You probably heard about the gratuitous sex scene discovered in the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, if not, the basic story is this...

Originally the game makers "Rock-Star Games" considered putting that scene in the game, they coded for it, recorded audio and then at some point decided not to release the game with it.  Unfortunately instead of removing it from the game, they simply disabled it.  As you might imagine hackers cracked open the game, found the scene and came up with a mod (called "hot coffee") to re-enable the scene.

I haven't seen the sex scene and probably won't because I don't particularly like the Grand Theft Auto games.  They aren't nearly as entertaining as say, Halo, and violence for violence's sake gets real boring for me real fast.

Needless to say some people were outraged by the presence of this scene in the game, and insisted that the game's ESRB rating be changed from mature to adults only.  I understand that to a point, and agree.  The game definitely deserves the adults-only rating... I think it probably deserves that rating even without the sex scene.  Any game that lets you beat little old ladies with a club is definitely not appropriate for an impressionable young adult.

The thing that bugs me is, a game rated M for mature is intended for people 17 or older.  A game rated AO is intended for people 18 or older.  That's such a small age difference it hardly seems to matter.  It seems unlikely that a 17 year old is going to be scarred for life by viewing material we deem suitable for 18 year olds.

But I think that's not what it is *really* about--it's not really about the 1 year age difference.  It's about getting the games off the shelves and making it harder for the manufacturer to sell them.  Many major outlets simply refuse to carry anything rated AO, because it hurts their image as a "family store".  As such, in this case I think it's not so much about accurate labeling as it is about stigma.

But I digress.  I wanted to talk about the Sims 2.  There is a lawyer from Florida named Jack Thompson who has been among those calling for an AO rating on GTA.  Now Mr. Thompson has set his targets on The Sims 2.  Apparently the problem with this game is nudity, here's what he had to say in a letter he distributed to major news outlets on Friday:

"Sims 2, the latest version of the Sims video game franchise ... contains, according to video game news sites, full frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and pubic hair."

Ummm. What?  When EA distributed the Sims, they included a censor "blur" which appears over a Sim's body when he or she removes his or her clothing for any reason. However if you were to remove the censor blur, you'd find that Sims have no genitalia.  They look like Barbie and Ken dolls!  (See for yourself, click here for an unclothed Sim.)

In my opinion the censor blur is basically there for comic effect.  But it can be shut off, and that is apparently the problem for Jack Thompson.

"The nudity placed there by the publisher/maker, Electronic Arts, is accessed by the use of a simple code that removes what is called 'the blur' which obscures the genital areas. In other words, the game was released to the public by the manufacturer knowing that the full frontal nudity was resident on the game and would be accessed by use of a simple code widely provided on the Internet."

Yeah I'm still having trouble getting past the fact that they look much like mannequins when naked.

When toy manufacturers sell dolls, those dolls typically come fully clothed.  But underneath their clothes they are naked--full frontal nudity is resident in the toy and can be accessed by simply removing the clothing.  If you're going to state that naked sims are inappropriate for someone under 17, then Barbie Dolls are also inappropriate for someone under 17.  I don't buy it.  It's ridiculous.

A lot of other people feel the same way and have mentioned this to Jack Thompson, but with each response, his state of mind seems more and more surreal.

"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."

Jack Thompson clearly believes that doll-nudity is inappropriate.  Further he compares the Sims 2 to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and says the Sims 2 is worse?  Attorney Thompson clearly has a big clue-shaped hole in his briefs.

You can read more about this story at the GameSpot.Com article Sims 2 content "worse than Hot Coffee".