"Hot Coffee" Again in the News

Not since 1994 has hot coffee caused such a stir.

For those that have been under a rock (no pun intended), I'm referring to the latest barrage against the gaming industry caused by Rockstar Games hiding sexual content in their “game”, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Yeah, I said caused by Rockstar Games. The quotes around “game” are also intentional. Stick with me here, I have a lot of ground to cover but will try to cover it quickly.

Here's the deal: An enterprising young gamer stumbled into some unused code in the game while reverse engineering it. He wrote a program (a mod, in gaming parlance) to enable the code. In the unmodified game, your various girlfriends around the city invite you in for “coffee” once they warm up to you. The game fades out the screen and fades back in the next morning with your in-game character leaving their house. Fill in the blanks. In the modified version you get to actually, well, fill in the blanks with your, er, joystick. In a crude minigame you actually see your character and your girlfriends do the nasty--multiple positions and such--while you control the action.

Those familiar with gaming mods are probably thinking that the mod is the minigame. Nope. The content was already there, the mod just enables it. Rockstar put it in, decided not to enable it, but shipped the game with the content.

Okay, here's where it gets convoluted. First, Rockstar denied the content was theirs. Then they said it was, but wasn't their fault it was enabled. However, like other computer games, GTA:SA was voluntarily rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and given a Mature rating. This is a strong rating, but since the game involves drugs, crime, and shooting police officers, I think it's deserved. However, if the ESRB would have known about the sexual content, the game would have been given the Adults Only rating, dooming the title in retail. (The major retailers don't stock AO titles.)

So, what's the fallout from all this? Well, a bunch of senators (this time led by Hillary Clinton) again have their panties in a bunch about the evil and games and want answers to how this happened and what is wrong with the industry. Actually, no. They want to know what is wrong with the rating system and why it failed to catch this issue.

Now, I worked with the ESRB several years ago and submitted several titles for review. The ESRB was always friendly, polite, responsive, and fair. I believe them still to be. However, they can't be held responsible for information that they don't have, or aren't shown. Like the crap Rockstar hid in GTA:SA.

IMHO, the ESRB isn't the problem.

IMO the problem is the popularity of these slimy games and the fact that Rockstar continues to push the limits with them. The first GTA, released in 1997, was sort of interesting. You ran around a small city doing odd jobs for the bad guys--steal a car, deliver the goods, etc. In the process you could carjack, wreck, shoot, etc. If I remember right you did have a few missions to “kill X number of cops”--but otherwise it was fairly tame stuff. In the latest games you don't skirt the law at all--you murder, rape, and pillage and are rewarded for it. GTA:3 had your character finding (and using) hookers to increase his health--you could then kill the hooker afterward to retrieve your money if you so desired. GTA:SA just ups the ante, even without the hidden content enabled. Why none of the violence was a concern (but of course the sex is) is typical Capital Hill.

The ESRB should refuse to rate any additional Rockstar games--perhaps for a short period, perhaps indefinitely. No rating? Oh, so sorry, no retail. Perhaps that would entice a few of the edgy, rowdy, and cool gaming companies to grow the fuck up and stop being a blight on the industry.

(Ooops. Looks like the target of our judicial system is swinging to Take Two (publisher of GTA:SA) and Rockstar. Good.)