Mass Effect Misinformation
Posted on January 15th, 2008 by
Can you believe people actually think this game has hardcore pornography? Well, don’t take my word for
it. Take Colleen Hannon’s. She’s our MomGamer (no relation) and she cuts right through the garbage. Here’s what parents need to know!
January 15th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Thanks again for linking to the video – I had heard it described and it is so completely at odds with the statements some of these folks are making that it is unbelievable. There are plenty of bad games and ones that do depict the stuff mentioned, that they shouldn’t lie to make a point.
January 16th, 2008 at 7:17 am
Just wanted to point out a small mistake you made. You said it was a “science fiction first person shooter”, however it’s actually from the third person perspective not the first person.
Aside from that though this was a very good article, good work. You went a little easy on Kevin McCullough, but I guess it would be a little tedious to go into detail and expose him for each lie he told. Trust me, I know. I was one of the people who responded to his article. He of course ignored every comment there that proved him wrong, then the quote he used as an example of what us gamers are supposedly like was actually taken out of context, there was an extra line or two in their explaining that the what was said was just an sarcastic/elaborate comment mocking his comments.
January 16th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Thanks Trevor,
Our goal with this is more along the lines of informing parents than attacking McCullough (though he does deserve it for about everything I’ve read that he’s spewed forth from his diseased mind). People like him aren’t ever going to engage in a real discussion about anything. They’re just getting off on making people mad.
January 16th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Thank you GamerDad,
This article is exactly what was needed in the gaming community instead of insults and petty words that just incite fear mongering to get even more insane we have a nice rebuttal with information that is helpful to parents.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
I completely agree, attacking McCullough is pointless, he is just another person who either feels very strongly about how media is affecting our children, or another person trying to siphon off the attention that bigger names like Jack Thompson get for their public outcries of video games and media. GamerDad has exactly the type of information these people need to read and understand, because it is really the best solution to the issue of violent media in the hands of kids, that being it is all about the parents, and there is nothing that can or should replace responsible parental decisions on their children’s viewing and playing habits. Keep up the good work!
January 17th, 2008 at 7:12 am
I never played Mass Effect, don’t own any of the XBoxes, but still through the magical medium of experience and knowledge of how Bioware runs it’s stories I could tell from the get-go what this game was going to be about and how it would play. McCullough is a frightful trend of uninformed, or facetious self-proclaimed moral crusaders who jump up on the soap box and peddle fear and loathing to a similarly uninformed and/or uninvolved group of parents…
Good on you GD for writing this, although I think McCullough will ignore your clear-headed commentary in favor of more sensationalistic garbage comments, perhaps taken out of context… Still, it’s a battle of truth versus lies, and in conflicts such as those you must voice the truth, no matter if it’s ignored..
January 17th, 2008 at 7:50 am
D, Budgell:
Correction! Good on me for publishing this. Momgamer wrote it.
😉
One of the things I do is talk to parents. Casual parents at PTA meetings and hardcore at places like the PennyArcade Expo. What I’ve learned is that there are 3 basic types:
1. Videogames are something I don’t understand and I’m kind of worried about them.
2. Videogames are what my kid wants and since seeing Texas Chainsaw Massacre at 10 didn’t screw me up, I’m not worried.
3. Videogames are bad, but I’m keeping an open mind.
4. I HATE THEM!
Aside from people like McCullough and Thompson (#4) they’re actually kinda rare. Most parents today are #1, 2 or #3. I always write for 1,2,3. Why? Someone like McCullough will never have an intelligent discussion. It’s worthless to try. He just wants attention for himself and frankly, that’s the easy route.
Sometimes it strikes me that if I turned evil and started railing against the biz – I’d be rich. But I kinda like living with myself….
Thanks guys, for reading. Please spread the word about us. This blog will get pretty active soon I think.
January 18th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
One of the (many) things that bug me the most about mr. McCollough’s comments on Mass Effects is that he doesn’t seem to get that the ESRB-ratings are voluntary. As such they are not legally binding at any state or federal level in the US.
Any restrictions to which persons that can buy M-rated games in the US are made by the stores themselves e.g. Walmart. As such parents do need to take both more and a greater responsibility as to what games their children play. (or to what tv-series they watch, the children, not the parents…).
My own view of Mass Effect is that it is OK for young adults from 15-16 years to play, but I totally understand why some other parents would say that this game isn’t fit to be played for anyone that’s not 18+ or older. But again, it ought, must, should and need to be so that the parents decide what games their children play.
January 22nd, 2008 at 3:25 pm
You see that Fox news picked this up now? “Se”xbox. It’s the worst “journalism” I’ve ever heard of. 15 minutes of research would show that the whole thing is BS about a 2 minute scene, which Fox news pretty much showed completely, but paused at the end, implying there was more. They KNOW it’s BS and ran with it anyway.
Kinda makes you wonder what else is completely crap.
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Yeah, I saw it. It’s kind of disheartening. The original writer has since apologized (sort of) for what he said and they’ve removed that article, But Fox still went with this.
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:15 pm
That is the amazing stuff … and they even had someone trying to tell the truth and they steamrolled him …
January 25th, 2008 at 7:06 am
Apparently EA has shot back at FOX over this misinformation:
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/682323/EA_Slaps_Fox_News.html
January 26th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
NY Times article on it too. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/arts/television/26mass.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=mass+effect&st=nyt&oref=slogin
Great article Colleen, it’s good to know GD.com and GWC are giving parents accurate information.
February 4th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Well I’m just not happy with love scenes in game, movies, TV shows, etc. no matter how brief or undetailed it is. Especially in a video game! I mean instead of wasting your time and energy putting a scene like that in a video game they could’ve focused their time on fixing bugs and texture pop-ups.
You can argue with me and say that there’s nothing wrong with sex and that it’s a natural thing, and I’m not going to argue with you because it is a natural thing (if you’re married of course). But like the many natural things of like such as: pooping, urinating, puking, and so on, they need to be done in private and not infront of cameras…
March 11th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
it’s actually a mix between Third Person Shooter and Role Playing Game. and i think this game has a good tool to teach kids the consequences of their words and actions. you say something good or promise to help someone in a bind and you get Paragon points (good-guy points.) On the other hand, if you say something mean or hateful or choose wrong choices, you receive Renegade points.