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GTA Pushes The Boundaries of Decency

July 9th, 2005

It’a funny how the more liberal minded game players think nothing of allowing their 12 year old to murder cops…with a flamethrower…but suggest that they might have access to pixellated porn and suddenly the hackles are up.

GTA has raised this paradox this week with reports that it is possible to unlock a ’secret’ section of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas where the characters indulge in sexually explicit acts. The content is revealed by installing a mod known as ‘Hot Coffee’ . The writer of the mod, Patrick Wildenborg, claims that the mod does not introduce any fresh content to the game, it simply allows the gamer to view hidden content that was already there - akin to an Easter Egg on a DVD.

In the original version the hero visits his girlfriend’s house for a cup of coffee, but only the house is shown and a bit of groaning is heard. In the ‘Hot Coffee’ mod, the whole ever-so-naughty act is played out.

Rockstar Games, the developers of the GTA series, say that they are cooperating fully with the various censorship body who are concerned about this, but have neither confirmed, nor denied the existence of the sexually explicit content, which probably means that it is there.

If it turns out that the content was there all along, the game could have its rating increased in the USA from M (mature) to AO (adults only) which would possibly cause its exclusion from many mainstream games retailers.

“It should be clear to everyone by now that video games do influence young people,” said Dr. David Walsh, author of the best selling book on teenage brain development, Why Do They Act That Way? “While San Andreas is already full of violent behaviour and sexual themes, the pornographic sex scenes push it over the edge.”

“We are calling upon Rockstar Games to come clean with the ESRB, the nation’s retailers, and especially America’s parents,” said Dr. Walsh. “What is your involvement in the production and distribution of pornographic content in your game? What do you know about the “Hot Coffee” scenes, and what are you doing to inform the public?”

It should be noted that so far only the US press have picked up on this story - European news outlets are pretty unconcerned for the moment.

Entry Filed under: Gaming