Sunday, January 27, 2008
Cooper Lawrence Admits Mistake Over Mass Effect Sex Scene
According to an interview Friday with the New York Times (link likely to get archived in the near future), Cooper Lawrence - the "expert opinion" used by Fox News Live Desk to speak out against the console RPG Mass Effect, treating it as pornography, has admitted that she was mistaken and misinformed. She states:
"I recognize that I misspoke. I really regret saying that, and now that I’ve seen the game and seen the sex scenes it’s kind of a joke. Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it’s like pornography. But it’s not like pornography. I’ve seen episodes of ‘Lost’ that are more sexually explicit."Score one for the truth.
And score one for Ms. Lawrence. My opinion of her just shot up several points. Yes, she was stupid to have not done her research on the subject before the show. She let herself be manipulated by Fox News. But at least she took two and a half hours of time to research the subject after the fact, and then made the effort to admit her mistake, publicize her apology, and to do what she could to correct it.
Okay, so she's not said anything yet about her misunderstanding about the game-playing demographic (where she stated her opinion as fact that parents don't play video games, only their children... another blatantly false bit of misinformation that she should have done her research on first). Or anything about her claims that some U of Maryland study proves boys can't tell the difference between video games and reality - what the heck was that about? And maybe her actions were motivated by legions of gamers trashing her book ratings on Amazon.com, in their own non-violent version of mob justice (which I think everyone understood would eventually blow over).
I still think it took both guts and class for her to come out with this apology and correction, and I commend her for it.
Fox News Live Desk, for its part, so far seems to be just waiting for things to blow over. Requests for correction have gone unanswered, though they have invited a representative from Electronic Arts to appear on the show. Considering that they have proven that they will just make up allegations out of the blue and hurl them at people, and then cut them off when they try to deny whatever line of garbage Fox News had invented, I can understand EA being a little bit hesitant to accept the invitation.
I gotta say, it's entertaining to speculate as to what might happen next. And I doubt sales of Mass Effect were noticeably damaged by the rumor of it having pornographic content.
So - why was Fox News so eager to trash one of the best-selling games of the season? Are games just such a convenient, politically powerless target for a random sensationalist piece? Or do they actually feel threatened by this rapidly maturing medium, and are actively looking for opportunities to manipulate public opinion against what they perceive as competition? Or a little of both?
And will gamers reciprocate and retract their attacks against her book?
UPDATE: For further hilarity - when it is obvious to Jack Thompson that the whole thing is a load of manure, saying "This contrived controversy is absolutely ridiculous," you know Fox News has really topped itself.
A tip o' the hat to GamePolitics.com and Kotaku for this update.
Labels: Politics, Roleplaying Games
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 12:34 AM (Permalink)
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In the USA it's sex, in Germany it's violence.
In Germany we have an ongoing campaign for more than a year against violent games - regardless if a game is made available for adults only.
The reasoning behind this is that these games fuck our youth up (compare with comics, rock'n'roll etc.) to the point that school killings are the result.
The big TV stations, whose influence is steadily diminishing with younger people, support this thesis and provide "evidence" by manipulating statements of gamers, finding "experts" like Mrs. Lawrence to say what they want.
Ridiculous claims like "GTA trains rapists" go without public correction by the people behind them and if gamers try to reason with them or defend the games they are dismissed as biased.
All this lead to changed youth protection laws recently and more is already in the pipeline.
take care,
Calibrator
In Germany we have an ongoing campaign for more than a year against violent games - regardless if a game is made available for adults only.
The reasoning behind this is that these games fuck our youth up (compare with comics, rock'n'roll etc.) to the point that school killings are the result.
The big TV stations, whose influence is steadily diminishing with younger people, support this thesis and provide "evidence" by manipulating statements of gamers, finding "experts" like Mrs. Lawrence to say what they want.
Ridiculous claims like "GTA trains rapists" go without public correction by the people behind them and if gamers try to reason with them or defend the games they are dismissed as biased.
All this lead to changed youth protection laws recently and more is already in the pipeline.
take care,
Calibrator
# posted by 
: January 27, 2008 7:14 AM
: January 27, 2008 7:14 AM
Fox News Live Desk, for its part, so far seems to be just waiting for things to blow over. Requests for correction have gone unanswered, though they have invited a representative from Electronic Arts to appear on the show.
It seems to me that they realized that a correction gains them nothing, whereas there are good ratings to be made by spinning their error into a "controversy" that can be milked for at least an hour or so of vitriolic back-and-forth.
It seems to me that they realized that a correction gains them nothing, whereas there are good ratings to be made by spinning their error into a "controversy" that can be milked for at least an hour or so of vitriolic back-and-forth.
It seems typical that Fox News's "expert" was someone who had "asked someone else what they had heard" (not what they saw, even) in the game.
# posted by : January 27, 2008 8:04 AM
: January 27, 2008 8:04 AM
@Calibrator - The same thing happens in the U.S., the so-called "Nanny State" laws, but on a smaller scale. Fortunately, they are often struck down on a Constitutional basis.
So far, we've had several (nine?) states pass anti-videogame laws on the same basis - and they have all been struck down by the courts so far. But the media and certain activists keep trying to whip up some kind of public hysteria over them.
I hope the laws in Germany either fail or get struck down in some way, Calibrator. You are right - it's the same thing that happened with rock music, comics, even the waltz and the novel.
@john - True. It seems they realize their core audience is ignorant and lazy. Why damage their reputation amongst these viewers, who wouldn't know the truth if it bit them in the face?
@scrim - An interesting point was brought up by GamePolitics - another well-known psychologist used as an expert in the a different sensationalized anti-videogame piece admitted she was briefed on what to say by Fox's Morning Show. She explained, "That's the way it is with TV... I couldn't - five minutes before going on the air - say sorry I won't do this, I don't have enough background information..."
So - referring to these guys as "talking heads" might not be far from the mark. They have some credentials, but they may just be parroting scripts fed to them by the producers.
We highlight Fox, but I'm sure they aren't the only culprits.
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So far, we've had several (nine?) states pass anti-videogame laws on the same basis - and they have all been struck down by the courts so far. But the media and certain activists keep trying to whip up some kind of public hysteria over them.
I hope the laws in Germany either fail or get struck down in some way, Calibrator. You are right - it's the same thing that happened with rock music, comics, even the waltz and the novel.
@john - True. It seems they realize their core audience is ignorant and lazy. Why damage their reputation amongst these viewers, who wouldn't know the truth if it bit them in the face?
@scrim - An interesting point was brought up by GamePolitics - another well-known psychologist used as an expert in the a different sensationalized anti-videogame piece admitted she was briefed on what to say by Fox's Morning Show. She explained, "That's the way it is with TV... I couldn't - five minutes before going on the air - say sorry I won't do this, I don't have enough background information..."
So - referring to these guys as "talking heads" might not be far from the mark. They have some credentials, but they may just be parroting scripts fed to them by the producers.
We highlight Fox, but I'm sure they aren't the only culprits.
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