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Fox News, Mass Effect, and Retaliation


MisterBiggler
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I just heard about this story tonight, so for those that haven't heard, Fox News recently did a story on Mass Effect and some questionable material in the game. Apparently Mass Effect features "graphic digital nudity" (in the form of an alien side boob, I hear), and this game runs the risk of violating the minds of America's youth, or something similar.

Video of Fox News segment

During the segment, Fox's expert on psychology that day, Cooper Lawrence made some seemingly irresponsible comments on Mass Effect, bashing the game for allowing youth the access to user controlled graphic sex, with no evidence to such. Due to this, folks have fired back by tanking the rating of her latest book posted on Amazon, leaving some pretty harsh comments in the process.

Follow up post on Wired

Lawrence's Book on Amazon

I thought the response was pretty damn hilarious, but as I've been browsing various forms, lots of folks feel that this helps argue the point that the gaming community is full of immature individuals, etc. Thoughts anyone?

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People have been making too much of a ruckus over this game and games with mature content in general. I did however, like the fact that they mentioned how parents should be present in their kid's lives and try to censor the things they don't want them exposed to.

One woman mentioned how kids would want to play dad's video games when no one's around, but the Xbox 360 (and the Wii even) does give you control over what you're allowed to play without a password. Make one that's extremely difficult to type in, and your kid can't play it. Lock your bad video games away like you would your guns or whatever. Instead of trying to play those games, they'll just get on the web and watch worse stuff.

Then there was the lady that said it deserved an AO rating. First off, the part of the scene that shows the most is the one quick clip of the arse and the side of the breast. An M rated game is basically like an R rated movie. I can guarantee you there are plenty of R rated movies that have worse stuff in them than Mass Effect.

The guy that they got to fight for the game could have done a better job.

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I love it. I love how the internet community is getting on those other media's nerves like this.

And I don't know about Mass Effect. It's for the most part, just not worth criticism at all. So you can choose to kill a few criminals if you're evil (where was the outrage when you can massacre innocents in Baldur's Gate for no reason at all?) or let them go if you play a good guy.

It's not exactly Disney, but the story isn't anything different than something like Star Wars. You can be Darth Vader. So what?

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I stopped paying attention to Fox "News" after a story they ran last December which implied that Christians maybe ought to be offended by the Archbishop of Canterbury's (correct) assertion that the Bible doesn't support every detail of the popularized Christmas story.

They want controversy. Controversy sells news. If they have to manufacture that controversy, they'll do it. I've neither played Mass Effect nor seen Fox's take on it, but I would bet money that they've blown it far out of proportion because it's the kind of thing that sells news.

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Only idiots buy into Fox News, and their controversy is probably going to make people want the game more. It's also good to know that we can fight back some how, and seeing these shoddy "journalists" get hit in any way makes me feel a little better.

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I'm pretty sure this is because of that internet news guy that posted a big blog about how Mass Effect is essentially raping our kids minds with full blown sex scenes and references to bestiality, etc..

Looks like Fox news found out about and wanted to blow it up even further. Which just goes to show you that gamers are more mature, because we just tried to let him go away.

I would have posted a link to the article, but it appears he removed it. So here's the blog post which gives you some lovely backpedaling, followed by more inanity.

See for yourself

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Fox News is the worst, and their motto of "Fair and Balanced" makes me sick. People around here (rural Georgia) watch it and shun the other news stations because it's the only "conservative" one of the bunch.

But maybe it's right for them since they're all neocons. [/endrant]

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As sad as it is, you guys who say 'nobody watches Fox News' is wrong. Because their network pulls in some monstrous ratings at times.

The truth is, we have a culture of ignorance with a lot of Republicans. Now, I hate hardcore Democrats too, but Republicans simply scare me. Absolutely scares me with how they use ignorance as a literal weapon.

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monstrous ratings

Exactly. That's all this is about, what sensationalized piece of news can garner the most attention. The more they can frighten and/or piss people off, the larger the response they will get and the more people will pay attention to their "fair and balanced" news. It should be painfully obvious that this is just about bringing in the numbers to make paychecks.

I don't want my news on a fine-tuned scale. I just want to know what the hell is going on.

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I still want a copy of the version of the game that exists only in their heads.

Yeah. Their biggest argument was that the game includes full nudity and interactive sex, neither of which are actually in Mass Effect.

It's just some side-boob. Honestly, I think we're hurting the youngsters more than we are helping them if we censor games to the extent that Fox News is suggesting. If they should be upset about anything, it shouldn't be children's access to games, but to movies and the internet which are both far less censored and regulated than games.

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