As you all know, I am an uber-geek.

This is MORE than uber-geeky. This stuff is really cool and fills my head with geek thoughts.

I am sure there are many people out there who have not yet read this article or this one, both by Kevin McCullough, blogger and columnist on Townhall.com.

The controversy of these articles is so lame. I read them, and it was apparent to me, as it should be to any gamer (or anyone who has ever watched a movie made past the 1950's) that as a media evolves and tries to rise above it's self, it tends to attempt to appeal to adult audiences by including more complex themes and adult oriented topics(not necessarily sex, but including it).

Kevin McCullough is a social conservative and has written two articles showing just how socially conservative someone can be. These articles, if taken and extended to the N'th factor of insanity, can help you realize why THESE PEOPLE SHOULD NOT RUN THE COUNTRY. Sure they should have a voice, but the general frame work from which they operate, i.e. "I know whats best for everyone and any detractors will be burned along with the straw man I constructed," is hateful and ridiculous. His first article is fairly baseless. He attempts to reconcile his positions in his second article by pointing to his source materials, but still left me scratching my head and asking the question, "What?!"

Lets take a quick look at the first article. In this article, Mr. McCullough uses some specious reasoning and poor understandings of facts to construct a straw-man argument.

The specific straw man points are:

1. "the new video game that one company is marketing to fifteen year old boys."
2. "...it allows its players - universally male no doubt - to engage in the most realistic sex acts ever conceived. "
3. "then watch in crystal clear, LCD, 54 inch screen, HD clarity as the video game "persons" hump in every form, format, multiple, gender-oriented possibility they can think of."
4. "the disgusting idea that one can "create" their own versions of what people look like, removing warts, moles, and bald spots while enhancing - shall we say - the extended features of the game's characters tends to objectify women, sex, and human relationships."
5. "Then there's the dishonesty behind the game' title."
6. "... the player's own character is copulating like jack rabbits with super-models, actresses, and anyone else they can spend the patience to create, name, and "put into play."'
7. "'Mass Effect" can be customized to sodomize whatever, whoever, however, the game player wishes."
8. "With it's "over the net" capabilities virtual orgasmic rape is just the push of a button away."

And here's my counter points:

1. This is true, but to emphasize this point through out the article is meant to incite the emotional reactions of parents who don't want their sweet darlings to play some game filled with smut. I wouldn't want my children playing Mass Effect, nor would I want them playing Grand Theft Auto, or watching a TV show like Dexter, or reading romance novels with sexually explicit scenes with out me knowing. These things are fairly adult oriented and carry themes and language which they might not understand fully, and it is my responsibility as a parent to help them process and understand what they consume mentally so they can apply it to a rational and realistic world view.
   
2. Realistic, and about as graphic as the sex scene from Terminator 1.
3. The player actually has little or no control over the action, and could probably avoid the sex scenes all together if it is any type of "real" RPG. (But, player choice effecting outcomes is another topic.) Not to mention, this point is exaggerating the amount sexual content in the game.
   
4. Yes, character creation can be pretty disgusting. Isn't it too bad that when people indulge in fantasy, they choose not to play a short, dumpy-looking person with an overbite and taped glasses? Not to make fun of short, dumpy people who have overbites, but that isn't what Western Culture would consider universally attractive. People tend to create idealized versions of beauty, power, and "coolness" when they are given the option. Is this objectification? No, it is idealization and fantasy play, two things which children do exceptionally well because they have this scarey thing called "imagination."
   
5. How? If I recall from some discussion about the game, the title is a play on words. Most titles of things are like this, except for Siphon Filter. That game is LITERALLY about a small metal mesh at the end of a hose used to gravity feed liquid from a tank.
6. Again, this exaggerates the amount of sexual content and the extent of player control over the game.
7. See point 6.
8. No, Mass Effect is not multiplayer.
   

This whole argument is designed to inflame feelings about this game to distort the need for video game regulation. Yes, America can be just like Australia and Germany (they censor and ban "objectionable" games). We do have that pesky freedom of expression. This is the thing that allows movies and books to be written which have such "objectionable" content. Now, the problem here, beyond Mr. McCullough's demonization of the sexual content of the game, is the fact that if these scenes were in a movie, it would be rated PG-13 or, on a bad day, R. That excludes the amount of violence in the game, which Mr. McCullough had apparently no problem with. These scenes are seriously not that explicit and make up a minimal portion of the content. This game is not a "sex-simulator." The purpose of the game is to not be erotic. The sex scenes are supposedly dramatically appropriate. This kind of content is in books, movies, plays, but can't be in video games? Children don't watch movies, or read books, or go to plays? They do... but, parents probably pay more attention to these media because many probably think video games never evolved past blocky characters spouting poorly translated monologues. This might mean that video games are finally getting some of the artistic improvements they deserve and the games-as-art crowd is winning some ground. Unfortunately, this will also likely mean that games might face similar regulations to movies. Which is okay with me. I haven't had problems with the movie rating system.
The second article is mostly a counter-counter-attack. Yes, some video game players are rabid morons who are frothing at the mouth because of this. No, they are not all under the age of 18. Demographics of video game players have moved up to include a wider range of ages. A lot of them are 20's and 30's because, *GASP* video games cost MONEY. Where does a kid get $600 for a system and then $60 a pop for a game? Their PARENTS! Video game demographics have also been slowly moving to include women, but yeah, still a tiny part of the community. But, this second article is creating a new strawman, the "Gamer-nerd." Also the supposed psychology that he basis his dire predictions on.... well, it's lame and tired. These are the kind of dusty ideas that get trod over again and again. " We now know because of the lengthy track record of serial killer after another that addictive use of pornography was prevalent in case after case - long before the switch got flipped and what their masturbatory imaginations have given into became what they were forcing real live human beings to do." I mean, what the heck? Seriously? Yeah, surprise? There are socially maladjusted people out there! HOLY CRAP! Socially maladjusted people are not created in a vacuum that contains them and a video game. There is a lot more complicated shit that goes into this. I know! Do you want to know why I know? I talk with violent people, anxious people, and aimless people who have difficulty finding fulfilling relationships(I am a counselor). Right now, one or two are "Gamer-Nerds." None of them got to where they are today because of video games, or movies, or television. These media are all extensions of the culture in which they are created. If anything, Science-Fiction is one of the few places where true cultural exploration and critique can be explored because it's "not real" (read "harmless" but I don't consider stories like Harrison Bergeron, The Cold Equations, First Contact, or The Country of the Kind to be harmless.)

I need to stay away from this serious stuff, it's bad for my blood pressure.

For a more ... ehem, "balanced review" of Mass Effect, I point you here.