Spineless Democrats at it again...(Originally posted on MySpace Thursday, July 21, 2005)

OK so Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is now an Adults Only Title. Thanks alot hilary...thanks for getting involved. I'm sure that you're gonna get a lot of votes for thinking about the kids.

For those of you not "in the know" Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (hertofor refered to as GTA:SA or GTA if I get rally lazy) is a typically vilified Video Game that involves a semi-realistic California facsimile and basically casts the player as an up and coming gang member in the early 90s.

GTA as a series has come to exemplify how video games are bad for kids. Recently a California Stat Legislator named Lee came down hard on the ESRB (the independent Video Game ratings board) for being to leinient on GTA:SA. He said that the game had explicit scenes of sex and violence. He was namely mad that reports had surfaced that claimed that PC users using a downloaded patch could access a mini game called "Hot Coffee" that involved basically having sex with your girlfriend in the game. And that as such the game was "pornographic" and should have been labeled Adults Only instead of Mature (the Mature rating...is basically the same as an R and the Adults Only is like an X). Most games dont get Aduls Only ratings unless they specifically REVOLVE around sex...and and are actually Pornographic in that they are essential interactive Pornographic Films (most of them have been pretty lame...and this is the first game that is an "action" game that has recieved this rating).

Well it seemed as if the Lee character was just grasping at straws and the fact that the "Hot Coffee" mod as it has become known was a patch it wasn't the ESRB's or Rockstar (the games publisher) was at fault. But then Hillary Clinton got involved and demanded that the Federal Government step in and investigate. And this lead to the ESRB "re-evaluating" its rating. Eventually it was determined that the "hot coffee" mini-game was contained in the master code of not only the PC version but the PS2 and Xbox as well. And despite the fact that the game code was UNUSED during a normal playthrough of the game and ACCESSABLE ONLY BY USING OUTSIDE CHEAT SYSTEMS. The ESRB admonished Rockstar and changed it's ratings. Rockstar's game has been pulled from shelves and a massive recall has ensued. Not only that but Rockstar was forced to change it's projected yearly earnings from 200 to 160.

but here is the thing that INFURIATES me. This game is not for kids!!! I can't believe that anyone could have looked at this game which is basically filled with violence and decide only after a SEXUAL content is discovered that it must not be for kids. The sex is as gamspot.com puts it "nothing you wouldn't see on sex in the city" there are no genitals and no penetration...this isn't pornography...its basically prime time desperate housewives stuff with underware and moaning and groaning.

Why...why did Hillary jump on this band wagon...are the democrats so worried about never wining again that they will totally alienate those among us that are socially liberal to cow tow to the fucking parents to dumb to know that thier kids should be playing a game that is MATURE in the first place.

This whole thing is about ignorance. I am so sick of this puritanical bullshit and the double standard to which video games are held. THEY ARE NOT ALL FOR KIDS. I don't want to play the new Madigascar game any more than I wanted to see that puriel piece of shit movie. But if it was up to Hillary...than the only games out there would be safe for kids. ie not for me.

But I am a video game professional and I feel that this is an attack on not only our industry but our ability to self regulate. I don't think that anyone involved in rating GTA:SA as Mature would have been happy to see kids playing it. I don't think kids should play it. But I want to play it, and I want to be able to buy it at Target and not some Adult Game Store. If I can go into a Target and buy sex in the city, Predator, and the latest 50 cent album then I damn well better be able to buy Grand Theft Auto.

This is puritanical hypocracy. This country is anti sex obsessed. Why is it OK for kids to potential see scenes of violence..but even the slightest sexual content is shunned. IT MAKES NO SENSE!!! I think that the world would be a lot healthier if more parents openly and honestly talked with their kids about sex rather than tried to hide it from them...cause guess what..they're gonna find out about it anyway...and it ISN'T going to be from some PC game mod.

I know this blog makes no sense...but all this ignorance has made me ashamed to be a democrat.