the very least that it is pretty graphic, but IT DOESN'T CONTAIN ANYTHING HE HASN'T SEEN BEFORE! If he's watched R rated movies, he's probably familiar with the violence. If he listens to today's music, then the game's language ought to be no shock to him."
A 14 your old male, one who has the freedom to listen to and watch almost whatever he wants, has seen hard core porn. Period.
"THEN you find out that the company slipped in this mini-game that involves graphic/explicit sex, and you realize YOU were the one that bought it for him. Sure it requires using a cheat device and a cheat code, but with a little web surfing and owning said cheat device, it isn't too difficult to unlock if the effort is put into it."
That does not sound like a "mini-game". That sounds like unused code. There are a millions examples of these easter eggs - everything from cheat codes to "lost levels" and equipment. If you unlock it, then more power to you. But it is not what the developer had in mind for the final product.
"So whose fault was it? Was it the ratings board for not properly giving the game an AO rating, reserved for games with graphic sex?"
No. The game, as it was meant to be played, was rated M. AO is a misnomer unless the game shipped with the Hot Coffee Mod applied.
"So, now we have dear Flo here going to court with a lawyer who ISN'T Jack Thompson, and she, as of right now, can have a pretty good case against the company. They did NOT disclose the mini-game to the ratings board, and it went unmentioned until July when it spread like wildfire, and when something spreads that quickly, you know that it can be easily accessed by any tech savvy kid."
Why, exactly, would you disclose that buried in the code, inaccessable to normal users of the game, is this bit of code?
"1) Grandma has a case against Rockstar because they provided millions of discs to parents who did NOT want graphic sex placed before their kids. Violence and language, and sexual suggestiveness is one thing, but graphic sex is THE MOST TABOO thing possible in media. Movies, books, TV, and radio do not have graphic explicit sex material on them. Think about the last time you listened to a porn scene on the radio, watched full blown sex on TV (BY HUMANS!), read a graphically detailed sex scene in a book, and saw a full out sex scene in a movie that wasn't porn!"
Uh, dude, are you insane. Howard Stern, every morning, has some chick moaning away in some sex scene. Daytime soaps have many steamy moments, as do evening shows. Not "hard core", but neither is the sex in the Hot Coffee mod - which, I wonder, have you even seen? Books, aside from Harry Potter, have lots of sex in them. In fact, most of the books I read have some sex. Some is graphic, other is just incidental. It's really a non-issue. Not to mention, do you have any idea how much money "THE MOST TABOO" media makes each year? I don't have exact figures handy (and I'm not about to look it up at work) but I understand it makes more money than any other form of entertainment. Not exactly taboo.
"And I'm talking MORE than frontal nudity. I'm talking about the full monty!"
The male character in Hot Coffee is wearing pants and the female has no discernable genetalia.
"Chances are, she could win and Rockstar will have to pay back and accept all returned copies of the game. Going beyond that will be a tricky fight, but even refunding ALL THOSE GAMES can cost a HELUVA LOT OF MONE