I've been mailing the owner of http://www.stopkill.com/.
Oh, and this is a quite a long read, so some of the less intelligent forumites here may wish to click the back button now.
Mark Humphreys:
If anything in this world needs censoring, It is the uninformed
opinions of lawyers jumping onto moral bandwagons.
I am 18 years old, and I live in Britain - I can honestly say that for
a country that touts itself as the "land of the free", there is no
longer much freedom in your country - and it's because of people who
denounce things they obviously do not understand. People like you.
Just like a witch hunt - burning wiccans, just because you don't
understand them.
I have been playing video games since I was 8 years old. That's a
decade of gaming experience.
I have played all of the Doom games, all of the Quake games, Halo
games. Postal 2, and many, many more. I've played the Grand Theft Auto
series, and I've played Manhunt. I was as young as 10 when I first
played doom.
Hey, I even own a trench coat and listen to heavy metal and other such
"goth" music!
I guess that in your book that would make me a columbine massacre
waiting to happen!
Well, I'm sorry, but that's not how it works.
People don't become violent madmen after playing violent games.
These people play violent video games *because* they are violent madmen.
One thing on your site that irritated me beyond anything else was the
idea that the columbine shooters and tennessee snipers "trained
obsessively" before committing their violent acts. This idea is
ludicrous.
Firing a gun in a video game bears NO relation to doing it reality.
Some people would consider me to be a highly skilled player in games like
Doom and Quake. But watch me firing my *actual* rifle and you can see
that in reality, I am a terrible shot.
Pressing a button on a computer is a simple task. Holding a rifle
correctly, so as to hold it steady while aiming and control the recoil
upon firing is something which requires practice. There is no game in
existance which allows you to practice these things.
The columbine shooters even made bombs - did they learn that from Doom
aswell? I don't think so.
And as for your latest comments on The Sims... They do not have
genitals. I have removed the blurring through hacking, and there are
no genitals. They are exactly like barbie dolls.
If you have seen otherwise, it was through modifications made to the
game by players. Regardless of what you may think, the fact that this
is possible is not a reason to rate a game 18, because such things are
possible in every game ever made. Even something as tame as Mario.
Things like this don't happen in Britain - for the simple reason that
90% of people in this country have never even held a real gun.
But I digress, your comments about games are ill-informed.
I suggest that you try and immerse yourself in the gaming community a
little more to help yourself understand why these games are popular
and why people play them. Ignore the acts that you are committing in
game and just *play* it.
It'll do you good.
Now please, stop helping bad parents feel good about themselves and
push some real laws, like gun control. Those things are actually kill
people, unlike games.
Jack Thompson
(Rather than reply directly to me, he decided to give me a nice copy/paste of some eariler mails he had recieved/sent)
Dear Marylan:
The picture you've sent [immediately below my letter] is objectionable for
a 13 year old as far as I'm concerned, particularly since it is embedded in
the Sims 2 game, unclockable easily with a simple cheat code that is being
distributed by the New York Times!
You don't walk around nude in your home with the blinds open, do you,
Marylan, or in front of 13 year olds? If you think the below okay for kids,
then send me your address and I'll alert the authorities.
Many parents wouldn't want their kids playing this game at the age level of
"T," with no ID check at the time of purchase, given the amount of
reproductive activity in the game and the ability to remove "the blur." The
problem, Marylan, is that there are a bunch of video game companies that are
being deceptive, with the help of the ESRB, in slipping this into our homes
with no adequate warning that they are doing so. Electronic Arts is in fact
collaborating with the modders to put pubic hair, genitalia, nipples, etc.
on the Sims 2 figures, including the children. The pedophiles out there
love it, which is why the mods are all over the adult porn sites.
You aren't concerned about that, now are you Marylan? You cherish your
"freedom" more than the innocence of other people's children, now don't you
Marylan?
You don't want me to be the arbiter of moral in America? Fine, the vast
majority of Americans don't want the ESA and ESRB to be the arbiter of
morals either nor women who think nudity distributed to other people's kids
is their business but stopping them is nobody's business, right Marylan?
We're going to have legislative hearings all over the place now, now that
the ESRB was found to be totally inadequate to prevent the "Hot Coffee"
fiasco. Let's decide, through a democratic process, whether the below
hidden, embedded material is appropriate in a "T" game. I can abide the
democratic conclusion on that, but I bet you cannot.
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 South Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
305-666-4366
[email protected]
July 23, 2005
Steve Bené, Attorney
VP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Electronic Arts Inc.
209 Redwood Shores Parkway
Redwood City, CA 94065 fax: 650-628-1422 email: [email protected]
Re: The Sims 2 and Porn
Dear Mr. Bene:
Mods are readily available via the Internet to turn the characters in your
company's The Sims 2 into nudes with exposed genitalia. This includes the
children in the game. EA has made this modding easy by making it readily
possible to remove "the blur" from the genital areas. Even the New York
Times' web site is providing this cheat code to remove the blur.
Adult "porn sites" are featuring, via free downloads, the mods that allow
the consumer to customize the appearance of the labia, nipples, pubic hair,
and penises. As you know, The Sims 2 already features reproductive
activities in this "T" rated game.
Such modding is made more likely by public statements by the game's creator,
Will Wright, that he supports the modding of the game.
To the extent that your company does absolutely nothing to crack down on
this apparent infringement upon EA's copyrighted material, which is in
possible violation of its various software agreements and warnings, then EA
collaborates, in every sense of the word, with the modders to put this
material into the hands of consumers, many of whom are children, given the
inviting "T" rating on the game.
I urgently ask Electronic Arts to stop this modding activity by appropriate
means, otherwise the "T" rating given the game by ESRB means, for all
practical purposes, nothing and breaches trust with parents.
Regards, Jack Thompson
Copies: Media
U.S. Senators Clinton, Lieberman, Brownback, Santorum
California Assemblyman Leland Yee
----- Original Message -----
From: Marylan Dean
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 10:07 AM
Subject: I am Very Concerned
I just read Gamespot's article on Jack Thompson, and I am angry that Mr.
Thompson does not have all his facts straight. Even after the update, he
still believes the Sims 2 is a terrrible, terrible game. I want to reassure
Mr. Thompson that the Sims 2 is a wonderful, non-violent game where I, as a
46-year old Christian woman, can not only play without being offended, but
enjoy the official Sims2 website knowing how heavily patrolled it is to
guard against inappropriate content. Both the website and the game are very
family-oriented.
The above image is taken from the Sims2 on my game. I have removed the
blur in my game, and this is how detailed Sims look when the blur is
removed. This Sim is not modified in any way. I resent Mr. Thompson for
attacking the only PC game I play, and I want to assure parents of gamers
all around the world that this is simulated life without the real-life
problems. The basic Sim theme is to build family dynamics.
Thank You, Marilyn S Dean aka NoRealLife2
Please feel free to contact me for any reason. I will be happy to talk to
you if you want to publish or forward my letter.
Mark Humphreys
Fantastic, you've proven that people can add "objectionable" material
to games by adding their own content.
Guess what, you can do that with any game. Even Tetris.
Developers are not responsible for the actions of their customers. If
their customers want to change parts of the game, their is nothing
developers can do to stop them, nor is it in their intrest to try and
do so.
Using this logic, one would ban pens and pencils because they can be used
to draw "objectionable images".
Barbie-style nude Sims are not objectionable. Every parent who buys
their daughter a barbie doll knows exactly what they look like without
the clothes on.
If you are really so prude as to find this "objectionable", then you
are as childish as those you seek to protect.
Jack Thompson
(pressed harder, Mr.Thompson decided to write a new reply. It follows in it's entirity)
go to church and read the Bible
Mark Humphreys
Personally, I'm quite happy as an atheist...
But that is easily the most pathetic, childish response I have ever
recieved from anyone over the age of 14.
Personally, I would have thought you could have done better.
To think that you can't even successfully debate with an 18 year old.
The bible? What does that have to do with it?
The bible is irrelevant, and you of all people should know the
importance of the separation of church and state.
I suppose you are up in arms when you hear of women who have been
raped, being stoned to death for adultery in muslim countries?
Well, guess what - that's what their holy book dictates, which makes
you no different to them.
If you really are upset over naked "barbie doll" bodies, then wouldn't
you be better off trying to get those dolls changed, or banned? No.
Ofcourse not.
You'd be a complete laughing stock.
Instead, you jump on the nearest "lazy parent" bandwagon and do your
best to shift the blame away onto whatever the current teen generation
does to entertain itself.
I must say, I count myself lucky that I don't have someone as
infuriatingly misguided and uninformed as yourself trying to write my
laws for me.
But please, if you feel like writing something coherent and
meaningful, then feel free to explain to me how video games teach the
finer points of marksmanship such as stance, grip and posture, along
with weapons operation and bomb construction. I would dearly love to
know.
Regards, Mark Humphreys.
....
I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions.
Oh, and this is a quite a long read, so some of the less intelligent forumites here may wish to click the back button now.
Mark Humphreys:
If anything in this world needs censoring, It is the uninformed
opinions of lawyers jumping onto moral bandwagons.
I am 18 years old, and I live in Britain - I can honestly say that for
a country that touts itself as the "land of the free", there is no
longer much freedom in your country - and it's because of people who
denounce things they obviously do not understand. People like you.
Just like a witch hunt - burning wiccans, just because you don't
understand them.
I have been playing video games since I was 8 years old. That's a
decade of gaming experience.
I have played all of the Doom games, all of the Quake games, Halo
games. Postal 2, and many, many more. I've played the Grand Theft Auto
series, and I've played Manhunt. I was as young as 10 when I first
played doom.
Hey, I even own a trench coat and listen to heavy metal and other such
"goth" music!
I guess that in your book that would make me a columbine massacre
waiting to happen!
Well, I'm sorry, but that's not how it works.
People don't become violent madmen after playing violent games.
These people play violent video games *because* they are violent madmen.
One thing on your site that irritated me beyond anything else was the
idea that the columbine shooters and tennessee snipers "trained
obsessively" before committing their violent acts. This idea is
ludicrous.
Firing a gun in a video game bears NO relation to doing it reality.
Some people would consider me to be a highly skilled player in games like
Doom and Quake. But watch me firing my *actual* rifle and you can see
that in reality, I am a terrible shot.
Pressing a button on a computer is a simple task. Holding a rifle
correctly, so as to hold it steady while aiming and control the recoil
upon firing is something which requires practice. There is no game in
existance which allows you to practice these things.
The columbine shooters even made bombs - did they learn that from Doom
aswell? I don't think so.
And as for your latest comments on The Sims... They do not have
genitals. I have removed the blurring through hacking, and there are
no genitals. They are exactly like barbie dolls.
If you have seen otherwise, it was through modifications made to the
game by players. Regardless of what you may think, the fact that this
is possible is not a reason to rate a game 18, because such things are
possible in every game ever made. Even something as tame as Mario.
Things like this don't happen in Britain - for the simple reason that
90% of people in this country have never even held a real gun.
But I digress, your comments about games are ill-informed.
I suggest that you try and immerse yourself in the gaming community a
little more to help yourself understand why these games are popular
and why people play them. Ignore the acts that you are committing in
game and just *play* it.
It'll do you good.
Now please, stop helping bad parents feel good about themselves and
push some real laws, like gun control. Those things are actually kill
people, unlike games.
Jack Thompson
(Rather than reply directly to me, he decided to give me a nice copy/paste of some eariler mails he had recieved/sent)
Dear Marylan:
The picture you've sent [immediately below my letter] is objectionable for
a 13 year old as far as I'm concerned, particularly since it is embedded in
the Sims 2 game, unclockable easily with a simple cheat code that is being
distributed by the New York Times!
You don't walk around nude in your home with the blinds open, do you,
Marylan, or in front of 13 year olds? If you think the below okay for kids,
then send me your address and I'll alert the authorities.
Many parents wouldn't want their kids playing this game at the age level of
"T," with no ID check at the time of purchase, given the amount of
reproductive activity in the game and the ability to remove "the blur." The
problem, Marylan, is that there are a bunch of video game companies that are
being deceptive, with the help of the ESRB, in slipping this into our homes
with no adequate warning that they are doing so. Electronic Arts is in fact
collaborating with the modders to put pubic hair, genitalia, nipples, etc.
on the Sims 2 figures, including the children. The pedophiles out there
love it, which is why the mods are all over the adult porn sites.
You aren't concerned about that, now are you Marylan? You cherish your
"freedom" more than the innocence of other people's children, now don't you
Marylan?
You don't want me to be the arbiter of moral in America? Fine, the vast
majority of Americans don't want the ESA and ESRB to be the arbiter of
morals either nor women who think nudity distributed to other people's kids
is their business but stopping them is nobody's business, right Marylan?
We're going to have legislative hearings all over the place now, now that
the ESRB was found to be totally inadequate to prevent the "Hot Coffee"
fiasco. Let's decide, through a democratic process, whether the below
hidden, embedded material is appropriate in a "T" game. I can abide the
democratic conclusion on that, but I bet you cannot.
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 South Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
305-666-4366
[email protected]
July 23, 2005
Steve Bené, Attorney
VP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Electronic Arts Inc.
209 Redwood Shores Parkway
Redwood City, CA 94065 fax: 650-628-1422 email: [email protected]
Re: The Sims 2 and Porn
Dear Mr. Bene:
Mods are readily available via the Internet to turn the characters in your
company's The Sims 2 into nudes with exposed genitalia. This includes the
children in the game. EA has made this modding easy by making it readily
possible to remove "the blur" from the genital areas. Even the New York
Times' web site is providing this cheat code to remove the blur.
Adult "porn sites" are featuring, via free downloads, the mods that allow
the consumer to customize the appearance of the labia, nipples, pubic hair,
and penises. As you know, The Sims 2 already features reproductive
activities in this "T" rated game.
Such modding is made more likely by public statements by the game's creator,
Will Wright, that he supports the modding of the game.
To the extent that your company does absolutely nothing to crack down on
this apparent infringement upon EA's copyrighted material, which is in
possible violation of its various software agreements and warnings, then EA
collaborates, in every sense of the word, with the modders to put this
material into the hands of consumers, many of whom are children, given the
inviting "T" rating on the game.
I urgently ask Electronic Arts to stop this modding activity by appropriate
means, otherwise the "T" rating given the game by ESRB means, for all
practical purposes, nothing and breaches trust with parents.
Regards, Jack Thompson
Copies: Media
U.S. Senators Clinton, Lieberman, Brownback, Santorum
California Assemblyman Leland Yee
----- Original Message -----
From: Marylan Dean
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 10:07 AM
Subject: I am Very Concerned
I just read Gamespot's article on Jack Thompson, and I am angry that Mr.
Thompson does not have all his facts straight. Even after the update, he
still believes the Sims 2 is a terrrible, terrible game. I want to reassure
Mr. Thompson that the Sims 2 is a wonderful, non-violent game where I, as a
46-year old Christian woman, can not only play without being offended, but
enjoy the official Sims2 website knowing how heavily patrolled it is to
guard against inappropriate content. Both the website and the game are very
family-oriented.
The above image is taken from the Sims2 on my game. I have removed the
blur in my game, and this is how detailed Sims look when the blur is
removed. This Sim is not modified in any way. I resent Mr. Thompson for
attacking the only PC game I play, and I want to assure parents of gamers
all around the world that this is simulated life without the real-life
problems. The basic Sim theme is to build family dynamics.
Thank You, Marilyn S Dean aka NoRealLife2
Please feel free to contact me for any reason. I will be happy to talk to
you if you want to publish or forward my letter.
Mark Humphreys
Fantastic, you've proven that people can add "objectionable" material
to games by adding their own content.
Guess what, you can do that with any game. Even Tetris.
Developers are not responsible for the actions of their customers. If
their customers want to change parts of the game, their is nothing
developers can do to stop them, nor is it in their intrest to try and
do so.
Using this logic, one would ban pens and pencils because they can be used
to draw "objectionable images".
Barbie-style nude Sims are not objectionable. Every parent who buys
their daughter a barbie doll knows exactly what they look like without
the clothes on.
If you are really so prude as to find this "objectionable", then you
are as childish as those you seek to protect.
Jack Thompson
(pressed harder, Mr.Thompson decided to write a new reply. It follows in it's entirity)
go to church and read the Bible
Mark Humphreys
Personally, I'm quite happy as an atheist...
But that is easily the most pathetic, childish response I have ever
recieved from anyone over the age of 14.
Personally, I would have thought you could have done better.
To think that you can't even successfully debate with an 18 year old.
The bible? What does that have to do with it?
The bible is irrelevant, and you of all people should know the
importance of the separation of church and state.
I suppose you are up in arms when you hear of women who have been
raped, being stoned to death for adultery in muslim countries?
Well, guess what - that's what their holy book dictates, which makes
you no different to them.
If you really are upset over naked "barbie doll" bodies, then wouldn't
you be better off trying to get those dolls changed, or banned? No.
Ofcourse not.
You'd be a complete laughing stock.
Instead, you jump on the nearest "lazy parent" bandwagon and do your
best to shift the blame away onto whatever the current teen generation
does to entertain itself.
I must say, I count myself lucky that I don't have someone as
infuriatingly misguided and uninformed as yourself trying to write my
laws for me.
But please, if you feel like writing something coherent and
meaningful, then feel free to explain to me how video games teach the
finer points of marksmanship such as stance, grip and posture, along
with weapons operation and bomb construction. I would dearly love to
know.
Regards, Mark Humphreys.
....
I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions.
So from their pov. dying by fe. bombing the tubes in Londen really pwns!
Their actions are based on verses coming out of the Koran, backing their suicide-bomb-attacks up.
you are Manny or wut? 