Sex is bad, guns are fine.
Son - “Hey Daddy?”
Dad - “Yes Son?”
Son - “How are babies made?”
Dad - “
Son - “Yipee!!!”
Unless your electricity has been out all week, you’ve heard the hubbub about GTA: San Andreas and the hidden sex minigame called “hot coffee”. It has become yet another milestone in the children and video games debate. If you need to catch up you can read about it here and see some video of the mod in action here.
The scene is pretty graphic, though not pornographic as some people claim. It’s more equivalent to a rated R sex scene or late night Cinemax. I can understand why they want to give the game an Adults Only rating. What I don’t get is why they want to do it now. Beating innocent people to death? Well, it’s frowned upon but not enough to involve Congress. Having sex with your girlfriend? Holy shit! This is filth! Call the FTC! These people should be put in jail! How dare this game encourage pleasing your girlfriend in bed! Women having orgasms is wrong!
Why is our society like this? I believe it comes down to two things: religion and the military. The Bible is pretty much the book of choice in the U.S. Whether or not you choose to believe the New Testament part of it is moot in this discussion since most of the quotable goodies are in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is a violent piece of literature and when it’s not being violent, it’s busy telling you when and how not to have sex. Here’s a tasty quote:
“A man whose testicles have been crushed or whose male member has been cut off is not to be admitted to the assembly of Yahweh.”
Deuteronomy 23:1-2
Or how about this for Adults Only content:
“Yet she became more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled”
Ezekiel 23:19-21
How about some violence:
“Destructive Daughter of Babel, a blessing on the man who treats you as you have treated us, a blessing on him who takes and dashes your babies against the rock!”
Psalm 137: 8-9
Hey! That sounds like Mortal Kombat!
Why isn’t Congress spending $50 million to investigate how the Bible affects children?
The other factor, in my opinion, is the U.S. military. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but if you were running the military and wanted to ensure a healthy number of recruits in the future, wouldn’t you want today’s kids to play video games that encourage shooting people with guns? If they start cracking down on violence in games so that any game where you kill humans can only be sold to adults, it very well could affect how many people volunteer for or are interested in the military.
Case in point, the game America’s Army.
I’m all for video games being subjected to the same regulations as movies. Granted, the film ratings board has the same problem with banning sex and allowing violence, but I think it’s perfectly reasonable to ban the sale of media with explicit content to minors. The best way to keep these games from minors is to equip consoles with parental locks. Since Xbox 360 will include this feature (and my bet is that Sony and Nintendo will follow suit) the bulk of the responsibility for parenting will lie in the hands of the parents and not the gaming industry.
With Congress getting more involved, I expect major chains like EB and Gamespot will start restricting sales in order to avoid conflict. It won’t really hurt the industry very much; in fact, it will allow game companies more freedom to push the envelope without having to worry about a political or legal backlash.
“Ninety-five percent of people who make the actual purchase of computer games and 84% of people who make the actual purchase of video games are 18 years of age or older. The average age of the game buyer is 37 years old.” www.theesa.com
Re-rating Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas from Mature to Adults Only is purely political since the difference between the two degrees is only one year (Mature is 17+ while A.O. is 18+). It’s painfully obvious that the ESRB system needs a major overhaul, but we should be more concerned that our society encourages kids to think violence is acceptable and sex with your girlfriend is not.
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The first and third bible quotes were found at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Styx/2347/xrated.html and the second one is straight from my New International Version.